ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

ECAC Hockey Tournament
Conference hockey championship
SportIce hockey
ConferenceECAC Hockey
FormatSingle-elimination, best two-of-three tournament
Current stadiumHerb Brooks Arena[1]
Current locationLake Placid, New York
Played1962–present
Last contest2024 ECAC Hockey Tournament
Current championCornell
Most championshipsCornell (13)[2]
Winner trophyWhitelaw Cup
TV partner(s)ESPN+
Official websiteThe Official Site of ECAC Hockey

The ECAC Hockey Tournament is the conference tournament for ECAC Hockey. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which has occurred every year the NCAA has allowed automatic berths into the tournament. The ECAC tournament champion has only once not received an invitation to the NCAA tournament, that coming in 1963 when Harvard won its first conference championship (the second year in existence for the ECAC).

The tournament was first held in 1962, the first year of conference play. It was held at Boston Arena in Boston from 1962–66. It then moved to the much larger Boston Garden From 1967–92 (capacity for ice hockey games was 14,000+ in the Garden as opposed to the ~4,000 at the Arena). Because of a schism that occurred in the ECAC in 1984 that saw most Boston-area schools break away and form the Hockey East conference in 1984, the championship rounds moved to the Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, New York, for the next decade (1993–2002). From 2003–2010, along with a change to the tournament format, the semifinal and championship games were moved to the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York, which changed its name to the 'Times Union Center' in 2007. From 2011 thru 2013 the final four games were held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and afterwards it was announced that the 2014 championship would return to Lake Placid and play at the since renamed Herb Brooks Arena.

  1. ^ "ECAC Men's Hockey Championships". Whiteface Lake Placid. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
  2. ^ "ECAC Hockey Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2013-06-10.