| ECAC Hockey Tournament | |
| Optional Subheader: | Conference hockey championship |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Conference: | ECAC Hockey |
| Format: | Single-elimination, best two-of-three tournament |
| Current Stadium: | Herb Brooks Arena[1] |
| Current Location: | Lake Placid, New York |
| Years: | 1962–present |
| Most Recent: | 2024 ECAC Hockey Tournament |
| Current Champion: | Cornell |
| Most Championships: | Cornell (13)[2] |
| Trophy: | Whitelaw Cup |
| Television: | ESPN+ |
| Website: | The 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.
In 1960, two play-in games were held for the top four eastern teams that were up for two spots in the NCAA tournament. About a year and a half later, ECAC Hockey was founded and included nearly 30 programs. Despite the cumbersome arrangement, the league held its first conference tournament in 1962 and has crowned a champion every year since with the exception of 2020 (as of 2023).
In response to a threat from the Ivy League schools to split from the conference over scheduling disagreements, the six teams that comprised the East Division left the conference to form Hockey East in 1984. ECAC Hockey still contained eleven teams after the break and was able to retain its automatic bid to the tournament, a necessity for the stability of a conference.
The tournament was first hosted at the Boston Arena and was moved to the Boston Garden in 1967. The tournament remained there from 1967 through 1992 and was succeeded by the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from 1993 to 2002 and again from 2014 to the present. The Times Union Center and the Boardwalk Hall have also hosted ECAC tournament championships.
Cornell has won the most ECAC Hockey championships with 13 and also has the most championship game appearances with 24. Current Cornell coach Mike Schafer has won the most championships with six and also has coached in the most championship games with 12 appearances.
In 1989 the championship trophy was renamed in honor of retiring commissioner Robert Whitelaw.[3]
2023
After 20 years, the opening round of the tournament gets changed to single-elimination, replacing the best-of-three format prior; the quarterfinals remain best-of-three, however, along with the semifinals and final both being single games.
| 5–2 | [6] | ||||||||
| 4–3 (OT) | |||||||||
| 3–1 | |||||||||
| 6–2 | |||||||||
| 6–2 | |||||||||
| 4–3 | |||||||||
| 6–3 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 7–4 | |||||||||
| 4–1 | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 7–3 | |||||||||
| 9–2 | |||||||||
| 8–6 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 5–1 | |||||||||
| 8–4 | |||||||||
| 5–2 | |||||||||
| 4–1 (OT) | |||||||||
| 5–2 | |||||||||
| 5–1 | |||||||||
| 3–2 (OT) | |||||||||
| 6–3 | |||||||||
| 3–0 | |||||||||
| 4–1 | |||||||||
| 5–4 | |||||||||
| 5–4 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 3–1 | |||||||||
| 3–0 | |||||||||
| 5–1 | |||||||||
| 2–1 | |||||||||
| 2–1 | |||||||||
| 5–4 (OT) | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 2–0 | |||||||||
| 3–1 | |||||||||
| 4–3 (2OT) | |||||||||
| 3–2 (OT) | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 3–1 | |||||||||
| 6–2 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 4–1 | |||||||||
| 5–0 | |||||||||
| 3–0 | |||||||||
| 6–0 | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 3–1 | |||||||||
| 5–2 | |||||||||
| 4–2 | |||||||||
| 4–1 | |||||||||
| 4–1 | |||||||||
| 2–1 (OT) | |||||||||
| 3–2 (OT) | |||||||||
| Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic | [7] | ||||||||
| 3–2 (OT) | |||||||||
| 3–2 (OT) | |||||||||
| 3–2 | |||||||||
| 3–1 |
| 13 | 24 | |||
| 11 | 23 | |||
| 7 | 12 | |||
| 6 | 15 | |||
| 5 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 2 | |||
| 1 | 4 | |||
| 1 | 2 | |||
| 1 | 1 | |||
| 0 | 4 | |||
| 0 | 2 | |||
| 0 | 1 |
| Appearances | Coach | Record | Pct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Mike Schafer | 6–6 | ||
| 9 | Ted Donato | 4–5 | ||
| 8 | Joe Marsh | 5–3 | ||
| 6 | Bill Cleary | 2–4 | ||
| 6 | Len Ceglarski | 2–4 | ||
| 5 | Ned Harkness | 4–1 | ||
| 5 | Jack Parker | 4–1 | ||
| 5 | Mark Morris | 3–2 | ||
| 4 | Dick Bertrand | 2–2 | ||
| 4 | Rand Pecknold | 1–3 | ||
| 3 | Rick Bennett | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Mark Mazzoleni | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | Ralph "Cooney" Weiland | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | John "Snooks" Kelley | 1–2 | ||
| 3 | Lou Lamoriello | 1–2 | ||
| 3 | Don Vaughan | 1–2 | ||
| 2 | Mike Addesa | 2–0 | ||
| 2 | Keith Allain | 2–0 | ||
| 2 | Ronn Tomassoni | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | George Roll | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | George Menard | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Jack Kelly | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Dan Fridgen | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Charlie Holt | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Don Cahoon | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Casey Jones | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | Brent Brekke | 1–1 | ||
| 2 | George Crowe | 0–2 | ||
| 2 | Buddy Powers | 0–2 | ||
| 2 | Cap Raeder | 0–2 | ||
| 1 | Ron Fogarty | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Lou Reycroft | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Thomas Eccleston | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Terry Slater | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Fern Flaman | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Guy Gadowsky | 1–0 | ||
| 1 | Brendan Whittet | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | Bob Gaudet | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | Richard Toomey | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | James Fullerton | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | Nate Leaman | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | Mike Gilligan | 0–1 | ||
| 1 | Brian McCutcheon | 0–1 |
[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
Note: the remainder of the 2020 tournament was cancelled prior to the start of the quarterfinal round.