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 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. 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. 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.
ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions
Formats
; 1962 The ECAC Hockey Tournament format begins as a single-game elimination three-round format featuring the top eight teams in the standings. ; 1983 The quarterfinal round is changed to a two-game format where if the two teams are tied afterwards a 'mini-game' is held to determine who advances. Overtime is not played in the quarterfinals outside the 'mini-games' ; 1990 Two preliminary games are added to determine the final two qualifiers in the tournament played between the teams that finished seventh thru tenth in the standings. ; 1992 The quarterfinal round was changed to a single-elimination format. ; 1993 The quarterfinal round was converted into a modified best-of-three series where the first team to receive three points would advance with only the third game permitted to continue past a 5-minute overtime if the score was still tied. ; 1998 The preliminary round was scrapped and the quarterfinal round expanded into 5 modified best-of-three series. The two lowest-seeded teams to advance out of the quarterfinals would then play in a single 'Four vs. Five' game to determine the final semifinalist. ; 2000 The quarterfinal round was altered to include standard best-of-three series with no ties allowed. ; 2003 ECAC Hockey adds a fourth round to the tournament and includes all 12 conference teams in the tournament. The First round pits the fifth thru twelfth teams in the standings in four best-of-three series with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. The top four teams in the standings automatically advance to the quarterfinal round and play the remaining four teams in reverse order of their finish in the standings in a second best-of-three round. The semifinal, third-place and championship games are all single-elimination. ;2014 The third place game is eliminated.
In 1961 an argument over which two eastern teams were to be selected to the NCAA tournament precipitated the formation of an eastern conference who would automatically send its tournament champion to the national tournament. The 1961-62 season saw the first iteration of the ECAC with a total of 28 teams, including the three teams that were concurrent members of the Tri-State League until its dissolution in 1972. After three years and the addition of a 29th team, the conference was split into two tiers. The top tier included all of the Ivy League schools as well as the higher profile programs. While the NCAA tournament selections were not codified and resolved until 1982, the ECAC tournament champion was nevertheless invited to & played for the national championship every year except 1963 when Harvard passed on the invitation and the league was represented by Boston College and Clarkson who finished second and third in the tournament respectively.
Schism
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. 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.
