Quinnipiac, Cornell, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence are headed to Lake Placid after sweeping their opponents to earn spots in ECAC Hockey Men’s Championship tournament Friday and Saturday in the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

Top-seeded Quinnipiac will take on seventh-seeded St. Lawrence at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by No. 4 Dartmouth against No. 2 Cornell at 7:30 p.m. Friday’s winners will play for the championship Saturday at 5 p.m. with the champion earning the Scott M. Whitelaw Cup and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Friday, March 22 – Semifinals

St. Lawrence vs. Quinnipiac, 4 p.m.

Dartmouth vs. Cornell, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 23 – Championship Game

Semifinal Winners, 5 p.m.

THE TEAMS

St. Lawrence (13-18-6) is making its first appearance in Lake Placid since 2016 after beating defending tournament champion Colgate in two straight games over the weekend on the road in Hamilton, N.Y. The Saints won the ECAC title in 2021 when the tournament was played in Hamden, Conn., and reduced to three teams during the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Lawrence won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001 in Lake Placid.

Quinnipiac (26-8-2) is the defending NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament champion and was ranked seventh in the latest United States College Hockey Online (USCHO) national poll. The Bobcats downed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a 5-1 victory on Friday and a 5-2 score on Saturday.

Dartmouth (13-9-9) last appeared at the ECAC Hockey tournament in Lake Placid in 2016 and is still in search of its first tournament crown. The Big Green beat Union twice in Hanover, N.H. to earn their spot in Lake Placid.

Cornell comes into Lake Placid with a 19-6-6 overall record and as the No. 15 ranked team in the latest USCHO poll. The Big Red took down Harvard with two straight wins in Ithaca, N.Y. over the weekend. Cornell and Dartmouth went to a shootout in each of their regular season meetings this year, with Big Red winning the first in November and Dartmouth taking the victory in January.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The ECAC tournament began in 1962 with the championships held at Boston Garden each year until 1993 when it moved to Lake Placid. The 2024 tournament marks the 20th ECAC Men's Championship to be held at the Olympic Center. 

On March 9, 1989, the league paid tribute to retiring ECAC Commissioner Robert M. “Scotty” Whitelaw by announcing that the Men’s Ice Hockey Championship trophy would be named the Whitelaw Cup. Whitelaw joined the ECAC in 1960 as Assistant Commissioner, two years before the ECAC Division I Ice Hockey Championship was formalized.

LAST SEASON

Colgate shocked the field at last season’s ECAC Hockey tournament in Lake Placid, knocking off top-seeded Quinnipiac in the semifinals and second-seeded Harvard in the championship game. All four teams in Lake Placid earned NCAA Tournament berths, with Colgate advancing via the automatic bid, and Cornell, Harvard, and Quinnipiac earning at-large invitations. Quinnipiac went on to win the school’s first NCAA Men’s National Championship after beating Minnesota in the title game.

ECAC HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

The 12-team ECAC men’s hockey tournament began March 8-9 with a single-game format, followed by best-of-three quarterfinal matchups March 15-17. The first two rounds were played at respective schools based on seeding in the tournament. The tournament champion earns an automatic entry into the 16-team NCAA tournament that determines the national champion.

TICKETS/MORE INFORMATION: Tickets are available and can be purchased HERE. For more information, go to lakeplacidolympiccenter.com or ecachockey.com.