This past season reinforced the two different ways of looking at ECAC Hockey. In a positive sense, its top team won the national championship as part of a four-bid postseason in the NCAA tournament, and ECAC matched a more heralded conference when it equaled the Big Ten with a quarter of the national tournament’s teams. … Read more
Following an expansive national search, ECAC Hockey announced Tuesday the hiring of Doug Christiansen as the league’s new commissioner. The announcement comes with the retirement of longtime ECAC Hockey commissioner Steve Hagwell at the end of the month. Christiansen is a seasoned hockey professional, serving in a range of roles over the past two decades, … Read more
ECAC Hockey announced Thursday recipients of the league’s major individual award men’s winners for the 2022-23 season ahead of crowning the ECAC Hockey tournament champion this weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y. Harvard forward Sean Farrell as the 2023 ECAC Hockey player of the year. For the third consecutive season, Rand Pecknold has been named the … Read more
As ECAC Hockey began the final descent into its postseason tournament last weekend, the element of surprise didn’t totally exist like other conferences. Quinnipiac cruised past Yale and Brown with its second and third consecutive five-goal games, and with Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Bears, the Bobcats clinched the Cleary Cup as the regular-season champions … Read more
ECAC Hockey was a very different league in the mid-2000s. It was, for starters, an actual part of the ECAC, the sports federation that was founded in the early 1930s. It was initially like its parent organization, but college hockey’s realignment in the 1980s saw a division of teams break away to form Hockey East. … Read more
Walking into any arena in college hockey produces a certain number of expectations. A sport built around its emotion and drama now has buildings capable of manufacturing the dopamine levels required for delirious fans wanting to cheer their teams to victory, and the climate of a building is often artificially produced through lights or video … Read more
Longtime ECAC Hockey commissioner Steve Hagwell has announced his retirement, effective at the conclusion of the 2022-23 fiscal year. Hagwell is the longest-serving commissioner of ECAC Hockey, having seen the storied league through its evolution to a single-sport conference and into one of the most competitive leagues in the sport. “Having had the honor, privilege … Read more
Ah yes, the holidays. It’s a time for family and friends to celebrate a jolly fat man in a red suit as he squeezes his way down chimneys with a reckless abandon for the possibility of getting roasted by the embers of burning winter yule log. It’s a time to sit around the table and … Read more
A little under a decade ago, old friend and former colleague Dave Hendrickson created a list of 20 things that made him thankful about covering Hockey East. It was a departure from the usual format of how we do our weekly columns, but it struck a chord with me at a time when I was … Read more
My most memorable college hockey game occurred when Brown hosted Princeton during the 2019 ECAC Hockey tournament’s first round. It was the second game of a best-of-three series, but it was the third consecutive game between the two teams after they played the last game of the season and managed to land in a playoff … Read more
ECAC Hockey has announced changes to the postseason tournament format for its men’s and women’s conferences. Effective March 2023, the men’s tournament will feature a single-game first-round format the weekend of March 4-6 with seed Nos. 5-8 hosting seed Nos. 9-12. The four winners of the first-round games will advance to the league quarterfinals March … Read more
The past two years offered some of the most shape-shifting and chaotic times in college hockey. Conferences realigned, teams expanded and contracted, and new leagues formed. Future changes were thrust into a white-hot spotlight, and the bedrock emotional culture of the sport ranged from anxiety and fear to excitement and anticipation. Through it all, ECAC … Read more
Defending Cleary Cup champion Quinnipiac has finished atop the preseason coaches poll with eight of 12 first-place votes. Harvard, who won the 2022 Whitelaw Cup with an overtime victory over Quinnipiac, received four first-place votes and finishes in second place. In addition, a preseason all-ECAC Hockey team was announced. ECAC HOCKEY PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL (First-place … Read more
Princeton has added Shane Talarico to its men’s hockey coaching staff as an assistant coach. Talarico joins the Tigers from Cornell where he most recently served as director of hockey operations from 2019 to 2022. Before that, Talarico was an assistant coach at Skidmore from 2017 to 2019. “We are thrilled to have Shane Talarico … Read more
ECAC Hockey has announced its three all-league teams for the 2021-22 season. FIRST TEAM ALL-LEAGUE Forward: Alex Campbell, So., Clarkson Forward: Mathieu Gosselin, Jr., Clarkson Forward: Nick Abruzzese, Jr., Harvard Defenseman: Zach Metsa, Sr., Quinnipiac Defenseman: Sam Malinski, Jr., Cornell Goaltender: Yaniv Perets, So., Quinnipiac SECOND TEAM ALL-LEAGUE Forward: Zach Tsekos, Gr., Clarkson Forward: Ture … Read more
All four home teams won their playoff series in the opening round of the ECAC Hockey postseason. Now, they’ll head on the road to try and repeat that success. Colgate and Union swept their respective opponents, while St. Lawrence and Rensselaer won in three games. The Saints beat Brown 4-3 in overtime on Sunday, while … Read more
In the end, there was relatively little change in the standings during the final regular-season weekend in ECAC Hockey. Three of the top four teams – Quinnipiac, Clarkson, and Harvard – entered the weekend having already clinched a first-round bye. The fourth team, Cornell, blanked Princeton 4-0 Saturday to hold on to the final top-four … Read more
With a month left in the regular season, the top four teams in ECAC Hockey have started to pull away from the rest of the pack. Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Harvard and Cornell are clearly the top dogs in what has been a mostly underwhelming year for the conference. It would be an upset if any of … Read more
On Saturday evening, New England Hockey Journal contributor Mark Divver tweeted that the University of New Hampshire men’s program looked into using one of the UNH women’s team goalies as their backup but couldn’t fulfill NCAA requirements in time to make it happen. While New Hampshire looked into the option of dressing a women’s … Read more
Due to COVID-19 concerns and safety protocols within the Yale men’s hockey program, the games at Princeton and Quinnipiac on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 7-8, have been postponed. The games will be rescheduled for a date and time to be determined.