1997 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 1997 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 36th tournament in league history. It was played between March 4 and March 15, 1997.[4] Preliminary and quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the 'final four' games were played at the Olympic Arena (subsequently renamed Herb Brooks Arena) in Lake Placid, New York. By winning the tournament, Cornell received the ECAC's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 1997 ECAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 4–15, 1997 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Finals site | Olympic Arena Lake Placid, New York |
| Champions | Cornell[1] (9th title) |
| Winning coach | Mike Schafer[2] (2nd title) |
| MVP | Jason Elliott[3] (Cornell) |
ECAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
Format
The tournament featured four rounds of play. The two teams that finish below tenth place in the standings are not eligible for tournament play. In the preliminary round, the seventh and tenth seeds and the eighth and ninth seeds each play a single game to determine the final qualifying teams for the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals the first seed and lower ranked qualifier, the second and higher ranked qualifier, the third seed and sixth seed and the fourth seed and fifth seed played a modified best-of-three series, where the first team to receive 3 points moves on. After the opening round, every series becomes a single-elimination game. In the semifinals, the highest seed plays the lowest remaining seed while the two remaining teams play with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers advancing to the third place game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| Clarkson† | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 34 | 94 | 54 | 37 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 154 | 91 | |
| Cornell* | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | 80 | 63 | 35 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 123 | 100 | |
| Vermont | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 67 | 60 | 36 | 22 | 11 | 3 | 125 | 105 | |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | 83 | 71 | 36 | 20 | 12 | 4 | 137 | 112 | |
| Union | 22 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 25 | 63 | 54 | 34 | 18 | 13 | 3 | 106 | 79 | |
| Princeton | 22 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 25 | 70 | 59 | 34 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 111 | 103 | |
| Colgate | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 23 | 79 | 79 | 33 | 16 | 14 | 3 | 126 | 124 | |
| Harvard | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 20 | 64 | 67 | 32 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 85 | 106 | |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 78 | 92 | 35 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 121 | 148 | |
| Yale | 22 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 14 | 61 | 82 | 32 | 10 | 19 | 3 | 90 | 114 | |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 75 | 100 | 29 | 10 | 17 | 2 | 105 | 121 | |
| Brown | 22 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 81 | 114 | 29 | 7 | 19 | 3 | 108 | 148 | |
| Championship: Cornell † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Coaches Poll Top 10 Poll | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
Teams are reseeded after the first two rounds
| Preliminary Round March 4 |
Quarterfinals March 7-9 |
Semifinals March 14 |
Championship March 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Clarkson | 5 | 4 | — | 1 | Clarkson | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Colgate | 0 | 10 | Yale | 2 | 1 | — | 6 | Princeton | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 10 | Yale | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Cornell | 2* | 4 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Harvard | 4 | 8 | Harvard | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | Clarkson | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | St. Lawrence | 2 | 2 | Cornell | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Vermont | 2 | 7 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Princeton | 3 | 1 | 3 | Third Place | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Rensselaer | 3 | 3 | — | 2 | Cornell | 5 | 4 | Rensselaer | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | Union | 1 | 1 | — | 4 | Rensselaer | 3 | 6 | Princeton | 4 | |||||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
(1) Clarkson vs. (10) Yale
| March 7 | Clarkson | 5 – 2 | Yale | Cheel Arena | ||||
| March 8 | Clarkson | 4 – 1 | Yale | Cheel Arena | ||||
| Clarkson won series 2–0 | |
(2) Cornell vs. (8) Harvard
| March 7 | Cornell | 2 – 2 | OT | Harvard | Lynah Rink | |||
| March 8 | Cornell | 4 – 1 | Harvard | Lynah Rink | ||||
| Cornell won series 1–0–1 | |
(3) Vermont vs. (6) Princeton
| March 7 | Vermont | 2 – 3 | Princeton | Gutterson Fieldhouse | ||||
| March 8 | Vermont | 7 – 1 | Princeton | Gutterson Fieldhouse | ||||
| March 9 | Vermont | 2 – 3 | Princeton | Gutterson Fieldhouse | ||||
| Princeton won series 2–1 | |
(4) Rensselaer vs. (5) Union
| March 7 | Rensselaer | 3 – 1 | Union | Houston Field House | ||||
| March 8 | Rensselaer | 3 – 1 | Union | Houston Field House | ||||
| Rensselaer won series 2–0 | |
Tournament awards
All-Tournament Team
- F Todd White (Clarkson)
- F Jean-Francois Houle (Clarkson)
- F Matt Garver (Rensselaer)
- D Steve Wilson (Cornell)
- D Jason Dailey (Cornell)
- G Jason Elliott* (Cornell)
References
- "Cornell Men's Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- "Mike Schafer Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
- "ECAC Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- "ECAC Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- "2008-09 ECAC Hockey Media Guides". ECAC Hockey. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- "Men's All-Tournament Teams" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2014-04-26.