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1996 ECAC Men's ice hockey tournament
1996 ECAC Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 5–16, 1996
Teams	10
Finals site	Olympic Arena; Lake Placid, New York
Champions	Cornell (8th title)
Winning coach	Mike Schafer (1st title)
MVP	Jason Elliott (Cornell)
	ECAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 1995 1997 →

The 1996 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 35th tournament in league history. It was played between March 5 and March 16, 1996.^[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 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

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 1996 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

1995–96 ECAC Hockey standings v t e
	Conference							Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Vermont†	22	17	2	3	37	86	45	38	27	7	4	149	91
Clarkson	22	16	4	2	34	97	59	38	25	10	3	152	105
St. Lawrence	22	15	4	3	33	107	74	35	20	12	3	144	132
Cornell*	22	14	4	4	31	94	66	34	21	9	4	139	108
Colgate	22	13	5	4	30	95	60	34	17	13	4	136	117
Harvard	22	9	12	1	19	76	71	34	13	20	1	111	114
Brown	22	5	11	6	16	60	81	32	9	15	8	99	124
Rensselaer	22	7	13	2	16	63	77	35	10	22	3	116	131
Dartmouth	22	6	14	2	14	57	88	30	7	20	3	83	130
Princeton	22	5	14	2	13	59	81	30	7	19	4	78	117
Union	22	4	15	3	11	55	83	30	7	19	4	83	100
Yale	22	4	17	1	9	53	109	31	7	23	1	80	145
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

^[5]

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first two rounds

Preliminary Round March 5			Quarterfinals March 8–10					Semifinals March 15			Championship March 16

			1	Vermont	5	6	—
7	Brown	4	8	Rensselaer	2	4	—
10	Princeton	3						1	Vermont	3
								6	Harvard	4
			2	Clarkson	5	5	—
			7	Brown	2	3	—
											4	Cornell	2
											6	Harvard	1
			3	St. Lawrence	2	3	4
8	Rensselaer	5	6	Harvard	5	2	8
9	Dartmouth	4						2	Clarkson	0	Third Place
								4	Cornell	3
			4	Cornell	8	8	—				1	Vermont	3
			5	Colgate	3	1	—				2	Clarkson	1

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Preliminary round

(7) Brown vs. (10) Princeton

March 5

Brown

4 – 3

Princeton

Meehan Auditorium

(8) Rensselaer vs. (9) Dartmouth

March 5

Rensselaer

5 – 4

OT

Dartmouth

Houston Field House

Quarterfinals

(1) Vermont vs. (8) Rensselaer

March 8

Vermont

5 – 2

Rensselaer

Gutterson Fieldhouse

March 9

Vermont

6 – 4

Rensselaer

Gutterson Fieldhouse

Vermont won series 2–0

(2) Clarkson vs. (7) Brown

March 8

Clarkson

5 – 2

Brown

Cheel Arena

March 9

Clarkson

5 – 3

Brown

Cheel Arena

Clarkson won series 2–0

(3) St. Lawrence vs. (6) Harvard

March 8

St. Lawrence

2 – 5

Harvard

Appleton Arena

March 9

St. Lawrence

3 – 2

Harvard

Appleton Arena

March 10

St. Lawrence

4 – 8

Harvard

Appleton Arena

Harvard won series 2–1

(4) Cornell vs. (5) Colgate

March 8

Cornell

8 – 3

Colgate

Lynah Rink

March 9

Cornell

8 – 1

Colgate

Lynah Rink

Cornell won series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Vermont vs. (6) Harvard

March 15

Vermont

3 – 4

Harvard

Olympic Arena

(2) Clarkson vs. (4) Cornell

March 15

Clarkson

0 – 3

Cornell

Olympic Arena

Third place

(1) Vermont vs. (2) Clarkson

March 16

Vermont

3 – 1

Clarkson

Olympic Arena

Championship

(4) Cornell vs. (6) Harvard

March 16

Cornell

2 – 1

Harvard

Olympic Arena

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

F Mike Sancimino (Cornell)
F Martin St. Louis (Vermont)
F Tommy Holmes (Harvard)
D Steve Wilson (Cornell)
D Jeremiah McCarthy (Harvard)
G Jason Elliott* (Cornell)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

^[6]

References

^ "Cornell Men's Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
^ "Mike Schafer Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
^ "ECAC Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
^ "ECAC Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
^ "2008-09 ECAC Hockey Media Guides". ECAC Hockey. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
^ "Men's All-Tournament Teams" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2014.