# 1990 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 1990 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 29th tournament in league history. It was played between February 27 and March 11, 1990. Preliminary and quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the 'final four' games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. By winning the tournament, Colgate received the ECAC's automatic bid to the 1990 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
The Quarterfinal game between Colgate and Yale scheduled for March 3 was postponed until the following day due to a Zamboni malfunction.

## 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 first 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 seed and higher ranked qualifier, the third seed and sixth seed and the fourth seed and fifth seed played a two-game series to determine the winner. In the two games no overtime was permitted and if the two teams remained tied after the two games then a 10-minute mini-game would be played where a sudden-death overtime was allowed if the scheduled time did not produce a victor. 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 1990 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
1989–90 ECAC Hockey standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Colgate†* | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 101 | 62 | 38 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 179 | 119 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 131 | 107 | 34 | 20 | 14 | 0 | 176 | 151 |
| Cornell | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | 86 | 69 | 29 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 109 | 92 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | 91 | 77 | 35 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 156 | 116 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 26 | 87 | 74 | 32 | 13 | 15 | 4 | 113 | 123 |
| Harvard | 22 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 25 | 110 | 77 | 28 | 13 | 14 | 1 | 125 | 108 |
| Princeton | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 95 | 91 | 27 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 111 | 116 |
| Brown | 22 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 19 | 78 | 94 | 29 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 105 | 127 |
| Vermont | 22 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 16 | 71 | 96 | 31 | 9 | 20 | 2 | 98 | 134 |
| Yale | 22 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 13 | 75 | 105 | 29 | 8 | 20 | 1 | 102 | 146 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 58 | 98 | 26 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 69 | 124 |
| Army | 22 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 59 | 92 | 30 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 93 | 113 |
| Championship: Colgate † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first two rounds
| First Round February 27 | First Round February 27 | First Round February 27 | Quarterfinals March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 2–4 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 |
| | | | 1 | Colgate | 10 | 5 | — | | | | | | |
| 7 | Princeton | 1 | 10 | Yale | 3 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 10 | Yale | 5 | | | | | | 1 | Colgate | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | 4 | Clarkson | 3 | | | |
| | | | 2 | Rensselaer | 5 | 6 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | 8 | Brown | 3 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Colgate | 5 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Rensselaer | 4 |
| | | | 3 | Cornell | 6 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 8 | Brown | 7 | 6 | Harvard | 2 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
| 9 | Vermont | 5 | | | | | | 2 | Rensselaer | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | 3 | Cornell | 2 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Clarkson | 4 | 5 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | St. Lawrence | 1 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Colgate vs. (10) Yale

* Colgate won series 2–0

#### (2) Rensselaer vs. (8) Brown

* Rensselaer won series 2–0

#### (3) Cornell vs. (6) Harvard

* Cornell won series 2–0

#### (4) Clarkson vs. (5) St. Lawrence

* Clarkson won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (1) Colgate vs. (2) Rensselaer
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Joel Gardner (Colgate)
* F Craig Woodcroft* (Colgate)
* F Tony Hejna (Rensselaer)
* D Dave Tretowicz (Clarkson)
* D Dan Ratushny (Cornell)
* D Stephane Robitaille (Rensselaer)
* G Dave Gagnon (Colgate)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)