# 2009 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 2009 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 48th tournament in league history. It was played between March 6 and March 21, 2009. First Round and Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. By winning the tournament, Yale received the ECAC Hockey automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The tournament features four rounds of play. In the first round, the fifth and twelfth, sixth and eleventh, seventh and tenth, and eighth and ninth seeds as determined by the final regular season standings play a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals. There, the first seed and lowest ranked first round winner, the second seed and second lowest ranked first round winner, the third seed and second highest ranked first round winner, and the fourth seed and highest ranked first round winner play a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play a single-game, with the winner advancing to the championship game and the loser advancing to the third place game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

### Regular season standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2008–09 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 |
| #10 Yale†* | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 32 | 74 | 48 | 34 | 24 | 8 | 2 | 113 | 76 |
| #12 Cornell | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 56 | 41 | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 92 | 74 |
| #15 Princeton | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 53 | 40 | 35 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 99 | 74 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 26 | 71 | 48 | 38 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 124 | 92 |
| Harvard | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 24 | 54 | 56 | 31 | 9 | 16 | 6 | 68 | 96 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 24 | 63 | 60 | 31 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 88 | 87 |
| Quinnipiac | 22 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 21 | 62 | 46 | 39 | 18 | 18 | 3 | 124 | 110 |
| Union | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 20 | 56 | 64 | 39 | 19 | 17 | 3 | 111 | 107 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 58 | 68 | 36 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 88 | 115 |
| Colgate | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 45 | 58 | 37 | 12 | 18 | 7 | 89 | 109 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 13 | 50 | 75 | 39 | 10 | 27 | 2 | 76 | 132 |
| Brown | 22 | 3 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 44 | 82 | 33 | 5 | 23 | 5 | 60 | 115 |
| Championship: Yale † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the First Round and Quarterfinals
| First round March 6–8 | First round March 6–8 | First round March 6–8 | First round March 6–8 | First round March 6–8 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Quarterfinals March 13–15 | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 |
| | | | | | 1 | Yale | 4 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
| 5 | Harvard | 0 | 0 | — | 12 | Brown | 2 | 0 | — | | | | | | |
| 12 | Brown | 1 | 2 | — | | | | | | 1 | Yale | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 4 | St. Lawrence | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Cornell | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Dartmouth | 2 | 1 | — | 11 | Rensselaer | 1 | 0 | 3 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Rensselaer | 3* | 3 | — | | | | | | | | | 1 | Yale | 5 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Cornell | 0 |
| | | | | | 3 | Princeton | 3 | 2 | 3 | | | |
| 7 | Quinnipiac | 3* | 4 | 4* | 8 | Union | 2 | 5 | 1 | | | |
| 10 | Colgate | 2 | 5* | 3 | | | | | | 2 | Cornell | 4** | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Princeton | 3 |
| | | | | | 4 | St. Lawrence | 5 | 5 | — | | | | 3 | Princeton | 2 |
| 8 | Union | 5 | 7 | — | 7 | Quinnipiac | 3 | 3 | — | | | | 4 | St. Lawrence | 2 |
| 9 | Clarkson | 3 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | | | | |

### First round
#### (5) Harvard vs. (12) Brown

* Brown won series 2–0

#### (6) Dartmouth vs. (11) Rensselaer

* Rensselaer won series 2–0

#### (7) Quinnipiac vs. (10) Colgate

* Quinnipiac won series 2–1

#### (8) Union vs. (9) Clarkson

* Union won series 2–0

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Yale vs. (12) Brown

* Yale won series 2–0

#### (2) Cornell vs. (11) Rensselaer

* Cornell won series 2–1

#### (3) Princeton vs. (8) Union

* Princeton won series 2–1

#### (4) St. Lawrence vs. (7) Quinnipiac

* St. Lawrence won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (1) Yale vs. (2) Cornell
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Sean Backman* (Yale)
* F Dan Bartlett (Princeton)
* F Broc Little (Yale)
* D Ryan Donald (Yale)
* D Jared Seminoff (Cornell)
* G Alec Richards (Yale)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)