# 2002 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 2002 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 41st tournament in league history. It was played between March 8 and March 16, 2002. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final five games were played at the Olympic Arena (subsequently renamed Herb Brooks Arena) in Lake Placid, New York. By winning the tournament, Harvard received the ECAC's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The tournament featured three 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 first and tenth seeds, the second and ninth seeds, the third seed and eighth seeds, the fourth seed and seventh seeds and the fifth seed and sixth seeds played a best-of-three series with the three highest-seeded winners advancing to the semifinals and the remaining two winners playing in the Four vs. Five matchup. After the opening round every series becomes a single-elimination game. In the semifinals, the highest seed plays the winner of the four vs. five game 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 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2001–02 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 |
| #9 Cornell† | 22 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 74 | 34 | 35 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 118 | 63 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 62 | 51 | 38 | 17 | 15 | 6 | 109 | 97 |
| #13 Harvard* | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 23 | 67 | 62 | 34 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 97 | 99 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 66 | 59 | 32 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 97 | 89 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 23 | 64 | 59 | 37 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 120 | 101 |
| Princeton | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 51 | 63 | 31 | 11 | 18 | 2 | 66 | 98 |
| Colgate | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 53 | 59 | 34 | 13 | 19 | 2 | 90 | 121 |
| Brown | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 52 | 53 | 31 | 14 | 15 | 2 | 72 | 80 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 20 | 62 | 64 | 34 | 11 | 21 | 2 | 83 | 107 |
| Yale | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 20 | 70 | 65 | 31 | 10 | 19 | 2 | 93 | 94 |
| Union | 22 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 19 | 53 | 58 | 32 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 94 | 90 |
| Vermont | 22 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 7 | 46 | 93 | 31 | 3 | 26 | 2 | 62 | 134 |
| Championship: Harvard † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll Top 15 Poll |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round of the Tournament.
| First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | Four vs. Five March 14 | Four vs. Five March 14 | Four vs. Five March 14 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Championship March 16 | Championship March 16 | Championship March 16 |
| 1 | Cornell | 2 | 4 | – | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Yale | 1 | 2 | – | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | 1 | Cornell | 3 | | | |
| 2 | Clarkson | 3 | 6 | – | 4 | Dartmouth | 1 | 5 | Rensselaer | 0 | | | |
| 9 | St. Lawrence | 1 | 1 | – | 5 | Rensselaer | 2 | | | | | | |
| 3 | Harvard | 4 | 2** | – | | | | | | | 1 | Cornell | 3 |
| 8 | Brown | 1 | 1 | – | | | | | | | 3 | Harvard | 4** |
| 4 | Dartmouth | 5** | 4 | – | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Colgate | 4 | 1 | – | | | | 2 | | | | Clarkson | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | 3 | Harvard | 3* | | | |
| 5 | Rensselaer | 5 | 6 | – | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Princeton | 3 | 0 | – | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) Cornell vs. (10) Yale

* Cornell won series 2–0

#### (2) Clarkson vs. (9) St. Lawrence

* Clarkson won series 2–0

#### (3) Harvard vs. (8) Brown

* Harvard won series 2–0

#### (4) Dartmouth vs. (7) Colgate

* Dartmouth won series 2–0

#### (5) Rensselaer vs. (6) Princeton

* Rensselaer won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (1) Cornell vs. (3) Harvard
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Tim Pettit (Harvard)
* F Matt Murley (Rensselaer)
* F Sam Paolini (Cornell)
* D Kerry Ellis-Toddington (Clarkson)
* D Douglas Murray (Cornell)
* G Matt Underhill (Cornell)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)