# 1998 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 1998 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 37th tournament in league history. It was played between March 13 and March 21, 1998. 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, Princeton received the ECAC's automatic bid to the 1998 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 modified best-of-three series, where the first team to receive 3 points moves on, 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 1998 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
1997–98 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 |
| Yale† | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 82 | 44 | 35 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 121 | 80 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 86 | 48 | 35 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 128 | 87 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 26 | 87 | 75 | 35 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 126 | 110 |
| Brown | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 24 | 73 | 64 | 31 | 13 | 16 | 2 | 100 | 104 |
| Harvard | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 21 | 72 | 78 | 33 | 14 | 17 | 2 | 112 | 124 |
| Colgate | 22 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 21 | 69 | 75 | 35 | 16 | 15 | 4 | 116 | 126 |
| Princeton* | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 20 | 71 | 75 | 36 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 125 | 112 |
| Cornell | 22 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 19 | 55 | 68 | 33 | 15 | 16 | 2 | 84 | 101 |
| Vermont | 22 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 18 | 62 | 77 | 34 | 10 | 20 | 4 | 89 | 119 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 18 | 56 | 69 | 33 | 9 | 20 | 4 | 90 | 123 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 17 | 72 | 77 | 29 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 96 | 88 |
| Union | 22 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 42 | 76 | 32 | 6 | 22 | 4 | 74 | 117 |
| Championship: Princeton † 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 Round
| First Round March 13–15 | First Round March 13–15 | First Round March 13–15 | First Round March 13–15 | First Round March 13–15 | Four vs. Five March 19 | Four vs. Five March 19 | Four vs. Five March 19 | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Semifinals March 20 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 | Championship March 21 |
| 1 | Yale | 3* | 3* | 4 | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | St. Lawrence | 3 | 3 | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | 1 | Yale | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Clarkson | 2* | 5 | — | 7 | Princeton | 6 | 7 | Princeton | 2 | | | |
| 9 | Vermont | 1 | 3 | — | 8 | Cornell | 2 | | | | | | |
| 3 | Rensselaer | 4 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | 2 | Clarkson | 4 |
| 8 | Cornell | 5 | 0 | 5 | | | | | | | 7 | Princeton | 5** |
| 4 | Brown | 2 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Princeton | 3 | 0 | 5 | | | | 2 | | | | Clarkson | 6 |
| | | | | | | | | 5 | Harvard | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Harvard | 5 | 4 | — | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Colgate | 4 | 2 | — | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (1) Yale vs. (10) St. Lawrence

* Yale won series 1–0–2

#### (2) Clarkson vs. (9) Vermont

* Clarkson won series 2–0

#### (3) Rensselaer vs. (8) Cornell

* Cornell won series 2–1

#### (4) Brown vs. (7) Princeton

* Princeton won series 2–1

#### (5) Harvard vs. (6) Colgate

* Harvard won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (2) Clarkson vs. (7) Princeton
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Syl Apps III (Princeton)
* F Jeff Halpern* (Princeton)
* F Matt Reid (Clarkson)
* D Willie Mitchell (Clarkson)
* D Steve Shirreffs (Princeton)
* G Erasmo Saltarelli (Princeton)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)