# 1996 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

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. 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 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 |
| 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 |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first two rounds
| Preliminary Round March 5 | Preliminary Round March 5 | Preliminary Round March 5 | Quarterfinals March 8–10 | Quarterfinals March 8–10 | Quarterfinals March 8–10 | Quarterfinals March 8–10 | Quarterfinals March 8–10 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Championship March 16 | Championship March 16 | 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 | Third Place | Third Place |
| | | | | | | | | 4 | Cornell | 3 |
| | | | 4 | Cornell | 8 | 8 | — | | | | 1 | Vermont | 3 |
| | | | 5 | Colgate | 3 | 1 | — | | | | 2 | Clarkson | 1 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Vermont vs. (8) Rensselaer

* Vermont won series 2–0

#### (2) Clarkson vs. (7) Brown

* Clarkson won series 2–0

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

* Harvard won series 2–1

#### (4) Cornell vs. (5) Colgate

* Cornell won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (4) Cornell vs. (6) Harvard
## 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)