# 1972 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 1972 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 11th tournament in league history. It was played between March 7 and March 11, 1972. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the 'final four' games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. By reaching the championship game both, Boston University and Cornell received invitations to participate in the 1972 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play, all of which were single-elimination. The top eight teams, based on winning percentage, qualified to participate in the tournament. In the quarterfinals the first seed and eighth seed, the second seed and seventh seed, the third seed and sixth seed and the fourth seed and fifth seed played against one another. 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.

## Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; Pct. = Winning percentage; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against
1971–72 ECAC Hockey standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | Pct. | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Cornell† | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0 | .850 | 117 | 58 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 175 | 82 |
| Harvard | 21 | 16 | 4 | 1 | .786 | 118 | 62 | 26 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 127 | 76 |
| Boston University* | 20 | 15 | 4 | 1 | .775 | 88 | 53 | 31 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 155 | 69 |
| Pennsylvania | 21 | 14 | 7 | 0 | .667 | 107 | 75 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 122 | 90 |
| New Hampshire | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | .667 | 82 | 61 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 140 | 109 |
| Clarkson | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | .600 | 96 | 74 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 158 | 102 |
| Rensselaer | 17 | 9 | 7 | 1 | .559 | 64 | 62 | 27 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 123 | 84 |
| Providence | 17 | 9 | 8 | 0 | .529 | 73 | 75 | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 106 | 102 |
| Dartmouth | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | .528 | 81 | 78 | 24 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 120 | 103 |
| Boston College | 21 | 10 | 11 | 0 | .476 | 93 | 106 | 30 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 130 | 155 |
| Brown | 21 | 9 | 11 | 1 | .452 | 70 | 75 | 23 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 78 | 84 |
| St. Lawrence | 18 | 5 | 12 | 1 | .306 | 63 | 78 | 26 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 100 | 108 |
| Yale | 17 | 5 | 12 | 0 | .294 | 70 | 105 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 108 | 128 |
| Colgate | 19 | 5 | 14 | 0 | .263 | 52 | 94 | 26 | 8 | 18 | 0 | 83 | 122 |
| Princeton | 19 | 5 | 14 | 0 | .263 | 52 | 108 | 23 | 5 | 18 | 0 | 62 | 127 |
| Northeastern | 20 | 3 | 17 | 0 | .150 | 68 | 118 | 26 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 102 | 145 |
| Army | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | .100 | 29 | 44 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 0 | 99 | 88 |
| Championship: Boston University † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round
| Quarterfinals March 7 | Quarterfinals March 7 | Quarterfinals March 7 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Semifinals March 10 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 | Championship March 11 |
| 1 | Cornell | 11 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Providence | 1 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Providence | 1 | 1 | Cornell | 6 | | | |
| | | | 5 | New Hampshire | 3 | | | |
| 2 | Boston University | 8 | 5 | New Hampshire | 3 | | | |
| 7 | Rensselaer | 2 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Rensselaer | 2 | | | | 1 | Cornell | 1 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Boston University | 4 |
| 3 | Harvard | 6* | | | | | | | 2 | Boston University | 4 |
| 6 | Clarkson | 5 | | | |
| 6 | Clarkson | 5 | 2 | Boston University | 3 | Third Place | Third Place | Third Place |
| | | | 3 | Harvard | 1 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 3 | 3 | Harvard | 1 | 3 | Harvard | 1 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | 5 | | | | 5 | New Hampshire | 4 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)