# 2012 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 2012 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 2 and March 17, 2012 at campus locations and at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. The winner of the tournament received ECAC Hockey's automatic bid to the 2012 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 2012 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
2011–12 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 |
| #3 Union†* | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | 76 | 38 | 41 | 26 | 8 | 7 | 143 | 75 |
| #10 Cornell | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 66 | 46 | 35 | 19 | 9 | 7 | 100 | 79 |
| #18 Harvard | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 25 | 61 | 59 | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 106 | 100 |
| Colgate | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 60 | 57 | 39 | 19 | 17 | 3 | 121 | 113 |
| Quinnipiac | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 60 | 57 | 40 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 122 | 98 |
| Yale | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 74 | 61 | 35 | 16 | 16 | 3 | 123 | 106 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 22 | 57 | 60 | 39 | 16 | 17 | 6 | 105 | 109 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 21 | 50 | 64 | 36 | 14 | 19 | 3 | 88 | 120 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 19 | 63 | 74 | 33 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 93 | 102 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 17 | 43 | 61 | 39 | 12 | 24 | 3 | 78 | 111 |
| Princeton | 22 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 58 | 72 | 32 | 9 | 16 | 7 | 85 | 105 |
| Brown | 22 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 14 | 54 | 75 | 32 | 9 | 18 | 5 | 75 | 97 |
| Championship: Union 3, Harvard 1 † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

| First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | First round March 2–4 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Quarterfinals March 9–11 | Semifinals March 16 | Semifinals March 16 | Semifinals March 16 | Championship March 17 | Championship March 17 | Championship March 17 |
| | | | | | 1 | Union | 3 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 5 | Quinnipiac | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | Rensselaer | 2 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
| 12 | Brown | 4 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | 1 | Union | 6 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Colgate | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Cornell | 4** | 3 | — | | | | | | |
| 6 | Yale | 4 | 4 | 7 | 9 | Dartmouth | 3 | 1 | — | | | | | | |
| 11 | Princeton | 2 | 5* | 3 | | | | | | | | | 1 | Union | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Harvard | 1 |
| | | | | | 3 | Harvard | 1 | 4** | 8 | | | |
| 7 | Clarkson | 1 | 4*** | 1 | 6 | Yale | 2* | 3 | 2 | | | |
| 10 | Rensselaer | 5 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | 2 | Cornell | 1 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Harvard | 6 |
| | | | | | 4 | Colgate | 4 | 2 | 4 | | | | 2 | Cornell | 3 |
| 8 | St. Lawrence | 3 | 1 | — | 5 | Quinnipiac | 2 | 4 | 0 | | | | 4 | Colgate | 0 |
| 9 | Dartmouth | 6 | 4 | — | | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

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

* Quinnipiac wins series 2-1

#### (6) Yale vs. (11) Princeton

* Yale wins series 2-1

#### (7) Clarkson vs. (10) Rensselaer

* Rensselaer wins series 2-1

#### (8) St. Lawrence vs. (9) Dartmouth

* Dartmouth wins series 2-0

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Union vs. (10) Rensselaer

* Union Wins Series 2-0

#### (2) Cornell vs. (9) Dartmouth

* Cornell Wins Series 2-0

#### (3) Harvard vs. (6) Yale

* Harvard Wins Series 2-1

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

* Colgate Wins Series 2-1

### Championship
#### (1) Yale vs. (4) Cornell
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Daniel Carr (Union)
* F Alex Killorn (Harvard)
* F Jeremy Welsh* (Union)
* D Danny Biega (Harvard)
* D Shayne Gostisbehere (Union)
* G Troy Grosenick (Union)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)