ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey . The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference , a consortium of over 300 college s in the eastern United States . This relationship ended in 2004 , however the ECAC acronym was retained in the name of the hockey conference . History . The ECAC Hockey League was founded in 1962 . In June 1983 , concerns that the Ivy League schools were potentially leaving the conference and disagreements over schedule length versus academics caused Boston University , Boston College , Providence , Northeastern and New Hampshire to decide to leave the ECAC to form what would become Hockey East , which began play in 1984 - 1985 season . By that fall , Maine also departed the ECAC for the new conference . This left the ECAC with twelve teams ( Army , Brown , Clarkson , Colgate , Cornell , Dartmouth , Harvard , Princeton , RPI , St . Lawrence , Vermont , and Yale ) . Army would stay in the conference until the end of the 1990 - 1991 season , at which point they became independent ( they now play in Atlantic Hockey ) and were replaced by Union College . Vermont left the ECAC for Hockey East at the end of the 2004 - 2005 season , and were replaced in the conference by Quinnipiac . Membership . As of the 2006 - 07 season , all ECAC schools participate with men ' s and women ' s teams , making ECAC Hockey the only Division I hockey conference with a full complement of teams for both sexes . Six of the members of ECAC Hockey are also members of the Ivy League , and all of the Ivy universities with Division I ice hockey programs are also members of ECAC Hockey . Neither the University of Pennsylvania nor Columbia University have intercollegiate ice hockey programs . UPenn supported an intercollegiate varsity hockey program in the past and was an ECAC Hockey member from 1966 to 1978 before the team was disbanded . The Ivy school that has the best regular season record against other Ivy opponents is crowned the Ivy League ice hockey champion . Yale won the 2009 Ivy League ice hockey championship . The Ivy League schools require their teams to play seasons that are about three weeks shorter than those of the other schools in the league . Thus , they enter the league schedule with fewer non - conference warm - up games , though Harvard competes in the annual Beanpot Tournament and Cornell hosts a holiday tournament in Estero , Florida . Men ' s ECAC championship games . From 1962 to 1992 , the ECAC Championship Game was held in Boston , Massachusetts , at the Boston Arena from 1962 to 1966 , and at Boston Garden from 1966 to 1992 . From 1993 to 2002 , the ECAC Championship Game was held at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid , New York . From2003 to 2010 , the ECAC Championship Game has been held at the Times Union Center ( formerly Pepsi Arena ) in Albany , New York . From 2011 to 2013 , the Championship will move to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City , New Jersey for three years . From 2014 to at least 2016 the Championship will be held at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid , New York . The winner of the game is awarded the Whitelaw Cup and receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Men ' s Division I Hockey Tournament . Cleary Cup . The Cleary Cup , named for former Harvard player and coach Bill Cleary , is awarded to the regular - season champion ( the team with the best in - conference record ) . At present , this team is given the top seed in the ECAC conference tournament ( including the first - round bye given to the top four seeded teams ) , but is not given any special consideration in the NCAA tournament . External Links . League website