2012 ECAC West Tournament The 2012 ECAC West Tournaments took place in February and March 2012 . = Men = = Women = The regular season champions were the RIT Tigers . It was RIT ' s second straight regular season championship , going 23 - 1 - 1 overall and 16 - 1 - 1 in - conference . The seeds for the tournament are : The Buffalo State Bengals , Chatham Cougars , Utica Pioneers , and Cortland Red Dragons failed to qualify for the tournament . Quarterfinals . RIT and Plattsburgh received byes into the semifinals , leaving # 3 to host # 6 and # 4 to host # 5 on Saturday , February 25 . Potsdam at Elmira . Going into the penultimate weekend of the regular season , Elmira controlled their own destiny , needing only a single win in the two - game series against RIT to secure the regular season title . Instead , RIT swept the Soaring Eagles and took the conference championship , dropping Elmira to third place . Elmira ' s 2012 quarterfinal game was eerily similar to their 2011 game . In that game , Elmira got 53 shots on Utica ' s Marissa Hotaling but scored only once , lost the game , and were left out of the NCAA tournament . In 2012 , Elmira again peppered the net , this time shelling Potsdam ' s Jen Conophy with 47 shots , including 20 in the third period , but again only one puck went through . That one goal wasn ' t enough , as Potsdam scored twice on just 13 shots to advance to their first ECAC West semifinal matchup . Potsdam advanced to play RIT . Elmira exited early for the second straight year , and likewise fell out of national tournament contention for the second straight year . Neumann at Oswego . This game was a reversal of the 2011 matchup , with Oswego hosting instead of Neumann . This one wasn ' t nearly as close as 2011 ' s double - overtime nail - biter , though ; Oswego dominated in shots on goal , getting the game - winner on the power play with just one second left in the first period . The Lakers tacked on two insurance goals in the second . Oswego advanced to play Plattsburgh . Semi - finals . The teams were reseeded for this round . The championship weekend was March 3 and 4 at RIT . Potsdam at RIT . For the second year in a row , # 1 RIT faced a # 6 seed that had just knocked off Elmira the week before . Like Elmira , RIT initially had trouble solving Potsdam ' s netminder , pouring 29 shots onto net in the first two periods . Only one snuck past Conophy , however . The goal was scored by sophomore Kourtney Kunichika in the first . Potsdam tied it up on a breakway in the second , the result of a giveaway in the Bears ' zone that Jenn Crawford took up ice and put in past RIT ' s Ali Binnington . But in the third , the Tigers came out firing on all cylinders . Kim Schlattman scored just 28 seconds in , and RIT followed up with three more goals in the next eight minutes to take a commanding lead . By the time the sixth and final goal went in at 14 : 17 of the third , the final result was already a foregone conclusion . RIT advanced to its second straight ECAC West championship game . Oswego vs . Plattsburgh . Despite outshooting Oswego 34 – 18 , Plattsburgh netted only one goal . That was enough , however , as Sydney Aveson pitched the shutout for the Cardinals . Plattsburgh advanced to face RIT in the final for the second straight year . Final . Plattsburgh at RIT . Plattsburgh is appearing in its 11th consecutive ECAC West final , though they have won only two , in 2005 – 06 and 2006 – 07 . Previously this season , the Cardinals handed RIT the only blemishes on an otherwise perfect season : a 1 – 1 tie followed by a 3 – 1 win on home ice in Plattsburgh . This game was a goaltender ' s duel , much like the previous year ' s championship tilt . Both RIT ' s Laura Chamberlain and Plattsburgh ' s Sydney Aveson made save after save . Chamberlain , in particular , had to come up big in the second period , as Plattsburgh outshot the Tigers 10 – 2 , scoring once to tie the game at 1 . Despite the disparity in shots , though , RIT kept pressing through the end of the period ; Kim Schlattman brought the puck around behind the Plattsburgh net and dished it out in front , where it glanced off of Kourtney Kunichika ' s skate and trickled past Aveson into the net with less than a second on the clock . Kunichika ' s power play goal proved to be the game winner as neither team could score in the third . RIT wins its second straight ECAC West championship and earns the league ' s autobid to the NCAA tournament . Plattsburgh receives a Pool C bid into the tournament , unlike last year when they were left home due to upsets in other conferences .