The 2023–24 ECAC Hockey men's season was the 63rd season of play for ECAC Hockey and will take place during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The season began on October 7, 2023, and concluded on March 31, 2024 with Quinnipiac losing in the East Regional Final of the NCAA tournament.
Coaches Colgate hired Mike Harder to replace Don Vaughan who had retired after 30 years as the team's head coach.
Records Team Head coach Season at school Record at school ECAC Hockey recordBrown 14 123–242–53 79–165–42Clarkson 13 216–169–55 112–87–34Colgate 1 0–0–0 0–0–0Cornell 28 520–282–105 325–168–79Dartmouth 3 12–46–4 9–32–3Harvard 19 298–240–66 199–153–55 Princeton 9 80–153–23 48–101–17Quinnipiac 29 615–337–103 220–121–51Rensselaer 6 65–108–13 43–62–5St. Lawrence 5 38–73–15 25–46–10 Union 2 14–19–2 8–13–1Yale 17 266–215–49 180–149–31
Standings
Non-Conference record ECAC suffered in the rankings for two primary reasons; their poor non-conference record and the strength of their non-conference opponents. Only two of the twelve conference members (Cornell and Quinnipiac) ended up with winning records against other conferences. With other teams had marks close to .500, several members were far below even on the season. Harvard had a particularly bad campaign, losing all seven games out of conference. Because several of the wins that ECAC teams earned came against low-ranked opponents, they did not provide as much benefit to the conference as a whole. The end result was that, despite being undefeated in non-conference play and finishing with a record around .700, Cornell was still unable to ensure an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Regular season record Team TotalBrown 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–3–0 2–0–1 0–0–0 2–4–1Clarkson 1–1–0 1–2–0 1–1–0 2–1–0 1–1–0 0–0–0 6–6–0Colgate 3–1–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–4–2 0–2–0 0–0–0 3–7–2Cornell 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–0–1 2–0–1 2–0–0 5–0–2Dartmouth 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–0–0 1–3–0 0–0–2 0–0–0 2–3–2Harvard 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–6–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–7–0Princeton 2–0–1 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 2–4–1Quinnipiac 3–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 3–4–1 1–0–0 0–0–0 7–4–1Rensselaer 2–0–0 0–0–0 1–1–0 0–6–1 0–0–0 0–0–0 3–7–1St. Lawrence 1–1–1 0–1–0 1–2–1 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–2–0 2–8–2Union 1–1–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 2–3–0 2–0–0 0–2–0 5–6–0Yale 1–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–1–0 1–1–0 0–2–0 3–4–0Overall 14–5–2 1–5–0 4–4–1 10–35–5 9–5–4 2–6–0 40–60–12
Statistics Leading scorers GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes Player Class Team GP G A Pts PIM Junior 20 14 19 33 2 Freshman 22 16 15 31 8 Junior 22 10 20 30 10 Senior 22 9 17 26 6 Sophomore 22 9 15 24 16 Sophomore 21 6 18 24 23 Sophomore 22 11 12 23 4 Senior 22 4 18 23 12 Freshman 22 9 12 21 12 Senior 22 8 13 21 10 Senior 20 10 11 21 18 Senior 22 9 12 21 6
Leading goaltenders Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games. GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average Player Class Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA Junior 21 1229:52 12 4 4 37 2 .914 1.81 Senior 16 951:02 13 2 1 29 3 .915 1.83 Freshman 16 906:56 6 7 2 29 2 .928 1.92 Sophomore 12 705:28 5 2 4 26 2 .931 2.21 Graduate 15 841:38 8 5 1 32 1 .908 2.28
ECAC tournament
NCAA tournament
East Regional Regional semifinal
Game summary
Regional final
Game summaryBoth teams started the game quickly, alternating rushes up the ice. The first good scoring chance went to BC's Ryan Leonard who skated through the Bobcat defense and got the puck behind Vinny Duplessis after following up his rebound. Fortunately for Quinnipiac, their defense was first on the loose puck and cleared it out of the zone. Neither team was particularly sound with the puck with both committing turnovers. The Eagles began to get the offense going in the middle part of the first but Quinnipiac's defense was quick to respond. During one of the counter rushes towards the BC net, Gabe Perreault hooked an otherwise wide-open Christophe Fillion and gave the bobcats the first power play of the game. Quinnipiac set up in the Boston College zone and fired a barrage of shots on goal. Jacob Fowler and the defense managed to turn aside several good shots and melt down a handful of other potential chances. Aram Minnetian got control of the puck right when Perreault was coming out of the box and got the winger on a breakaway. Perreault ended up getting three shots on goal from right in front of the next but Duplessis stood strong and stopped the all. During the play that followed, Zach Tupker was called for a minor penalty in front of the BC net to give the Eagles a chance with the man-advantage. Within 30 seconds, Cutter Gauthier was set up with a glorious redirect in front but Duplessis made a highlight-reel save with his left pad. Boston College continued to press and got a few more good chances until Jack Malone knocked a rebound into the net. The referee immediately waved off the goal for being hit with a high stick and the call stood after a review. The Eagles kept their foot on the gas and put a great deal of pressure on the Bobcat defense and ended up forcing C. J. McGee into a hooking penalty. The nation's #2 power play had trouble getting set up in the Quinnipiac zone thanks to solid checking. Near the end of the power play and period, Will Smith cross-checked Victor Czerneckianair and was handed a minor penalty.
Quinnipiac got set up on their power play as soon as play resumed and they remained in the BC end for well over a minute. Just before the end of the man-advantage, a tip from Jacob Quillan found its way between Fowler's legs for the opening goal. Just 35 second later, a shot from Iivari Räsänen along the high wall got past a screened Fowler and Quinnipiac suddenly had a 2-goal lead. On the ensuing play, Czerneckianair was whistled for high-sticking and it took just 8 seconds for Gauthier to set up Leonard for the Eagles' first goal. Even with the BC power play, the first half of the second was largely played in the BC end but, as time wore on, the Eagles began to get to their offensive game. Just before the mid-way point of the match, Jayden Lee took a slashing penalty and gave Boston College yet another chance on the power play. The Bobcats kept BC to the outside and managed to stave off a repeat but just after Lee had exited the box, Andre Gasseau fired the puck from the top of the left circle past a partially screened Duplessis to tie the game. A few minutes later, during a broken play in the Bobcats' end, BC flubbed a scoring chance and Smith committed a hooking penalty as Quinnipiac started back up the ice. Quinnipiac found it far tougher to set up in the offensive zone on their second man-advantage and the Boston College kept the game tied. Immediately after the end of the power play, BC tried to find Smith for a breakaway but they were called for icing. On the ensuing faceoff, Fillion was able to find a loose puck right in front of the goal, kick it to his stick and fire it past Fowler in one motion. A few minutes later, as BC was moving the puck up the ice, Collin Graf was given a minor for interference on a fairly controversial play. It took a minute for Leonard to get the puck behind the Bobcat cage and wrap it around for his second goal of the game. Just seconds later, Drew Fortescue was given a questionable penalty on what was considered a makeup call by the broadcast analyst. Quinnipiac get set up in the offensive zone and remained their most of the power play but they could not find any clear lanes to the net and didn't get a shot on goal for almost a minute. BC was able to hold on and make it to the buzzer without allowing a further goal.
With just 18 second left in their man-advantage, Quinnipiac quickly got into the BC zone and got the puck to Graf at the right point. He fired a shot that missed the net but bounced out the other side right to Quillan, who fired it from a very sharp angle into the net. The Eagles tried to get back to their game afterwards but several possessions were cancelled out by turnovers or solid defensive play from the Bobcats. After a few minutes, Boston College settled down and began applying pressure on Duplessis. On a counterattack at the 5-minute mark, Fowler made a save but the puck bounced to Fillion, who had a half-open net. He hesitated for a half-second before shooting but in that time the puck rolled off of the toe of his stick and the shot went wide. Quinnipiac took over after the near-miss and combination of speed and physical play to not only prevent the Eagles from getting a good shot on Duplessis but also generate further chances for themselves. Rather than slow the game down, Quinnipiac kept their pace high and force Boston College to try and get through a tight-checking defense without time to think. Seemingly, the best BC was able to do was get a single shot on goal before the Bobcats closed ranks and either cleared the zone or got a stop from their goalie. Quinnipiac's suffocating defense allowed just 3 shots to the Eagles through 14 minutes and even when the Bobcats made a mistake with the puck, fortune had the puck slide away from an Eagle player, or hop over a stick. With under 5 minutes to play, Boston College finally managed to do something with a turnover and Aram Minnetian tied the game with a laser from the high slot. A few minutes later, the BC faithful were up in arms when a trip on Smith went uncalled and Quinnipiac got back to their offensive game. The game sped up even more in the final few minutes but the choppy ice seemed to interfere with several rushes. BC made a furious charge at the end but time ran out before the winning goal could be scored.
At the start of overtime, Boston College had trouble getting out of their own zone. Turnovers, forechecking and icings hemmed the Eagles in their defensive zone for most of the first two minutes and forced Greg Brown to call a timeout to give his team a breather. The Eagles were finally able to break through the Bobcats' defense at around the 4-minute mark and a shot from the point was tipped in on Duplessis. The goaltender lost his balance and was unable to freeze the puck. Cristophe Tellier tried to clear the puck but it went right to the stick of Jack Malone who fired it between the legs of McGee for the winning goal.
Northeast Regional Regional semifinal
Game summaryThe start to the game was delayed by an hour and a half due to the other semifinal going into overtime. Once the match began, however, Maine jumped on the puck and attacked the Cornell cage. Ian Shane was able to hold off the Black Bears and The Big Red's staunch defense swiftly came to his aid. Play evened out afterwards and Cornell began to test the Maine goaltender. On a missed chance by the Big Red, the puck was quickly moved up the ice by the Bears. When the Cornell defender blew a tire, Harrison Scott was able to skate to an open spot in the slot and fire the puck over Shane's glove. A few minutes later, Ryan Walsh left his feet when he went to check Bradly Nadeau along the half wall and was given a major penalty. Maine used the time well, keeping the pressure on the Cornell net for most of the 5 minutes but they were unable to build on their lead. After killing off the penalty, Cornell got back to its game and began to pressure Maine on the forecheck. Gabriel Seger was able to steal the puck in the offensive zone and sent the rubber to an open Kyle Penney. Penney walked in a fired the shot from the high slot, beating Östman in the top corner. Maine carried the balance of play for the remainder of the period but were stymied by the Cornell defense.