Cornell’s Ryan Walsh, right, hugs his head coach Mike Schaffer after the Cornell Big Red defeated the St. Lawrence Saints to win the ECAC title on Saturday at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Dartmouth and Cornell are headed here after securing quarterfinal victories to advance to the ECAC Hockey Men’s Championship round set for Friday and Saturday in the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

The defending Whitelaw Cup champion Cornell, the No. 6 seed, will take on top-seeded Quinnipiac in the first semifinal matchup Friday at 4 p.m., followed by No. 5 Dartmouth facing No. 2 Clarkson at 7 p.m. The winners will meet in Saturday’s championship game at 5 p.m., with the victor claiming the Scott M. Whitelaw Cup and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Bobcats, ranked No. 13 in the latest USCHO poll, swept Brown in the quarterfinals, highlighted by a 4-0 shutout led by standout goalie Matej Marinov and a two-goal performance from Tyler Borgula. Quinnipiac, the 2023 NCAA national champion, is a nine-time ECAC regular season champion in search of its third ECAC Hockey tournament title.

The Bobcats’ oppenent, Cornell, clinched a semifinal berth with a 3-0 shutout victory over No. 3 Colgate in Game 2 of their quarterfinal series. The Big Red return to Lake Placid aiming to defend their ECAC Hockey tournament title from a year ago. Head coach Mike Schafer, who has led Cornell since 1995, will retire at the end of the season, with longtime Clarkson head coach Casey Jones set to take over next season as the program’s 13th head coach.

The Golden Knights advanced to Lake Placid in dramatic fashion Sunday as freshman Luka Sukovic netted the game-winner in overtime for a 2-1 victory over Harvard in Game 3 of their quarterfinal matchup. Clarkson took the series opener 3-2 before Harvard forced a decisive third game with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2. Clarkson, ranked No. 18 in the latest USCHO poll, returns to Lake Placid for the first time since 2022.

Dartmouth punched its ticket to Lake Placid with a 7-2 win over No. 4 Union that completed a quarterfinal sweep. The Big Green advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive season, marking their first back-to-back appearances since 2005-06 and 2006-07. Dartmouth, still in search of its first ECAC Hockey title, fell to Cornell in last year’s semifinals.

The ECAC Tournament began in 1962 with the championships held at Boston Garden each year until 1993 when it moved to Lake Placid. The 2025 tournament marks the 21st Championship hosted at the Olympic Center. Cornell has won the most ECAC Hockey men’s tournament titles with 13, followed by Harvard with 11. No other program in the league’s history has won more than seven tournament trophies.

On March 9, 1989, the league paid tribute to retiring ECAC Commissioner Robert M. “Scotty” Whitelaw by announcing that the Men’s Ice Hockey Championship trophy would be named the Whitelaw Cup. Whitelaw joined the ECAC in 1960 as Assistant Commissioner, two years before the ECAC Division I Ice Hockey Championship was formalized.

Tickets for this weekend’s ECAC Tournament will be $70 for two-day pass, and $50 for a single day. Those interested can purchase their tickets at, tinyurl.com/za9m3hxe.