Colgate's Carter Gylander (37) with the glove save on the quick wrister from Harvard's Marek Hejduk (13) as he would make 28 saves on the night for the title. It was time for the 2023 ECAC Hockey Championship. It would feature the powerhouse #2 seeded Harvard Crimson and the upstart and #5 seeded Colgate Red Raiders as they batt for this year's edition of the Whitelaw Cup at the Olympic Center Lake Placid in front of 3839 fans. The Red Raiders would come out firing as they were looking for the upset as Colton Young would get them on the board just 1:01 into the game with the powerplay goal. The game would stay there till the 12:47 mark of the period when brother Alex Young would give the Red Raiders the 2-0 lead and that's how the first period would end. In the second period, the Crimson would get on the board and cut the deficit to 2-1 on the Henry Thrun goal at the 6:01 mark. Although the 1 goal lead would be short-lived as Levi Glasman would score for the Red Raiders three minutes later to regain the two-goal lead at 3-1 and the game would stay there for the rest of the period. In the third period, the Crimson would keep fighting and get the game back within one with just over seven minutes left on the Matthew Coronato goal to make it a 3-2 game. From there though the Red Raider's defenses would be up to task as they would block 35 shots as a team in earning the 3-2 victory and being crowned the Whitelaw Cup champion for the first time since 1990 (33 years ago) and first for coach Don Vaughan along with giving the Red Raiders there first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014. In the winning effort, Carter Gylander would make 28 saves on 30 shots and 67 saves on 70 shots for the weekend in being named tournament Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. With the win, the Colgate Red Raiders will enter the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 with a record of 19-15-5 and while the Crimson would come up short in winning the title they will also get a bid to the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-7-2. Gallery

Harvard's Alex Laferriere (18) with jump shot on net as he was cutting in with Colgate's Nick Anderson (27) providing the screen on the net. Gallery

Harvard's Alex Laferriere (18) with the game-winner in overtime when he wrist pass Cornell's Ian Shane (30) to advance to the ECAC Tournament finals. It would be the second game of the day from the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, NY as part of the semi-final day of the ECAC Tournament and it would feature last year's conference tournament winner #2 Harvard Crimson, and the #3 Cornell Big Red for the right to face the #5 Colgate Red Raiders for the ECAC title the next day. These games would be all about the defenses and the physical play as the shots for the game would be 25-15 on the night in favor of the Crimson. These games would see only one goal in the game and it would take until the 4:28 mark of the overtime when Harvard's Alex LaFerriere would light the lamp and give the Crimson the 1-0 win. In the winning effort, Mitchell Gibson would make 15 saves on the night for the shutout victory and advance to the championship game against the Colgate Red Raiders. With the loss, the Cornell Big Red go to 20-10-2 on the season and will wait till selection Sunday to see if they make the NCAA Tournament. Gallery

Cornell's Sam Malinski (24) with the crunching hit on the Harvard forward as he crossed the blue line in the attacking zone. Gallery

Harvard's Mitchell Gibson (44) with the glove save as he being screened in front as part of 47 save the night. It would be the finals of the ECAC Men's Hockey Championship from the Herb Brooks Arena in front of 4400 fans for the first time since the covid-19 pandemic had started and it would feature the #1 Quinnipiac Bobcats and #3 Harvard Crimson. The upset-minded Crimson knew the only way they were headed to the NCAA was with a win go off to a quick start on a goal just 1:07 into the game from Ryan Siedem for the early lead. Although the Bobcats would not let the Crimson have the lead long as they would tie the game up at one on the TJ Friedmann goal at the 5:24 mark of the period. The game would stay there till the 9:24 mark of the second period on the powerplay goal from Ian Moore. The game would remain through the rest of the second period and most of the third period until there was 6:16 left in the game the Bobcats would tie the game up on the powerplay goal from Jayden Lee and eventually send the game to overtime. In the overtime, the Crimson would get the game-winner at the 9:18 mark from Matthew Coronato to secure the 3-2 victory and the automatic qualifier spot for the ECAC Hockey. In the winning effort, Matthew Gibson would make 47 saves as they will now head to the NCAA Tournament against Minnesota State while Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets would make 14 saves but still get the invite to the NCAA Tournament and will take on St. Cloud State. Gallery

Quinnipiac's Oliver Chau (12) with the open ice hit just inside the blueline on Harvard's Casey Dornbach (47) to break up the play. Gallery

Clarkson's Ethan Haider (47) extends the pad out for the save on the Harvard shot in close as part of a 29 save effort. It would be semi-final game number 2 and #2 Clarkson Golden Knights would take on the #3 Harvard Crimson as the Knights would look to retain their title in Lake Placid as they won the last tournament before the shutdown of Covid-19 back in 2019. The game would start off good for the upset minded Crimson as they would get the opening goal from Sean Farrell at the 8:20 mark of the first period. Although the Knights would not end the period quietly as they would get the equalizer with just over five minutes left in the period on the Alex Campbell powerplay goal. The game would stay there till the 10:59 mark of the second period when the Crimson would regain the lead at 2-1 on the Nick Abruzzese goal. Although the Golden Knights would tie the game back up again just two minutes later on the goal by Alex Campbell for the second time on the night and both on the powerplay. Then with just over three minutes left in the period the Golden Knights would get there first lead of the game on the Zach Tsekos goal and make it 3-2 Golden Knights leaded headed to the third period. Although the lead would be short lived as the Crimson would tie game up at the 4:23 mark of the period on Nick Abruzzeses second goal of the game. Then with just under five minutes left in the game the Crimson would take the lead for the third and final time on the night on the Matthew Coronato goal at 4-3 and would also add the empty netter in the closing seconds of the game. In the winning effort the Harvard Crimson advance to the ECAC Hockey Championship against the #1 Quinnipiac Bobcats and Mitchell Gibson would make 24 saves on the night while Clarkson's Ethan Haider would make 29 saves in the losing effort. Gallery

Harvard's Mitchel Gibson (44) with the save on Clarkson's Jack Jacome as they would crash the net looking for the equalizer. Gallery

Harvard's Benjamin Solin (11) with the hard check along te boards on the Clarkson player to break up the play. The #3 Clarkson Golden Knights would meet up with the #4 Harvard Crimson in the semi-finals of the ECAC Championships demi-finals at the Herb Brooks Arena in front of 4800 people, The Golden Knights would open up the scoring just 2:30 into the game on the Haralds Eagle goal. Then just over three minutes later the Knights would extend there lead to 2-0 on the Anthony Callin goal. The game would stay there till the thirteen minute mark when the Golden Knights would score again this time from Nicco Strum for the 3-0 lead. The Crimson would answer right back a minute later on the Adam Fox goal to make it 3-1. Then just over a minute into the third period Harvard's Jack Rathbone would score to make it a 3-2. Although the Golden Knights were having nothing of it as they scored twice from Jack Jacome and Jordan Schneider to secure the 5-2 victory. In the winning effort Jake Keily would make 26 saves as the Golden Knights advance to the finals of the ECAC Championship against the #2 Cornell Big Red. Gallery

Clarkson's Jake Keilly (29) with the glove save as part of a 26 save night to petverse the victory. Gallery