Championship Weekend is here. Lake Placid’s time has finally arrived! With two rounds behind us, ECAC Hockey has reached the final weekend of its postseason tournament.
Four teams will travel north to Herb Brooks Arena. According to USCHO.com, one team — Quinnipiac — has already secured an NCAA tournament bid. Two teams — Yale and Princeton — are likely to receive at-large bids, but could miss out if results from around the country don’t go their way. And lastly, Cornell will be playing for its season, needing to win on Friday and Saturday to earn ECAC Hockey’s auto bid to reach the NCAA tournament.
But before we dig into the upcoming weekend, let’s take a look at how we got here.
The First Round
Friday, Feb. 20th: No. 12 seed Union 2, No. 5 seed Clarkson 1
I’m not sure how to describe the size of this upset. Clarkson missed out on a first round bye by 2.5 points, falling to Cornell on the final day of the season in a battle over the four seed. Meanwhile, Union finished at the bottom of the ECAC Hockey standings with 11.5 points — 29.5 less than Clarkson. Here are some other crazy facts about this upset…
Coming into this matchup, Clarkson:
- Owned a 43-1 record against the Garnet Chargers
- Had lost once to Union, in 2011, also by a score of 2-1
- Had never lost to Union at Cheel Arena
- Outscored the Garnet Chargers 10-3 across its two regular season wins
- Rostered two 2026 All-ECAC first teamers and an All-ECAC third team selection
On the other side, Union:
- Had no player received an All-ECAC honor
- Owned a single playoff win in program history
- Was missing its starting goaltender, Monja Wagner, due to the Olympics
So with seemingly everything stacked against Union, how did the Garnet Chargers pull off the upset?
Emma Rhéaume played a big part. The freshman made ludicrous save after ludicrous save, allowing a single goal on 40 shots, including a 19 save third period. Seriously, the save in this highlight video is just insane.
Friday, Feb. 20th: No. 6 seed Colgate 4, No. 11 seed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2
Saturday, Feb. 21st: No. 7 seed Brown 7, No. 10 seed Dartmouth 2
Saturday, Feb. 21st: No. 8 seed Harvard 3, No. 9 seed St. Lawrence 2 (OT)
Outside of Clarkson, the hosts managed to avoid being upset in the first round, although Harvard and Colgate certainly had to battle to survive and advance. RPI struck first in Hamilton, but a pair of Alexis Petford goals led the Raiders to a solid win over the Engineers.
In Meehan Auditorium, Brown jumped out to a three goal lead — survived a two goal comeback attempt that cut the lead to one midway through the middle frame — and cruised to the quarterfinals. This could have been a different game with Michaela Hesová in net, but with the Czech national still in Italy, Jiahui Zhan struggled in her playoff debut.
And lastly, the game that looked on paper to be the best matchup of the opening round completely delivered. St. Lawrence jumped out to 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but each time Harvard was able to counter. Interestingly, the Saints elected to start Kassidy Lawrence in net over the more experienced Emma-Sofie Nordström. While Lawrence fared well in regulation, she allowed the strangest goal of the tournament three minutes into overtime.
The Quarterfinals
No. 12 seed Union at No. 1 seed Yale:
Friday, Feb. 27th: Yale wins 4-2
Saturday, Feb. 28th: Yale wins 6-1
It turned out that Union did have some magic left after knocking off Clarkson. The Garnet Chargers fell behind early thanks to conceding a penalty shot, but fought back to eventually tie game one 2-2 early in the third period. However, the Bulldog offense eventually broke through with a power-play goal midway through the final frame, and Carina DiAntonio sealed the deal with her second goal of the game.
Rhéaume got the start for Union in game one and made an impressive 38 saves, but game two was a different story. Rhéaume lasted just 14 minutes — allowing four goals on nine shots — before she was replaced by Wagner. Seniors Grace Gilkyson and Jordan Ray paced the Bulldogs in scoring with four points apiece in the win.
No. 6 seed Colgate at No. 4 seed Cornell:
Friday: Feb. 27th: Cornell wins 3-2 (OT)
Saturday, Feb. 28th: Cornell wins 3-1
This rivalry rocks. For the fourth time in five seasons, Cornell and Colgate met in the ECAC playoffs. It was close, physical and intense. On Friday night, the Red jumped out to a two goal lead before Petford scored power-play and extra-attacker goals in the third period to send the game to overtime. However, Avi Adam spoiled the Petford effort with an overtime game winner.
The following day was close again, but this time the Raiders could not come back in the fourth. Annelies Bergmann was phenomenal all weekend, allowing three goals on 58 shots against a potent Colgate offense.
No. 7 seed Brown at No. 3 seed Quinnipiac
Friday: Feb. 27th: Quinnipiac wins 6-3
Saturday, Feb. 28th: Brown wins 3-2 (OT)
Sunday, Feb 29th: Quinnipiac wins 5-4
This series really deserves its own article. In game one, Brown held Kahlen Lamarche to “just” two goals, but Felicia Frank made 37 saves to keep the Bears from successfully mounting a comeback bid.
Anya Zupkofska made her playoffs debut in game two and was brilliant for Brown, tallying 49 saves in the overtime win. Margot Norehad beat Frank four minutes into overtime to even the series.
Game three seemed destined to be a Bobcat blowout win when Lamarche fired a shorthanded goal past Zupkofska to put Quinnipiac up 3-1 in the second. She scored again three minutes later to bring the lead back up to two goals, and finished off her hat trick in the third period. Then came the comeback. Jade Iginla on the power play and India McDadi with the empty net brought Brown within one. For over three minutes the Bears furiously tested Frank, but the sophomore stood tall, making a series of excellent saves.
No. 8 seed Harvard at No. 2 seed Princeton
Friday: Feb. 27th: Princeton wins 1-0
Saturday, Feb. 28th: Harvard wins 3-1
Sunday, Feb 29th: Princeton wins 5-1
Ainsley Tuffy was going to steal at least one game for Harvard, but the question was if she could shut down Princeton’s fearsome top-line twice. In game 1, Tuffy made 21 saves in the opening stanza but could not stop a two-on-none goal for Issy Wunder.
In game two, The Crimson found its offensive footing and Tuffy earned her second playoff win after making 41 saves. But the Tigers began to solve Tuffy in game three, scoring the first four goals of the game to earn the series win.
Lake Placid Preview
Friday, March 6th at 4 p.m.: No. 1 seed Yale vs. No. 4 seed Cornell (ESPN+)
Storylines:
Who gets the start in net for Yale?
Samson Frey has been electric for the Bulldogs in 2026. The freshman is 14-1 since the calendar flipped, and is allowing 1.32 goals per game. However, junior Anna Phillips got both starts against Union last weekend. While Phillips played fine — and has 12 starts this season — statistically, Frey is the better option for Yale. Did head coach Mark Bolding just want to give Frey a break, or is there something else going on in New Haven?
Can Adam keep scoring?
In last year’s Frozen Four run, Cornell relied on a scoring by committee offensive strategy. This year, the Red are again using a team-wide approach to goal scoring, with no player entering the weekend with more than 12 goals. While having goal-scoring depth is definitely key, sometimes in the playoffs you need someone to get you a goal when your team needs it most (for example, Lamarche).
Against Colgate, Adam was that player. Her shot has made a big jump this season, and it showed in both her game-winning goals in the quarterfinals. If she can bring her momentum into the semifinal and final, it would be a big boost for the Red.
Friday, March 6th at 7 p.m.: No. 2 seed Princeton vs. No. 3 seed Quinnipiac (ESPN+)
Storylines:
Can Princeton stop Lamarche?
If anyone can, it might be the Tigers. The nation’s leading goal scorer tallied seven goals and eight points in the quarterfinals, but was held point-less against Princeton in both regular season contests (which helps explain why the Tigers won both games). Though Princeton’s defense is on the younger side and Uma Corniea lacked playoff experience entering this season, the Tiger’s defense did a nice job of limiting Harvard’s streaky offense in the quarterfinals.
How will two of the nation’s best defenses deal with star power?
Lamarche is lethal. The Wunder-Emerson O’Leary-Mackenzie Alexander Princeton top line is probably the best in the conference. But… Princeton and Quinnipiac are tied for the third-best defense in Division I, and allow just 1.6 goals per game. Add in Corniea and Frank, and it’s difficult to tell what type of game will be played.
My guess: both teams will stay disciplined defensively in the opening two periods, but the third will turn into a bit of a track meet. Both teams have the ability to turn a game on its head in an instant, so don’t be surprised if we get a back-and-forth affair.
Championship game: Saturday, March 7th, 5 p.m. (ESPN+)
Thanks for making it all the way to the end! I’ll have a weekend recap — and an article about what those around the conference thought of the inaugural off-campus Championship Weekend — out next week.