ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament

For the New York City tournament, see ECAC Holiday Hockey Festival.

ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament

Sport	College ice hockey
Founded	1966
Ceased	1972
No. of teams	4
Venue(s)	Boston Garden
Most titles	Cornell (3)

ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament was an annual NCAA men's Division I ice hockey tournament held at the Boston Garden in Boston around the Christmas holiday from 1966 to 1972. It was preceded by a similar event, the Boston Garden Christmas Hockey Festival, which was held from 1963 to 1965.

Boston Garden Christmas Hockey Festival

The 1963 Beanpot final between Boston College and Harvard sold out the Boston Garden, with a few thousand more turned away. It was the third consecutive year that the Beanpot had sold out. On February 14, 1963, Boston Garden president Walter A. Brown and vice president and treasurer Edward J. Powers announced the creation of a college hockey festival that would take place that December. The Garden invited the city's four leading hockey teams (Boston College, Harvard, Boston University, and Northeastern) as well as the University of Toronto and Minnesota. The festival would take place around the same time as the ECAC Holiday Hockey Festival in New York City. ^[1] The first festival took place from December 20–21, and December 23, 1963. It was not a tournament, but instead a trophy was awarded to the most outstanding team. ^[2] Harvard won both of their games (a 4–1 victory over Toronto and a 5–2 win against Minnesota) and were declared the inaugural champion. ^{[3] [4]} Crimson defenseman Gene Kinasewich was awarded the most valuable player award. ^[5]

The 1964 festival was supposed to feature seven U.S. teams (Boston University, Northeastern, Boston College, Harvard, Providence, Colgate, and RPI) and one Canadian team (Royal Military College of Canada). ^[6] However, Colgate withdrew shortly before the event began and were replaced by Queen's University. ^[7] Boston University over came a 3–1 deficit to defeat Queen's University 4–3 and were awarded the Boston Garden Bowl as the most outstanding team. ^[8]

The third festival featured six teams (Boston University, Boston College, Toronto, Northeastern, Harvard, and Dartmouth). ^[9] Toronto beat Northeastern 9–1 and Harvard 7–5 and were declared the most outstanding team of the festival. Ward Passi of the Varsity Blues was elected most outstanding player. ^{[10] [11]}

ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament

In 1966, the Boston Garden Christmas Hockey Festival was replaced by the ECAC Holiday Hockey tournament. Defending NCAA champion Michigan State, Boston College, Northeastern, and Cornell were selected to compete in the first tournament. ^[12] Cornell beat Michigan State 3–2 in overtime to win the inaugural tournament. It was the first of three tournament victories for Cornell, who also won in 1968 and 1970. ^[13] The tournament was canceled after the 1972 edition due to poor attendance. ^[14]

Yearly results

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth place
1966	Cornell	Michigan State	Boston College	Northeastern
1967	Princeton	Boston College	Northeastern	Dartmouth
1968	Cornell	Boston College	New Hampshire	Princeton
1969	Harvard	Clarkson	Brown	Army
1970	Cornell	Boston College	New Hampshire	Dartmouth
1971	Boston University	RPI	New Hampshire	Northeastern
1972	Dartmouth	Boston College	Merrimack	New Hampshire

Most valuable player

Year	Winner	Team	Reference
1966	Doug Ferguson	Cornell	[15]
1967	John Ritchie	Princeton	[16]
1968	Ken Dryden Brian Cornell	Cornell	[17]
1969	Chris Gurry	Harvard	[18]
1970
1971	Dan Brady	Boston University	[19]
1972	Gordie Clark	New Hampshire	[20]

References

1. Rosa, Francis (February 15, 1963). "New Ice Tourney Set for Garden". The Boston Globe.
2. "Pairings Made For Christmas Hockey Festival". The Boston Globe. December 6, 1963.
3. "Harvard Six First in Holiday Tourney". The New York Times. December 24, 1963.
4. "Harvard Six Upsets U. of Toronto, 4-1". The New York Times. December 22, 1963.
5. "Defenseman Daly To Lead 1964-65 Varsity Skaters". Harvard Crimson. March 19, 1964. Retrieved 13 May 2025.
6. "Garden Hockey Festival Hosts 8 College Teams". The Boston Globe. December 6, 1964.
7. "Queens Six Plays Here In Tourney". The Boston Globe. December 15, 1964.
8. Ralby, Herb (December 22, 1964). "Terriers, B.C. Triumph; B.U. Voted Top Sextet". The Boston Globe.
9. "NU, Toronto in Festival clash". The Boston Globe. December 5, 1965.
10. Fowle, Leanard (December 18, 1965). "Boston College Wins". The New York Times.
11. "BU Six Wins; Harvard Bows". The Boston Globe. December 19, 1965.
12. "Mich. State Six To Compete in Garden Tourney". The Boston Globe. May 12, 1966.
13. "ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament". College Hockey In-Season Tournaments. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
14. Singelais, Neil (December 20, 1972). "BC, Dartmouth vie in troubled tourney". The Boston Globe.
15. Monahan, Bob (December 18, 1966). "Cornell Edges Mich. St., 3-2". The Boston Globe.
16. Monahan, Bob (December 17, 1967). "Tigers Beat B.C. 1st Time in 10 Tries, 7-4". The Boston Globe.
17. Monahan, Bob (December 22, 1968). "Cornell Catches Tiring B.C., 6-3". The Boston Globe.
18. Monahan, Bob (December 21, 1969). "Harvard Wins Tourney, 4-3". The Boston Globe.
19. Monahan, Bob (December 23, 1971). "BU captures ECAC title, 4-0". The Boston Globe.
20. Walsh, Kevin (December 21, 1972). "Proulx foils BC, Dartmouth packs up title, 8-5". The Boston Globe.