ECAC Hockey History and Records
ECAC Hockey has played the role of both a leader and pioneer during the two decades that NCAA Division I women's hockey has been in existence.
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Home to the premier Division I league in the nation, ECAC Hockey boasts a history that gleams with accomplishments. From individual honors to contributions on the international stage, the league and its players and coaches have set a high standard for excellence in the game. League athletes have earned All-America honors 51 times, claimed 32 Olympic Gold Medals, and have won the Patty Kazmaier Award eight out of the 10 years it has existed as the designation of the nation's top player.
Membership in ECAC Hockey has changed to meet the needs of the exploding collegiate sport as 24 teams have called ECAC Hockey home since the first championship was contested in 1984. The league's current roster of teams includes some of the most storied programs in the nation: Brown, Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Union and Yale.
Brown holds the distinction of being the oldest women's hockey program in the nation. The first Bears squad took to the ice in the fall of 1963 and the program has remained a leader ever since. Brown has produced seven Olympians, placing five on the 2005-06 National Team roster for the XX Winter Games, amassed 423 wins in 39 seasons, and has twice represented the ECAC Hockey in national title games. Most of those victories have been under the watch of coach Digit Murphy, who has a 301-159-43 record as the all-time wins leader in Division I women's hockey. The Bears have advanced to the national championship tournament four times, most recently facing Minnesota-Duluth in the championship game of the 2002 NCAA Women's Frozen Four.
This season marks Clarkson's fourth year in the league. The 2003-04 season was the inaugural year of women's ice hockey at Clarkson. Under the tutelage of head coach Rick Seeley, the Golden Knights earned a spot in the league's playoffs in their ECAC Hockey debut, finishing the regular-season slate in eighth place. In 2005-06, the team finished in the top half of the league and saw junior Kira Hurley earn Goaltender-of-the-Year honors.
Colgate joined the Division I league in 2001-02. The Raiders begin the current campaign under head coach Scott Wiley, who was honored as the 2003-04 Coach of the Year in just his second season behind the bench. In 2006-07, Colgate enjoyed its most successful League season, ousting Princeton in quarterfinals action to earn a semifinals spot in the championship round at Dartmouth.
Cornell also boasts a storied history after beginning its program in 1971. Since that time, the Big Red has accumulated 335 victories in 34 seasons. Through the years, Cornell hockey has made its mark both on and off the ice. A number of former Big Red players have achieved notoriety after their careers at Cornell ended, such as Dana Antal, a member of the 1998 and 2002 Canadian Olympic teams, and Digit Murphy, widely acknowledged to be one of the top coaches in the collegiate game. Off the ice, Cornell has engaged in the Cub Club, a nationally-recognized venture with the Tompkins Girls' Hockey Association which has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of girls in the community.
Dartmouth has grown into one of the nation's most consistently impressive programs, with 17 ECAC Hockey League tournament appearances, including the league title in 2007, and four NCAA Women's Frozen Four appearances to its credit. In fact, the Big Green has posted a record of .500 more than 20 times over the years. As head coach, Mark Hudak guided the Big Green to the League title in 2007, and NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2004 and 2005. The Big Green hockey program has won 184 games in the last eight seasons, and also boasts two Kazmaier Award finalists and five All-America selections.
Harvard has emerged as a force to be reckoned with, both in the league and on the national scene. The Crimson's rise to prominence began in 1981-82, when the fourth-year varsity program posted a 15-6 record and won its first Beanpot Tournament. Current coach, Katey Stone, began in 1994, and has since guided the Crimson to some of its greatest moments, including a 33-1 record along with ECAC Hockey and AWCHA championship titles in 1999 and NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. The Crimson won its fourth ECAC Hockey League championship title - its third straight crown - in 2006. To date, the Harvard program has produced nine Olympians, 18 All-Americans and five Kazmaier Award winners, including 2007 recipient Julie Chu. The most recent Olympic Games had three Crimson alumnae and three current student-athletes winning medals.
Princeton has sponsored women's hockey since 1979, and in that time the Tigers have participated in the ECAC Hockey tournament 14 times. The program's best finish came in 2006, when the Tigers won a school-record 21 games and advanced to the league semifinals. Individually, a number of Tigers have made their mark on the hockey community. Most recently, Andrea Kilbourne was a member of the 2002 U.S. Olympic Team, joining three other players with Princeton connections who have represented the U.S. or Canada in international competition. Current senior Liz Keady and alum Megan Van Beusekom '04 have both represented the Tigers on the National Team. The Orange and Black have also had a pair of top-10 candidates for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, which was named after the 1986 Princeton graduate who died of a rare blood disease in 1990.
Quinnipiac is entering its third year of competition in ECAC Hockey and sixth as a Division I varsity program. During head coach Michael Barrett's first six seasons, he has established Quinnipiac as an up-and-coming program on the Division I map. Quinnipiac had its best winning percentage in the program's five-year history in 2005-06 as inaugural members of ECAC Hockey. The Bobcats will play their first full season in their brand new facility -- the TD Banknorth Sports Center.
Rensselaer enters its second season as a full-fledged member of ECAC Hockey. Head coach John Burke led the Engineers to an eighth-place finish and a spot in the League championship in the squad's first season of League competition. Rensselaer posted a 12-22-1 overall mark and an 8-13-1 mark in League play in 2006-07.
St. Lawrence has had intercollegiate hockey since 1979. From 1979 through 1992, the Saints competed at the Division III level, garnering three conference championship titles in the early 1990s. In 1993-94, the Saints joined the Division I women's league and made the playoffs in 1995. Three seasons later, 1997-98, the Saints officially became a Division I program. In 2001, St. Lawrence recorded the first win in the first-ever NCAA Women's Frozen Four, and advanced to the national championship game. The Saints repeated their visit to the NCAAs in 2004, 2005, 2006 and again in 2007, earning regional wins the past two seasons in the expanded bracket. The Saints have seen six players earn All-America honors, including Rebecca Russell, who was also a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist, and Rachel Barrie, who was a three-time league Goaltender of the Year. This past season, Sabina Harbec and Annie Guay also took home All-America honors for the second consecutive season.
Union embarks on its fifth season as a member of the League under first-year head coach Claudia Asano. An assistant coach at Harvard for five seasons, Asano has a great level of experience and knowledge of the League, having coached and played at Harvard. She was a three-year letter-winner for the Crimson and captained the 1999 squad to the ECAC Hockey regular-season and tournament titles.
Yale continues its rise to prominence under six-year head coach Hilary Witt. In 2006-07, the Bulldogs posted a 15-14-2 overall mark and 10-10-2 record in League competition, which qualified Yale for the League championship quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive season under Witt's guidance. The former U.S. National Team member leads a program that has been in existence since 1977-78. In the coming years, Yale will continue to develop more players like Helen Resor, who won a bronze medal with the U.S. Olympic Team at the XX Winter Games in Italy.
