Lake Placid is known for winter sports, yet there is one sport for which this quaint mountain village is legendary.
Its downtown Olympic Center is home to the most iconic moment in sport in the 20th century, the Miracle on Ice, celebrated for the 1980 US Men’s Hockey Team achieving the seemingly impossible feat of beating the Soviet Union. Having also hosted two Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980, the venue where the most famous hockey games were played features three world-class arenas, hosts numerous hockey tournaments each year, and attracts teams from across North America.
On a walk down Main Street most days of the year, one sees among the skiers, hikers, and all sorts of visitors of all ages carrying sticks and hockey bags and wearing team jerseys. Whether playing inside the Olympic Center’s historic rinks or outside on the lake nearby, they are clearly demonstrating the Village of Lake Placid is a hockey-centric community.
ECAC Hockey is an especially strong part of that Lake Placid tradition. In fact, this year is the 21st time Lake Placid will host the Men’s Championship Tournament of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Held in the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena on Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, this tournament brings the best teams in the conference to Lake Placid for some of the finest and fastest hockey games anywhere. The winner of this series receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament, commonly referred to as the Frozen Four.
The ECAC, founded as the Central Office for Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics in 1938, is now 87 years old. The men’s hockey championship began in 1962 and was initially held in Boston until 1993 when it was moved to the legendary arena in Lake Placid.
In 1989, the championship trophy was named the Whitelaw Cup in honor of Robert “Scotty” Whitelaw, who joined the ECAC as Assistant Commission in 1960, just two years before the formation of the ECAC Tournament.
The tournament was initially hosted here for 10 years through 2002, when it moved to Albany, NY, through 2010, followed by Atlantic City, NJ, through 2013. In 2014, conference officials announced the tournament would return to Lake Placid, and it’s been hosted in the legendary 1980 Herb Brooks Arena ever since.
Through the years, the Cornell University team has won more ECAC Tournaments than any other – 13 in total – and also holds the record for the most championship games contested at 24. Harvard is close behind with 11 championships, and St. Lawrence and Clarkson follow with seven and six, respectively.
The venue itself – the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena – in addition to its remarkable history, was significantly upgraded in recent years. Improvements include new seating, modernized media, and concession areas, new hospitality suites, new restrooms, a renovated concourse, high-efficiency LED lighting, a new air handling/dehumidification system, a more environmentally sustainable refrigeration system, and a new electric Zamboni for ice resurfacing.
For hockey fans of all ages, Lake Placid’s Olympic Center is without question a quintessential place to watch the ECAC Tournament or any hockey game. Witnessing these high-level, fast-paced championship games makes for a great hockey weekend getaway. So much so that spectators often wind up making the tournament an annual tradition.