ECAC Monthly Recap: January (and Part of February) 2026

The final weekend of the regular season is here and chaos reigns in ECAC Hockey! Underclassman goalies are unbeatable, no ranked team is safe from upsets, and the regular season championship seems destined to come down to the final day of the season. 

Is this article a week late? Kinda! But since this year’s ECAC Hockey theme seems to be mayhem (really its parity, but that doesn't sound as exciting), publishing a January recap on February 13 seems on brand. So, with just one weekend of games left before the sprint to Lake Placid begins, let’s take a look at where the conference is and how we got here.

The State of the Regular Season Title:

Three teams — Princeton, Yale, and Quinnipiac — all have a chance to win the ECAC regular season title. Luckily for us, they're all playing each other this weekend, with the regular season coming down to Yale and Princeton’s Friday night matchup. One outcome from that game is easy to follow: a Tiger win (in regulation) would clinch the crown for Princeton. If Yale pulls off the upset? More chaos! 

Assuming that Quinnipiac beats Brown (assuming anything this year has been a bad idea, but stick with me), then Yale (who in this scenario would have 45 points) would face Quinnipiac (43 points) with Princeton (44 points) still having a chance at the championship. 

The race for fourth place, and a first-round playoff bye, gets even wilder. Only Princeton has clinched a top-four finish, and a whopping six other teams could claim a first-round bye. Cornell and Colgate both play Clarkson, while the aforementioned Quinnipiac and Princeton vs. Brown and Yale pairing also takes place.

Personally, I’m rooting for a strange scenario in which shootouts — which are point-less in ECAC Hockey, but serve as the fourth tiebreaker for playoff seeding — actually end up mattering. 

Upset Central:

So how did we get to such a competitive final weekend? Well, the best teams in the conference keep losing.

Here’s a look at some of the surprising results in January and the first weekend of February (I’ve linked to student newspaper coverage of the games where available): 

• Colgate beat Clarkson 5-2 on Jan. 10th
• Cornell beat Princeton 6-1 on Jan. 23rd
• Colgate beat Princeton 3-2 (in overtime) on Jan. 24th
• Harvard beat Cornell 3-1 on Jan. 31st
• St. Lawrence beat Quinnipiac  3-1 on Jan. 31st
• Brown beat Clarkson 4-1 on Feb. 7th 
• Harvard beat Princeton 3-1 on Feb. 7th

And that list does not even include ties and overtime losses! One name you don’t see? Yale. The Bulldogs have won 13 straight, catapulting the New Haven, C.T. squad to the top of the…

Lake Placid Power Rankings

Last month’s rankings: Princeton, Clarkson, Quinnipiac, Cornell

1. Yale (21-7-0, 15-5-0 ECAC): The Bulldogs have jumped from No. 15 to No. 9 in the USCHO poll in a little over a month, and have not lost since Dec. 6th. How? A lot of Yale’s improvement comes down to a change in net.

First year Samson Frey started one game in 2025, posting a shutout over Sacred Heart on Nov. 28th in the Northport, N.Y. native’s collegiate debut. But beginning on Jan. 2nd, Frey has started 12 consecutive games for the Bulldogs — allowing an average of only 1.22 goals per game.

Named a semifinalist for the HCA’s Goaltender of the Year Award despite the late start, Frey has helped turn Yale’s defense around. In 2026, the Bulldogs have allowed more than two goals twice, and have posted three clean sheets. 

2. Princeton (20-7-0, 15-5-0 ECAC): On most nights, the Tigers look like the best team in ECAC Hockey. The top line of Issy Wunder, Mackenzie Alexander, and Emerson O’Leary continues to produce at a high clip, and Uma Corniea has been reliable in net. The issue for Princeton is cracks in its defense are beginning to show.

Cornell dominated the two teams' January matchup despite committing four penalties, and Harvard’s 31st ranked offense managed to score a trio of goals. At its best, Princeton is nearly unstoppable. However, recently the Tigers have struggled to consistently find its November and December form.

3. Quinnipiac (22-7-3, 12-6-2 ECAC): The Bobcats started the second half of the conference calendar well (albeit against fairly weak competition), before running into the always difficult North Country weekend. Quinnipiac’s seven game winning streak — during which the Bobcats scored four or more goals six times — was snapped thanks to 4-1 and 3-1 losses.

The loss of Jade Barbirati to the Olympics is likely contributing to the offensive decline, but three straight games scoring one goal (Quinnipiac tied Harvard 1-1 after the North Country trip) is not the type of offensive momentum you want heading into the playoffs.

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4a. The winner of Cornell (16-10-2, 12-7-1 ECAC) at Clarkson (19-10-3, 12-6-2 ECAC) on 2/13: It’s the Manness sisters versus the Dwyer sisters on the last day of the season, with the winner likely getting a first-round bye and home ice in the quarterfinals.

Both Lynah Rink and Cheel Arena can be incredibly difficult places to play, so whoever wins this game will have a huge advantage in the playoffs. On Jan. 9th Clarkson and Cornell tied 5-5, the first time the teams had met since their epic triple-overtime ECAC semifinals matchup last winter. While the Golden Knights enter the weekend coming off three losses, Clarkson should get a crucial home ice boost. 

4b. Harvard (13-12-3, 7-10-3 ECAC):

Outside of Frey, no goaltender had a better month of January than Harvard's Ainsley Tuffy. After backstopping the Crimson to a 3-2 overtime win over then-No. 5 Minnesota Duluth in Northern Ireland, Tuffy allowed two goals on 86 shots between two games en route to Harvard’s 16th Beanpot win.

The sophomore has eight wins this season in which she has made 30-plus saves, and ranks first in CHIP (an advanced stat from College Hockey News). If Tuffy stays hot in the playoffs, Harvard is a threat to upset a top-four finisher and reach Lake Placid. 

January (and the Start of February) Awards:

Apparently, the theme of 2026 is first-years!

Forward of the Month: Sara Manness, Freshman, Clarkson

Manness scored a goal in all but one of Clarkson’s January contests, has totalled 15 goals in 13 games in 2026, and leads ECAC Hockey with 49 points. In any other season Frey might be running away with the Rookie of the Year Award, but Manness’ January makes the Golden Knight the frontrunner. 

Honorable mentions: Issy Wunder (Princeton), Kahlen Lamarche (Quinnipiac)

Defender of the Month: Molly Boyle, Freshman, Yale

A 13 game winning streak doesn’t come without stout defending and blueline offensive contributions, and Boyle has provided both. Playing alongside fellow underclassman Sophia Levering, Boyle tallied 17 points in January and the first weekend of February, including a four assist performance against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Honorable mentions: Kate Manness (Clarkson), Alyssa Regalado (Cornell)

TIG Goaltending Goalie of the Month: Samson Frey, Freshman, Yale

Frey leads the nation in goals allowed average, already has four shutouts, and holds a perfect 13-0 record. Again, the first year had started just one game going into 2026! In a conference filled with elite goaltending, Frey still manages to stand out.

Honorable mentions: Felicia Frank (Quinnipiac), Ainsley Tuffy (Harvard)

Skating Six Scenarios

While the Ivy League does not have its own hockey conference, all six of its teams still compete for a championship. Though this title doesn’t come with an automatic NCAA tournament bid, and is not awarded via a postseason tournament, Ivy League teams still take it very seriously. While in 2025 Cornell wrapped up the championship in January, in 2024 the Red needed a sweep of the final weekend of the regular season to earn its first title of any kind since the 2019-2020 season.  

Heading into last weekend, Princeton seemed on-track to grab its ninth Ivy League crown and deny Cornell a three-peat. The Tigers trailed the Red by eight points, but with four games left (and a win awarding three points) Princeton had plenty of time to catch up. But after cruising past Dartmouth, the Tigers ran into Harvard and faltered. 

Now, Princeton can afford to drop just a single point against Yale and Brown — two teams fighting tooth and nail for playoff positioning — if it wants to claim a share of the Ivy title. To secure the Ivy crown outright, it needs a regulation weekend sweep.

I’ll be back next week with a playoff preview, but for now enjoy what should be a fascinating final regular season weekend of ECAC Hockey (which you can always find on ESPN+)!

Lastly, if you want some intermission reading, check out my write-up on Dartmouth and Union's second-year head coaches.

For Second-Year Head Coaches, Key to Rebuilding College Hockey Programs is Patience, ‘Getting Better Every Day’

Inside the motivations, lessons, and early successes of a pair of second-year college hockey head coaches.

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