ECAC Championship Belt

Inspired by the meaningless curiosity that is the NCAA Championship Belt, I decided to do the same thing for the ECAC (considering only ECAC league and playoff games). Turns out Cornell only held the belt for one day this season, in Lake Placid:

SLU:
* Started season with belt
* Defended successfully in 0 games
* Lost to Clarkson 6-7 Nov 3

Clarkson:
* Won belt from SLU 7-6 Nov 3
* Defended successfully in 7 games (4-0-3)
* Lost to UVM 0-2 Jan 19

UVM:
* Won belt from Clarkson 2-0 Jan 19
* Defended successfully in 0 games
* Lost to RPI 0-6 Jan 25

RPI:
* Won belt from UVM 6-0 Jan 25
* Defended successfully in 0 games
* Lost to Dartmouth 2-4 Jan 26

Dartmouth:
* Won belt from RPI 4-2 Jan 26
* Defended successfully in 2 games (1-0-1)
* Lost to Brown 1-3 Feb 8

Brown:
* Won belt from Dartmouth 3-1 Feb 8
* Defended successfully in 5 games (5-0-0)
* Lost to Princeton 2-3 Mar 1

Princeton:
* Won belt from Brown 3-2 Mar 1
* Defended successfully in 1 game (1-0-0)
* Lost to RPI 3-5 Mar 8

RPI:
* Won belt from Princeton 5-3 Mar 8
* Defended successfully in 2 games (2-0-0)
* Lost to Cornell 0-3 Mar 15

Cornell:
* Won belt from RPI 3-0 Mar 15
* Defended suiccessfully in 0 games
* Lost to Harvard 3-4 Mar 16

Harvard:
* Won belt from Cornell 4-3 Mar 16
* Finish season with belt

Funny to see that UVM held the belt for as much time as we did.

right you are John...it's meaningless!

But like the NCAA Championship Belt, it will almost always end the season in the posession of the champions. In fact, starting next year, it will always do so, since with everyone making the playoffs, only the champion and the third-place team will end the ECAC season with a win, and the belt cannot make it into the consolation game, since by definition each participant will have lost its previous game.

Not necessarily. If the ECAC champion loses to a team that got an at-large bid to the NCAA's, a non-conference champion could finish with the belt.

I'm not considering the ECAC Championship Belt to be on the line in non-conference games or NCAA tournament games, only ECAC regular-season and playoff games. (Just as I assume exhibition games and games against non-Division-I schools don't count towards posession of the NCAA Championship Belt.)

Your belt, your rules!

John, I think an "ECAC Last Place Belt" would be a lot more interesting (you get rid of it if you lose or tie).

I have a feeling that UVM held it for much of this year, though I could be wrong.

I don't think it is theoretically possible to hold both simultaneously.

I think you mean that you get rid of it if you win or tie, right?

Yes, that's what I mean.

Should we call it the "ECAC Hot Potato"?

It does sound like it is possible to hold both simultaneously. Say that the two teams with the belts face each other, and they play a tie game. The owner of the Championship Belt would now hold both. It would make more sense to me if neither (or perhaps both) changed hands with a tie.

I think it'd be sort of fun to be able to have both. Anyway, since I have no life, here's the path of the ECAC hot potato (ECAC games only, give it up for win or tie):

Brown:
* Started season with belt
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Hahvahd 4-2 on 11/3

Hahvahd:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Dartmouth 5-2 on 11/4

Dartmouth:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Brown 6-3 on 11/9

Brown:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Vermont 5-1 on 11/10

Vermont:
* Keeps it for 1 game
* Ties Yale 4-4 on 11/18

Yale:
* Keeps it for 1 game
* Beats Princeton 6-1 on 11/24

Princeton:
* Keeps it for 0 game
* Beats Colgate 2-1 on 11/30

Colgate:
* Keeps it for 1 game
* Beats Dartmouth 3-2 on 1/11

Dartmouth:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Cornell (D'oh!) 5-3 on 1/12

Cornell:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Colgate 4-1 on 1/18

Colgate:
* Keeps it for 1 game
* Beats St. Lawrence 4-3 on 1/25

St. Lawrence:
* Keeps it for 1 game (phew!)
* Beats Clarkson 6-5 on 1/29

Clarkson:
* Keeps it for 0 games
* Beats Yale 7-5 on 2/1

Yale:
* Keeps it for 5 games!
* Beats Vermont 4-2 on 2/22

Vermont:
* Keeps it for the remaining 3 games of the season

Hot potato indeed! (Well, until the end.) And it didn't take as long as I expected. (Although John probably wrote a script.)

...on being named a member of the Presidential Search Committee!

I don't suppose you could put in a good word for Dryden?

Beeeej

Heh, thanks. Dryden maybe, but Bettman's a longshot....