The ECAC Northeast tournament began in 1972, after several teams formed the first third-tier ice hockey conference. For the first three years the championship was only a single game between the teams judged to be the top two in the conference. Because all games between ECAC teams regardless of division were counted the teams with the two best records weren't necessarily invited to play. In 1975 the tournament was expanded to 4 teams with one of the four chosen as the host. Host teams were dropped after 1977 with the higher-seeded teams playing at home afterwards. With the conference ballooning to more than two dozen teams, the conference tournament was expanded to 8 for 1984. Two years later the conference split into North and South divisions with each holding an individual 6-team postseas