On Saturday at the Olympic Center, Dartmouth captured its first title in the history of the ECAC Men’s Ice Hockey Championships.

It took the Big Green 65 years for to achieve the feat, and they had to put in extra work to get the job done, with Tim Busconi netting the game-winning 11:42 into sudden-death overtime to lift Dartmouth to a 2-1 victory over Princeton.

Dartmouth advanced to the championships in Lake Placid the past two seasons only to be eliminated in the semifinal round, and Saturday marked the first time it reached the title tilt since 1980, when it lost 5-1 to Cornell. The Big Red was the top seed in this year’s tournament and was looking to claim its third straight Whitelaw Cup as the ECAC postseason champion.

This time around, Princeton knocked off Cornell 3-2 in semifinal action at the Olympic Center on Friday, while Dartmouth blanked Clarkson 4-0 in the other semifinal matchup.

A bloodied Dartmouth goaltender, Emmett Croteau, looks to the scoreboard after the Big Green scored its first-ever ECAC men’s hockey title on Saturday at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. Croteau was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after allowing just one goal in the two games, while guiding Dartmouth to a 2-1 overtime victory in the championship game. (Enterprise photo — Parker O'Brien)

Just four years ago, Dartmouth finished as the basement dweller among the 62 men’s NCAA Division I hockey teams that competed during the 2022-23 season, compiling a 5-27-1 record.

Four players — captain Tucker McRae, whose sister is pop star Tate McRae, and assistant captain Cam MacDonald, Alex Krause and backup goaltender Mikey Roberts — have remained on the team since that season to experience the Big Green’s remarkable turnaround.

“These guys won five games their freshman year. We were the worst team in the country,” said Reid Cashman, who is in his fifth season as Dartmouth’s head coach. “There wasn’t a ranking where we weren’t at the very bottom. Four years later, they’re the first-ever Dartmouth champions. We’re going to be a two-seed in the NCAA tournament.”

“I think the thing that stands out the most for us seniors is we’re running the exact same systems and the exact same details,” added MacDonald, a first-line forward who played in his 127th game with Dartmouth Saturday. “Everything has been pretty much the same for the past four years, which is crazy to think about when you go from a five-win team to the ECAC champs this year and a strong tournament berth.”

Despite being a low-scoring affair, Saturday’s championship game provided plenty of exciting moments for the nearly 6,000 spectators who were in attendance. Dartmouth took the early lead when Hayden Stavroff found the back of the net on a power play in the opening period, giving the sophomore his 29th goal of the season, which is tops among Division I teams.

Dartmouth goalkeeper Emmett Croteau reaches for the puck while the rest of his teammates on the ice during the shift defend the net during Saturday’s ECAC championship game at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. Also pictured are Princeton’s Jaxson Ezman (27) and Julian Facchinelli. (Provided photo — Lou Reuter)

After a scoreless middle period, the Tigers tied the contest at 1-1 when Joshua Karnish stuffed home a pass from Malcolm Green at the 8:46 mark of the third on a goal that ultimately forced overtime. Dartmouth nearly grabbed a late lead and potentially won in regulation on a shot from Stavroff that rattled off the crossbar.

The overtime period was a tense back-and-forth battle that saw both teams put five shots on goal and also rattle an attempt apiece off goalposts.

Busconi, a sophomore defenseman, ended the tension and sent his Dartmouth teammates scrambling onto the ice in celebration when he buried the winning goal on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle that got through traffic and past Princeton net minder Arthur Smith.

Princeton outshot Dartmouth 26-23. The Tigers saw their season end with an 18-12-3 record.

Obviously, coming up short and seeing their season end was painful for the Tigers, but Princeton senior captain David Jacobs cherished the opportunity to compete for a championship in Lake Placid.

During the postgame celebrating Saturday, Dartmouth players including Colin Grable (9), Matt Fusco (6) and Cam McDonald (15) look up toward the Olympic Center’s rafters where replicas of jerseys of the 12 ECAC teams hang. With the win over Princeton, the Big Green will soon have the year 2026 added to their jersey following the program’s first postseason crown. (Provided photo — Lou Reuter)

“It was a great experience. I’m really proud of the guys for making it this far,” Jacobs said. “Lake Placid was a goal of ours since freshman year. It was really fun to be up here. The fans were great, the atmosphere was. All and all, it was a very good experience — playing great hockey. It’s a great challenge every time you make it to Lake Placid. I’m really hoping for the guys to make this the norm.”

Saturday’s matchup marked the third meeting between Dartmouth and Princeton this season, with the Tigers coming out on top in two close battles, winning 5-4 on home ice and claiming a shootout victory in Hanover with a 2-2 tie on the last day of February.

“Obviously, you want to have a better fate when you go to overtime. That part stings and is frustrating, but we played a great team,” Princeton head coach Ben Syer said. “All three games were tight games when we played them this year. We fought tooth and nail.”

After posting a shutout in the Big Green’s semifinal romp over the Golden Knights, goaltender Emmett Croteau had another exceptional outing in the nets in the championship game, finishing with 25 saves. Croteau, who transferred from Clarkson, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

As ECAC tournament champion, Dartmouth earned an automatic bid to the NCAA championship tournament and will take on Wisconsin Thursday as the second seed in the Worcester Region. The Big Green entered the championships ranked ninth in the USCHO’s Division 1 poll and moved up to seventh after their success over the weekend in Lake Placid.

Dartmouth defender Tim Busconi and Ian Devlin of Princeton skate side by side behind the Big Green’s net during the first period in Saturday’s ECAC men’s ice hockey championship game at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. Busconi netted the winning goal in overtime to give Dartmouth its first ECAC championship title in team history. (Provided photo — Lou Reuter)

Two more squads — Cornell and Quinnipiac — will also represent the ECAC in the NCAA Division I championships 16-team field after receiving at-large bids.

The Big Red takes a 22-10-1 record to the Loveland, Colorado Regional and squares off against Denver on Friday, while the Bobcats travel with a 26-9-3 mark to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to face Providence on Thursday.

The national championship game is slated to take place on April 11 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

In addition to claiming its first ECAC tournament crown and the bid to the national championships that comes with it, Dartmouth also earned another honor. In the rafters of the Olympic Center’s Herb Brooks Arena hang huge replicas of jerseys for the 12 teams competing in the ECAC. Under those jerseys are listed the years that each one of those programs has claimed conference titles. There were none under Dartmouth’s, and the players on the Big Green were fully aware of that. At next year’s event, with the addition of the year 2026 to the green and white jersey hanging high, it won’t be so bare anymore.

“Looking up at that jersey, that was a huge motivator,” McRae said.

Dartmouth's Hank Cleaves controls the puck near center ice during Saturday's ECAC men's ice hockey championship game at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. Also pictured are Princeton's Jayden Sison and Hayden Stavroff of the Big Green. (Provided photo — Lou Reuter)