The ECAC Tournament has been held at the conclusion of the ECAC regular season since the league's inception. From 1962 to 1989, 8 teams qualified for the tournament. This was a more difficult task in the earlier years, when the league had as many as 29 teams at one point, and prior to the Hockey East split in 1984, had 17 teams. Despite the decrease in teams from 17 to 12, 10 teams qualified for the tournament from 1990 to 2002. In 2002, the tournament was expanded so that all teams qualify regardless of regular season ranking.