The Florida College Hockey Classic (formerly the Everblades College Classic) was a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

Division I men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

played annually between 2000 and 2016 in the week between Christmas and

New Years New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system tod ...

at the

Germain Arena Hertz Arena is a 7,181-seat multi-purpose arena in Estero, Florida, which is located between Miromar Lakes, Florida and Bonita Springs, Florida. The arena opened in November 1998 and serves as the home of the Florida Everblades of the ECHL. Hi ...

Estero, Florida Estero is a village in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,939. During the 2010 census, Estero was an unincorporated community, or census-designated place, the population at that time was 22,612. Est ...

, United States. First contested in 2000, the four-team tournament was initially jointly hosted by

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

with the remaining slots filled by invitation. In January 2014, after 14 years of participating, Maine announced it was ending its affiliation with the tournament.

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliated with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (N ...

owner Craig Brush said that a second host school would be found although this never happened and Cornell hosted alone for the remaining years of the tournament. The tournament champion was awarded the

Ned Harkness Nevin Donald Harkness (September 19, 1919 – September 19, 2008) was an NCAA head coach of ice hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University and of ice hockey at Union College. Harkness was also head coach of th ...

Cup, named for the coach that won two

NCAA Titles The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

with Cornell and one with

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

. The tournament

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

was awarded the

Shawn Walsh William Shawn Walsh (June 21, 1955 – September 26, 2001) was the head ice hockey coach for the University of Maine Black Bears. Career Walsh was a third-string goalie for Bowling Green State University. As a sophomore, he decided to concentrate ...

Memorial Trophy, named for the

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

that took Maine to two NCAA titles.GoBlackBears.com
Men's Ice Hockey Travels to Florida College Classic For Ninth Straight Year; Univ. of Maine Athletics; 17 December 2008 The final edition of the Florida College Hockey Classic took place 28 and 29 December 2016. In the first round match-ups

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

defeated

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

5-2 and

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

defeated

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a private Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. Its campus has grown to a campus with nearly 40 bu ...

3–0. Colorado College defeated Cornell 2–1 in overtime in the championship game while Merrimack defeated Northern Michigan 4-2 for third place. This was Colorado College's second appearance at the tournament and first title.

Yearly results

Team records

*at the time of tournament participation

References

{{Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey navbox College sports in Florida Cornell Big Red ice hockey Maine Black Bears ice hockey College ice hockey tournaments in the United States Ice hockey competitions in Florida Recurring sporting events established in 2000 2000 establishments in Florida