Each year, from 1961–62 onward, at the conclusion of the ECAC Hockey regular season the head coaches of each member team vote for players to be placed on each all-conference team.
The all-conference teams are composed of one goaltender, two defensemen and three forwards.
If a tie occurred for the final selection at any position, both players were included as part of the greater all-conference team; if a tie resulted in an increase in the number of superior all-stars, the inferior team would not be reduced in number (as happened in 1965–66 and 1983–84) until 2005–06, after which the inferior team will be reduced accordingly (as happened in 2006–07).
Jack Leetch is so far the only player to appear on the All-Star teams in two different positions (forward and defense).
After the 1963–64 season the ECAC split their conference into Division I and NCAA Division III classifications and subsequently reduced the team size to a standard (and current) format.