The 1961–62 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1961 and concluded with the 1962 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 17, 1962 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York. This was the 15th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 68th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relationship ended in 2004; however, the ECAC abbreviation was retained in the name of the hockey conference. ECAC Hockey is the only ice hockey conference with identical memberships in both its women's and men's divisions. Cornell has won the most ECAC men's hockey championships with 13, followed by Harvard at 11. Quinnipiac, which joined the league in 2005, already has 7 regular season championships. ECAC Hockey teams have won 10 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championships, most recently in 2023.