2016-17 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Season

This is the 2016-17 Hockey East Men's Hockey Season.  This is the conference's 33rd season of play

Membership changes

 * none, however the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will leave the conference after the 2016-17 season and join the Big Ten Conference as an associate member for men's ice hockey starting with the 2017-18 season

Frozen Fenway 2017
The conference will participate in two double headers to be played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on January 7th and 14th as a part of Frozen Fenway 2017. On January 7th Boston University will play UMass-Amherst and Boston College will play Providence College and on January 14th Maine will play UConn and UNH will play Northeastern.

Standings
A November 13th game between Notre Dame and Northeastern was suspended after the second period due to a Zamboni breakdown and subsequent problems with the ice. The score was tied 0-0 when the game was suspended. On November 16 Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna announced the game will be recorded as a tie as the two teams could not find a workable date to resume the game.

Format
All twelve teams qualify with the top 4 seeds getting a first round bye. The best-of-three first round matches up 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, 7 vs 10, and 8 vs 9. The first round winners are re-seeded for the best-of-three quarterfinals and the 1 seed plays the lowest seeded first round winner, 2 plays the second lowest seed first round winner, 3 plays the third lowest first round winner. and 4 plays the highest seeded first round winner. Teams are re-seeded for the semifinals with the highest seeded winner playing the lowest seeded winner  and the second and third seeds meet in a single game at TD Garden on Friday March 17, 2017  The semifinal winners meet  at the TD Garden on Saturday March 18, 2017 for the conference championship and the conference's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

First Round

 * Providence Friars defeated UMass Minutemen 2 games to none
 * Vermont Catamounts defeated Maine Black Bears 2 games to none
 * New Hampshire Wildcats defeated Merrimack Warriors 2 games to 1
 * Northeastern Huskies defeated Connecticut Huskies 2 games to none

Quarterfinals

 * UMass-Lowell River Hawks defeated New Hampshire Wildcats 2 games to none
 * Boston University Terriers defeated Northeastern Huskies 2 games to none
 * Boston College Eagles defeated Vermont Catamounts 2 games to none
 * Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeatd Providence Friars 2 games to none

Semifinals

 * UMass-Lowell River Hawks defeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish 5-1
 * Boston College Eagles defeated Boston University Terriers 3-2

Final

 * UMass-Lowell River Hawks defeated Boston College Eagles 4-3