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Hockey East

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Hockey East
NCAA Division I Conference
135
Founded: 1983
Number of teams: Men: 11
Women: 10
Commissioner: Joe Bertagna
Defending champions (men): UMass-Lowell River Hawks
Defending champions (women): Boston University Terriers
Website: http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/

The Hockey East Association, more often referred to simply as Hockey East, is one of the Big Four conferences in NCAA Men's Division I, and one of four conferences in Women's Division I.

Its men's member teams include:

Its women's member teams include:

Men's History[]

Hockey East was formed in the early 1980's in response to discontent over the academic direction of the ECAC. There was speculation at the time that the Ivies might break away and form their own conference. Providence, BC, BU, New Hampshire, and Northeastern led the exodus of several schools that preferred not to limit their hockey programs due to academic concerns, and they were joined by Maine. Also, the University of Lowell (now UMass-Lowell) upgraded their program from Division II to Division I in time to begin play in the conference.

The conference was chartered in 1983, with play beginning a year later in the 1984-85 season. In the early years of the conference, an interlocking schedule was played with the WCHA, where games against the western schools also counted in the Hockey East standings.

Merrimack was added to the conference in 1989.

The flagship Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts revived their dormant hockey program and joined the conference in 1993, beginning conference play two years later.

The University of Vermont has arranged to leave the ECAC and join Hockey East, with the Catamounts beginning conference play in the 2005-06 season. 

The University of Notre Dame joined starting with the 2013-14 season when the CCHA folded.

The University of Connecticut will be joining the league for the 2014-15 season, having previously played in Atlantic Hockey.

On March 22, 2016, it was announced that the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's team would leave Hockey East to join the Big Ten as hockey members starting in the 2017-2018 season.

Women's History[]

The Women's Division of Hockey East began in the 2002-2003 season. It consisted of Providence, New Hampshire, Boston College, Northeastern, and Maine, all of whom were already members of the Men's League. Connecticut was also admitted as the 6th charter member of the Women's League, with a full compliment of scholarships, despite it's men's program not being in Hockey East. All six schools were members of the ECAC Women's League, and split off to be charter members of Women's Hockey East.

The first two years of the league were dominated by Providence and New Hampshire, each of which already had successful programs established. The other four schools were building largely from the club level and struggled over the first two seasons, especially against Providence and New Hampshire.

Providence has won all three conference tournament championships, the first two against New Hampshire. 2005 was the first sign that parity was coming to the league, as Connecticut defeated New Hampshire in the semis to move on to the championship game, falling in the final minutes to Providence, who captured it's third consecutive championship.

2005 also saw the expansion of the NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Championship to an 8-team format, and Hockey East for the first recieved an automatic bid, to be awarded to it's tournament champion.

2005-2006 saw the addition of two teams. Boston University moved it's team to Division I from the club level. Vermont moved both it's men's and women's Division I programs from the ECACHL to Hockey East.

Merrimack College will be joining the women's league for the 2015-16 season when the sport is elevated to varsity status.

On May 2, 2017 it was announced that the Holy Cross Crusaders women's team would be joining the conference for the 2018-19 season.  The team would play an independent schedule for the 2017-18 season as it elevates its' program from playing at the Division III level.

Champions (as of end of 2013-14 season)[]

  • Boston College
    • 11-time Hockey East men's champions (1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012)
    • 13-time Hockey East men's regular season champions (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014)
    • 2-time ECAC men's champions (1965, 1978)
    • 1-time ECAC men's regular season champions (1980)
    • 5-time NCAA men's champions (1949, 2001, 2008, 2010, 2012)
    • 1-time Hockey East women's champions (2011)
      Lam trophy

      Lamarello Trophy, Men's Tournament championship Trophy

  • Boston University
    • 7-time Hockey East men's champions (1986, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2006, 2009)
    • 8-time Hockey East men's regular season champions (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2009)
    • 5-time ECAC men's champions (1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977)
    • 6-time ECAC men's regular season champions (1965, 1967, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1979)
    • 5-time NCAA men's champions (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009)
    • 2-time Hockey East women's regular season champions (2011, 2013)
    • 4-time Hockey East women's champions (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014)
  • University of Connecticut (women only; men joining conference for 2014-15)
  • University of Maine
    • 5-time Hockey East men's champions (1989, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2004)
    • 3-time Hockey East men's regular season champions (1988, 1993, 1995)
    • 2-time NCAA men's champions (1993, 1999)
  • University of Massachusetts (men only)
    • 1-time NCAA Division II men's champions (1972)
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (men only)
    • 2-time Hockey East men's champions (2012, 2013, 2014)
    • 1-time Hockey East men's regular season champions (2013)
    • 3-time NCAA Division II men's champions (1979, 1981, 1982)
  • Merrimack College (men only)
    • 1-time NCAA Division II men's champions (1978)
  • University of New Hampshire
    • 2-time Hockey East men's champions (2002, 2003)
    • 8-time Hockey East men's regular season champions (1992, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010)
    • 4-time Hockey East women's champions (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
    • 6-time Hockey East women's regular season champions (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
    • 1-time ECAC men's champions (1979)
    • 1-time ECAC men's regular season champions (1974)
    • 5-time ECAC women's champions (1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1996)
    • 2-time men's national runner-up (1999, 2003)
    • 1-time women's national champions (1998) *crowned by AWCHA, pre-dated NCAA Women's Frozen Four)
  • Northeastern University
    • 1-time Hockey East men's champions (1988)
    • 1-time ECAC men's champions (1982)
    • 3-time ECAC women's champions (1988, 1989, 1997)
      He regularseason trophy

      Hockey East Regular Season Men's Championship Trophy

    • 1-time Hockey East women's regular season champions (2012)
    • 1-time Frozen Four 3rd place (1982)
  • University of Notre Dame
    • 3-time CCHA men's champions (2007, 2009, 2013)
    • 2-time CCHA regular season champions (2007, 2009)
    • 1-time men;s national runner-up (2008)
  • Providence College
    • 2-time Hockey East men's champions (1985, 1996)
    • 3-time Hockey East women's champions (2003, 2004, 2005)
    • 3-time Hockey East women's regular season champions (2003, 2005, 2010)
    • 2-time ECAC men's champions (1964, 1981)
    • 2-time ECAC men's regular season champions (1964, 1983)
    • 5-time ECAC women's champions (1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
  • University of Vermont
    • 1-time ECAC men's regular season champions (1996)
    • Frozen Four Participant (1996, 2009)

Members[]

There are currently 12 member schools; the men's division of Hockey East has ten members, while the women's division has eight.  The conference expanded to 12 men's members for 2014-15 with the addition of the UConn Huskies from Atlantic Hockey and the Women's conference wll be expanding to ten members  with the addition on the Women's team from Merrimack College for the 2015-16 season.  This will leave only the two UMass schools (Amherst and Lowell) as being men's only members of the conference as neither school offers women's hockey. [1][2]

Institution Location - City Location - State Nickname Founded Affiliation Enrollment Primary Conference
Boston College Chestnut Hill Massachusetts Eagles 1863 Private/Catholic (Jesuit) 9,019 ACC
Boston University Boston Massachusetts Terriers 1839 Private/Non-sectarian 32,000 America East
University of Connecticut Storrs Connecticut Huskies 1881 Public 27,500 Big East
University of Maine Orono Maine Black Bears 1865 Public 11,222 America East
University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts Minutemen (Men) 1863 Public 25,633 Atlantic 10
University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell Massachusetts River Hawks (Men) 1894 Public 14,727 Northeast Ten (D-II)
Merrimack College North Andover Massachusetts Warriors 1947 Private/Catholic 2,174 Northeast Ten (D-II)
University of New Hampshire Durham New Hampshire Wildcats 1866 Public 16,025 America East
Northeastern University Boston Massachusetts Huskies 1898 Private/Non-sectarian 15,195 CAA
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame Indiana Fighting Irish 1842 Private/Catholic (Congregation of the Holy Cross 11,733 ACC
Providence College Providence Rhode Island Friars 1917 Private/Catholic 3,648 Big East
University of Vermont Burlington Vermont Catamounts 1791 Public 9,675 America East
  • UMass-Lowell was known as the University of Lowell until 1990.  The school also changed its nickname from Chiefs to RiverHawks in 1994.

List of Men's Hockey East Championship Games[]

Main article: List of Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions
The Hockey East Championship Game has been held in Boston since 1987, at the Boston Garden, and now the TD Garden,[3] since 1996.[4] The first two were held in Providence, Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin' Donuts Center).[5]

The final game and the semifinal games are held on consecutive nights in mid-March at the Garden. The quarterfinal round takes place the previous weekend. The top eight teams in the league advance to the quarterfinal round: the quarterfinal round series are 2-out-of-3 series with all games played at the higher seed's rink. There have been two cases where the #8 seed won on the #1 team's ice.[6]

With the arrival of the Connecticut men's program, joining the conference for 2014-15 season, the Hockey East directors voted on May 12, 2014 to revise the conference tournament format.  All twelve teams participate in the tournament with the opening round being a best of three round involving 5 vs. 12; 6 vs. 11; 7 vs 10 and  vs 9.  The games would be played at the higher seeds rink. The following weekend would have the best of three quarterfinal round with the 1 seed hosting the lowest seeded first round winner, the 2 seed would host the 2nd lowest seed, etc. again at the higher seeds rink. The semifinal and final round wil be held the following Friday and Saturday at the TD Garden in Boston.

hockey east press release on new tournament format

List of Women's Hockey East Championship Games[]

The Hockey East Championship was held in Boston since its inception in 2003 until 2007. The event was held at Northeastern's Matthews Arena in 2003 and 2004 before moving to BU's Walter Brown Arena in 2005. The tournament returned to Matthews Arena in 2006, was held at UNH's Whittemore Center in 2007 and 2009, and at UConn's Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum in 2008.  The tournament was held in Providence in 2010.  The tournament returned to Boston at the Agganis Arena in 2011.  The tournament was moved to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Hyannis, Massachusetts starting in 2012.[7]

  • 2003 Providence def. New Hampshire 1-0
  • 2004 Providence def. New Hampshire 3-0
  • 2005 Providence def. Connecticut 3-1
  • 2006 New Hampshire def. Boston College 6-0
  • 2007 New Hampshire def. Providence College 3-1
  • 2008 New Hampshire def. Providence College 1-0
  • 2009 New Hampshire def. Boston College 2-1
  • 2010 Boston University def. Connecticut 2-1
  • 2011 Boston College def. Northeastern 3-1
  • 2012 Boston University def. Providence 2-1 (OT)
  • 2013 Boston University def. Northeastern 5-2
  • 2014 Boston University def. Boston College 3-2
  • 2015 Boston University def. Boston College 4-1
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018 Northeastern Huskies
  • 2019 Northeastern Huskies
  • 2020 Northeastern Huskies

Conference arenas[]

School Hockey Arena Capacity
Boston College Kelley Rink 7,884
Boston University (men's team) Agganis Arena 6,224
Boston University (women's team) Walter Brown Arena 3,806
Connecticut Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum 2,000
Maine Alfond Arena 5,641
Massachusetts Mullins Center 8,329
Merrimack J. Thom Lawler Arena 3,000
New Hampshire Whittemore Center Arena 6,501
Northeastern Matthews Arena 4,666
Notre Dame Notre Dame Ice Arena 5,022
Providence Schneider Arena 3,030
UMass Lowell Tsongas Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell 6,496
Vermont Gutterson Fieldhouse 4,003

Hockey East (Men's) Awards[]

Hockey East Men's Seasons[]

Hockey East Women's Seasons[]

References[]

  1. ↑ http://www.uscho.com/standings/index.php?season=20102011&conf=he&gender=m
  2. ↑ http://www.uscho.com/standings/index.php?season=20102011&conf=he&gender=w
  3. ↑ http://www.hockeyjournal.com/news/2010/03/06_hockey.php
  4. ↑ http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_hockey/articles/2010/03/21/eagles_bear_down_in_ot_win_hockey_east_title/
  5. ↑ http://www.uscho.com/m/he/?data=history
  6. ↑ http://www.uscho.com/m/he/?data=tournament
  7. ↑ http://www.uscho.com/w/he/?data=tournament

Hockey East Resources[]

External Links[]

NCAA Division I hockey conferences
CurrentAtlantic Hockey - Big Ten Conference - Central Collegiate Hockey Association - College Hockey America (women's) - ECAC Hockey - Hockey East - National Collegiate Hockey Conference - New England Women's Hockey Alliance - Western Collegiate Hockey Association (women's) - Independents
FormerCollege Hockey America (men's) - Great West Hockey Conference - Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference - Tri-State League - Western Collegiate Hockey Association (men's)
Championships: Men / Women
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