NCAA Sports Blog

Hockey East Association is a college athletic conference which operates in New England. It participates in the NCAA’s Division I as a hockey-only conference.

 

Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for men’s hockey when most of its current members split apart from what is today known as ECAC Hockey. It largely sought to emulate the Big East Conference, which had grown quickly since its creation a few years earlier. The women’s league began play in 2002.

Members

There are currently 11 member schools; the men’s division of Hockey East has ten members, while the women’s division has eight.

Institution	Location	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 (Women)	1881	Public	27,500	Big East
University of Maine	Orono, Maine	Black Bears (men’s team article)	1865	Public	11,222	America East
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	Minutemen (Men)	1863	Public	25,633	Atlantic 10
University of Massachusetts Lowell	Lowell, Massachusetts	River Hawks (Men)	1894	Public	11,208	Northeast Ten (D-II)
Merrimack College	North Andover, Massachusetts	Warriors (Men)	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	22,942	CAA
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

    * Boston College

          o 7-time Hockey East men’s champions (1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007)

          o 10-time Hockey East men’s regular season champions (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005)

          o 2-time ECAC men’s champions (1965, 1978)

          o 1-time ECAC men’s regular season champions (1980)

          o 2-time NCAA men’s champions (1949, 2001)

    * Boston University

          o 6-time Hockey East men’s champions (1986, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2006)

          o 7-time Hockey East men’s regular season champions (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006)

          o 5-time ECAC men’s champions (1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977)

          o 6-time ECAC men’s regular season champions (1965, 1967, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1979)

          o 4-time NCAA men’s champions (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995)

    * University of Connecticut (women only; men compete in Atlantic Hockey)

    * University of Maine

          o 5-time Hockey East men’s champions (1989, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2004)

          o 3-time Hockey East men’s regular season champions (1988, 1993, 1995)

          o 2-time NCAA men’s champions (1993, 1999)

    * University of Massachusetts Amherst (men only)

    * University of Massachusetts Lowell (men only)

          o 3-time NCAA Division II men’s champions (1979, 1981, 1982)

    * Merrimack College (men only)

          o 1-time NCAA Division II men’s champions (1978)

    * University of New Hampshire

          o 2-time Hockey East men’s champions (2002, 2003)

          o 6-time Hockey East men’s regular season champions (1992, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007)

          o 2-time Hockey East women’s champions (2006, 2007)

          o 4-time Hockey East women’s regular season champions (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)

          o 1-time ECAC men’s champions (1979)

          o 1-time ECAC men’s regular season champions (1974)

          o 5-time ECAC women’s champions (1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1996)

          o 1-time women’s national champions (1998) *crowned by AWCHA, pre-dated NCAA Women’s Frozen Four)

    * Northeastern University

          o 1-time Hockey East men’s champions (1988)

          o 1-time ECAC men’s champions (1982)

          o 3-time ECAC women’s champions (1988, 1989, 1997)

    * Providence College

          o 2-time Hockey East men’s champions (1985, 1996)

          o 3-time Hockey East women’s champions (2003, 2004, 2005)

          o 2-time Hockey East women’s regular season champions (2003, 2005)

          o 2-time ECAC men’s champions (1964, 1981)

          o 2-time ECAC men’s regular season champions (1964, 1983)

          o 5-time ECAC women’s champions (1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)

    * University of Vermont

          o 1-time ECAC men’s regular season champions (1996)

List of Men’s Hockey East Championship Games

The Hockey East Championship Game has been held in Boston since 1987, at the FleetCenter, now the TD Banknorth Garden, since 1996. The first two were held in Providence, Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin’ Donuts Center).

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.

    * 1985 Providence def. Boston College 2-1 (ot)

    * 1986 Boston University def. Boston College 9-4

    * 1987 Boston College def. Maine 4-2

    * 1988 Northeastern def. Maine 4-3

    * 1989 Maine def. Boston College 5-4

    * 1990 Boston College def. Maine 4-3

    * 1991 Boston University def. Maine 4-3 (ot)

    * 1992 Maine def. New Hampshire 4-1

    * 1993 Maine def. Boston University 5-2

    * 1994 Boston University def. UMass Lowell 3-2

    * 1995 Boston University def. Providence 3-2

    * 1996 Providence def. Maine 3-2

    * 1997 Boston University def. New Hampshire 4-2

    * 1998 Boston College def. Maine 3-2

    * 1999 Boston College def. New Hampshire 5-4 (ot)

    * 2000 Maine def. Boston College 2-1

    * 2001 Boston College def. Providence 5-3

    * 2002 New Hampshire def. Maine 3-1

    * 2003 New Hampshire def. Boston University 1-0 (ot)

    * 2004 Maine def. Massachusetts 2-1 (ot)

    * 2005 Boston College def. New Hampshire 3-1

    * 2006 Boston University def. Boston College 2-1 (ot)

    * 2007 Boston College def. New Hampshire 5-2

List of Women’s Hockey East Championship Games

The Hockey East Championship has been 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 then returned to Matthews Arena in 2006 and will be held at UNH’s Whittemore Center in 2007.

    * 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

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	2,982
New Hampshire	Whittemore Center	6,501
Northeastern	Matthews Arena	5,900
Providence	Schneider Arena	3,030
UMass Lowell	Tsongas Arena	6,496
Vermont	Gutterson Fieldhouse	4,035

 

Hockey East (Men’s) Awards

    * The Lamoriello Trophy named after Lou Lamoriello- Awarded to the Conference Champion

    * CCM / Bob Kullen Coach of the Year

    * CCM Player of the Year

    * Superskills Hockey Rookie of the Year

    * Len Ceglarski Award - Awarded to an individual student for displaying good sportsmanship.

    * Charles E. Holt Sportsmanship Award - Awarded to the team with the lowest average of penalty minutes per game in Hockey East play.

    * Old Time Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman

    * Best Defensive Forward

    * Itech Three Stars Award