2014 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 2014 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 7 and March 22, 2014 at campus locations and at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The UMass Lowell River Hawks, the defending champions from the 2012–13 season, defeated New Hampshire 4-0 to repeat as champions and became the 7th team in league history to successfully defend their title. Sophomore goalie Conner Hellebuyck was named tournament MVP for his 30-save shutout in the championship match.

The tournament is the 30th in league history, as the conference entered its 30th year of existence. It was also the first tournament since 2004 that neither Boston College nor Boston University advanced to at least the semifinals, played at the TD Garden.

Format

With the addition of Notre Dame to Hockey East, the tournament was reformatted to include all eleven teams in the conference. With eleven being an uneven number, an unorthodox format was needed to achieve a tournament that allowed all eleven teams to participate. A fourth, Opening Round was added before the traditional Quarterfinals, which consists of single-elimination games between the 6-11 seeds hosted by the higher seed, with the 1-5 seeds earning a bye to the next round. The 4 and 5 seeds are guaranteed to play each other whereas the 1-3 seeds will play the winners of the 6-11 seed games, with the highest seeds hosting the lowest seeds remaining. The Quarterfinals through Finals are unchanged from the previous season, with the Quarterfinals consisting of a best-of-three series hosted by the higher seeds, while the Semifinals and Final are single games played at the TD Garden. The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This tournament format will only be used for the 2013-14 season, as the addition of the UConn Huskies to the conference in the 2014–15 season will bring the total number of teams in the league up to twelve, which allows for a more even, 12-team tournament format. The tournament format following this year will change to a best-of-three Opening Round between 5-11 seeds, with 1-4 seeds earning a bye. The Quarterfinals through Finals will be unchanged.

Regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

2013–14 Hockey East men's standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#3 Boston Collegedagger20162234754040288416494
#5 UMass Lowell*201163255443412611411677
#10 Providence201172245049392211611588
#18 New Hampshire2011902264514122181126106
#19 Northeastern2010822252513719144117103
Maine20983215948351615410283
#9 Notre Dame20992204340402315212086
#14 Vermont2010100204948382015310589
Boston University205123134366351021481113
UMass20413311426134822476106
Merrimack203152832663382236297
Championship: UMass Lowell
dagger indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 23, 2014

Bracket

Opening Round

On March 7–8 the 6-11 seeds will play in single-elimination games to advance to the best-of-three quarterfinals. Games will be hosted by the higher seeded teams.

Results:

March 7, 2014
7:05 pm		(10) UMass1 – 2
(0–0, 1–1, 0–1)		(7) VermontGutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vermont
Attendance: 2823
March 8, 2014
7:05 pm		(9) Boston University2 – 3
(0–1, 1–1, 1–1)		(8) Notre DameCompton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Indiana
Attendance: 5022
March 8, 2014
7:05 pm		(11) Merrimack0 – 2
(0–1, 0–0, 0–1)		(6) MaineAlfond Arena, Orono, Maine
Attendance: 3678

Quarterfinals–Final

  Quarterfinals
March 14–16		 Semifinals
March 21		 Championship
March 22
                               
  1 Boston College 2 4 2 2 UMass Lowell 4  
8 Notre Dame 7 2 4 8 Notre Dame 0  
  2 UMass Lowell 3 2 2
7 Vermont 2 3* 1     2 UMass Lowell 4
  4 New Hampshire 0
  3 Providence 3 4 —
6 Maine 1 2 —
  4 New Hampshire 1 4 5 3 Providence 1
5 Northeastern 0 5* 4 4 New Hampshire 3  

Note: * denotes overtime periods

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team[1]

* Tournament MVP(s)

Note: Hellebuyck became the first player in the 30-year history of the conference to win the award twice, let alone consecutively. He also became the first goaltender to record a shutout in two title games (winning in 2013-14 by a score of 4–0 and in 2012-13 by a score of 1–0), again let alone in consecutive title games.[2]

  1. ↑ "2013-14 Hockey East Media Guide". Hockey East. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  2. ↑ http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/recaps14.php?mumlunh1.m22
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