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
Championship: Massachusetts–Lowell † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 23, 2014
Bracket
Opening Round March 7–8
Quarterfinals March 14–16
Semifinals March 21
Championship March 22
1
Boston College
2
4
2
6
Maine
2
8
Notre Dame
7
2
4
11
Merrimack
0
2
Massachusetts–Lowell
4
8
Notre Dame
0
2
Massachusetts–Lowell
3
2
2
7
Vermont
2
3*
1
2
Massachusetts–Lowell
4
4
New Hampshire
0
3
Providence
3
4
—
7
Vermont
2
6
Maine
1
2
—
10
Massachusetts
1
3
Providence
1
4
New Hampshire
3
4
New Hampshire
1
4
5
8
Notre Dame
3
5
Northeastern
0
5*
4
9
Boston University
2
* denotes overtime periods
Results
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.
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 in consecutive title games.[1]
