2021 Hockey East men's ice hockey tournament

2021 Hockey East Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 10–20, 2021
Teams	10
Finals site	Mullins Center Amherst, Massachusetts
Champions	Massachusetts (1st title)
Winning coach	Greg Carvel (1st title)
MVP	Bobby Trivigno (Massachusetts)
Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 10 and March 20, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all games were played on campus locations, rather than the semifinal and final match traditionally being hosted at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The UMass Minutemen defeated the UMass Lowell River Hawks to earn their 1st Hockey East tournament championship, and earned the conference's automatic bid into the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

The tournament was the 36th in league history.

Format

Due to the difficulties of scheduling during the regular season, it was announced in late 2020 that all 11 Hockey East teams qualified for the tournament. After further complications and cancellations throughout the season, a formula-based ranking system called the Hockey East Power Index (HEPI) was implemented to determine seeding. Additionally, the tournament was formatted so that all rounds would be single-elimination games, rather than traditionally a best-of-three series in the opening and quarterfinals rounds.^[1]

On March 5, it was announced that Merrimack would be unable to participate in the tournament due to a late positive test result among the team's Tier-I personnel.^[2] As a result, the 11-team tournament format was reduced to a 10-team format, and teams ranked below Merrimack in the final HEPI standings would move up a seed to compensate.

Seeds 7-10 will play a single elimination opening round game on March 10, 2021, as seeds 1-6 will earn a bye to the next round. Winning teams will be reseeded and then play a single elimination quarterfinal game on March 14, 2021. Following an additional reseeding, the four victorious teams will advance to the semifinals on March 17, 2021. The final two programs will battle in the championship game on March 20, 2021.^[3]

Standings

2020–21 Hockey East Standings v t e
	Conference record											Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	SOW	HEPI	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#6 Boston College	21	16	4	1	3	2	0	58.61	82	46		24	17	6	1	91	58
#11 Boston University	14	10	3	1	3	1	1	56.36	49	37		16	10	5	1	52	45
#1 Massachusetts *	22	13	5	4	1	1	1	55.44	76	42		29	20	5	4	103	48
Connecticut	22	10	10	2	1	4	2	52.01	69	63		23	10	11	2	70	69
#16 Providence	23	10	8	5	0	0	2	50.80	63	61		25	11	9	5	71	67
Northeastern	20	9	8	3	1	0	3	49.94	68	60		21	9	9	3	69	64
#19 Massachusetts–Lowell	16	7	8	1	1	1	0	48.00	46	53		20	10	9	1	59	63
Maine	15	3	10	2	0	1	2	46.66	41	61		16	3	11	2	43	68
Merrimack	18	5	11	2	0	1	0	45.38	47	66		18	5	11	2	47	66
New Hampshire	21	5	13	3	3	2	2	43.66	51	83		23	6	14	3	60	88
Vermont	12	1	9	2	0	0	0	38.02	17	37		13	1	10	2	20	42
Championship: March 20, 2021[4] No Regular Season Champion Awarded[5] * indicates conference tournament champion (Lamoriello Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the Opening Round and Quarterfinals

	Opening Round March 10[6]					Quarterfinals March 14					Semifinals March 17					Championship March 20
						1	Boston College	3
	7	Massachusetts–Lowell	5			9	New Hampshire	2
	10	Vermont	3								1	Boston College	5
											7	Massachusetts–Lowell	6**
						2	Boston University	1
						7	Massachusetts–Lowell	2
																7	Massachusetts–Lowell	0
																3	Massachusetts	1
						3	Massachusetts	4
	8	Maine	2			6	Northeastern	1
	9	New Hampshire	7								3	Massachusetts	5
											5	Providence	2
						4	Connecticut	1
						5	Providence	6

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

Opening Round

(7) UMass Lowell vs. (11) Vermont

March 10, 2021 3:00 PM

UMass Lowell

5 – 3 (0–1, 4–1, 1–1)

Vermont

Tsongas Center, Lowell, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Owen Savory	Goalies	Gabe Carriere	Referees: Geoffrey Miller Terrence Murphy Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Nicholas Briganti
	0–1 17:29 – Jacques Bouquot (2) (Esposito, Dzhioshvili) (Lee, Stefanson) Nolan Sawchuk (1) – 22:50 1–1 (Levesque, Meehan) Anthony Baxter (1) – 29:13 2–1 (Levesque, Barton) Matt Brown (5) – PP – 30:54 3–1 (Anthony Baxter) Matt Brown (6) – GW – 34:41 4–1 4–2 39:24 – SH – Bryce Misley (1) (unassisted) (Jon McDonald, Blake Wells) Seth Barton (2) – 43:05 5–2 5–3 43:32 – Simon Boyko (2) (Evers)
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	31	Shots	23

(8) Maine vs. (9) New Hampshire

March 10, 2021 4:30 PM

Maine

2 – 7 (0–1, 2–3, 0–3)

New Hampshire

Alfond Arena, Orono, Maine Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Victor Ostman	Goalies	Mike Robinson	Referees: Walker Holton Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Bill Kingdon Jeff McCorkle
	0–1 17:00 – Kalle Eriksson (6) (Pierson, Crookshank) 0–2 22:30 – PP – Eric MacAdams (4) (Engarås, Verrier) (Dawe, Butala) Adrien Bisson (2) – 23:16 1–2 1–3 23:51 – GW – Jackson Pierson (9) (MacKinnon) (Sirota, Quinlivan) Lynden Breen (3) – 25:19 2–3 2–4 30:21 – SH – Tyler Ward (3) (Engarås) 2–5 41:00 – Filip Engarås (6) (unassisted) 2–6 55:54 – SH EN – Luke Rein (2) (Verrier) 2–7 57:49 – PP – Lucas Herrmann (3) (MacKinnon, Cipollone)
	16 min	Penalties	10 min
	22	Shots	36

Quarterfinals

(2) Boston University vs. (7) UMass Lowell

March 14, 2021 1:05 PM

Boston University

1 – 2 (1–1, 0–0, 0–1)

UMass Lowell

Walter Brown Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Drew Commesso	Goalies	Henry Welsch	Referees: Scott Hansen Walker Holton Linesmen: Bob Bernard Christopher Millea
	(Peterson, Zabaneh) Jamie Armstrong (1) – 2:17 1–0 1–1 4:30 – Matt Brown (7) (McDonald) 1–2 48:19 – GW – Brian Chambers (3) (Lee, Stefanson)
	4 min	Penalties	2 min
	17	Shots	29

(4) Connecticut vs. (5) Providence

March 14, 2021 3:30 PM

Connecticut

1 – 6 (0–1, 1–2, 0–3)

Providence

Freitas Ice Forum, Storrs, Connecticut Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Tomáš Vomáčka	Goalies	Jaxson Stauber	Referees: Geoffrey Miller Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Jeff McCorkle Bill Kingdon
	0–1 8:47 – Parker Ford (6) (Ruikka, Printz) 0–2 21:58 – GW – Uula Ruikka (4) (McDonald, McDermott) 0–3 22:58 – Nick Poisson (5) (Mirageas, Thompson) (Evans, Karashik) Jáchym Kondelík (4) – 29:20 1–3 1–4 41:45 – Tyce Thompson (11) (Poisson) 1–5 50:53 – Brett Berard (4) (Yoder, Moynihan) 1–6 55:20 – Max Crozier (3) (Berard, Mirageas)
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	41	Shots	43

(3) Massachusetts vs. (6) Northeastern

March 14, 2021 4:30 PM

Massachusetts

4 – 1 (2–0, 1–1, 1–0)

Northeastern

Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Filip Lindberg	Goalies	Connor Murphy	Referees: Marty Hughes Terrance Murphy Linesmen: Nick Briganti Jeremy Lovett
	(Trivigno, Lopina) Garret Wait (8) – 2:54 1–0 (Trivigno, Kessel) Zac Jones (7) – GW – 8:27 2–0 2–1 30:37 – Jérémie Bucheler (1) (Struble) (Felix) Bobby Trivigno (9) – 38:08 3–1 (Harding) Philip Lagunov (3) – 44:16 4–1
	4 min	Penalties	2 min
	28	Shots	26

(1) Boston College vs. (9) New Hampshire

March 14, 2021 4:30 PM

Boston College

3 – 2 (3–0, 0–2, 0–0)

New Hampshire

Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Spencer Knight	Goalies	Mike Robinson	Referees: Charles Hanfin Peter Schlittenhardt Linesmen: Kyle Richetelle Kevin Briganti
	(Boldy, Helleson) Alex Newhook (5) – 5:35 1–0 (Powell, Boldy) Mike Hardman (9) – 7:30 2–0 (Ambrosio, Warren) Nikita Nesterenko (8) – GW – 8:25 3–0 3–1 26:33 – Eric MacAdams (5) (Sato, Verrier) 3–2 28:56 – Luke Reid (3) (MacAdams, Gendron)
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	36	Shots	37

Semifinals

(1) Boston College vs. (7) UMass Lowell

March 17, 2021 4:30 PM

Boston College

5 – 6 (2OT) (1–0, 3–1, 1–4, 0–0, 0–1)

UMass Lowell

Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Spencer Knight	Goalies	Henry Welsch	Referees: Scott Hansen Walker Holton Linesmen: Bill Kingdon Jeff McCorckle
	(Boldy, Newhook) Marshall Warren (3) – 7:34 1–0 (Boldy, Newhook) Mike Hardman (10) – 6:44 2–0 (Hardman, St. Ivany) Alex Newhook (6) – 32:40 3–0 3–1 33:01 – Anthony Baxter (2) (unassisted) (Boldy) Alex Newhook (7) – 38:47 4–1 4–2 50:25 – Reid Stefanson (5) (Brown, Blackmun) 4–3 55:33 – Andre Lee (7) (Blackmun, Wells) 4–4 56:39 – PP – Lucas Condotta (6) (Lee) (Boldy, Newhook) Marc McLaughlin (10) – PP – 57:53 5–4 5–5 58:34 – EA – Anthony Baxter (3) (Levesque, Knoblauch) 5–6 92:00 – GW – Matt Brown (8) (Barton)
	12 min	Penalties	4 min
	39	Shots	49

(3) Massachusetts vs. (5) Providence

March 17, 2021 7:00 PM

Massachusetts

5 – 2 (2–2, 1–0, 2–0)

Providence

Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Filip Lindberg	Goalies	Jaxson Stauber	Referees: Marty Hughes Terrance Murphy Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Kyle Richetelle
	(Kessel, Trivigno) Josh Lopina (8) – 0:52 1–0 1–1 6:00 – Brett Berard (5) (Poisson, Mirageas) (Kessel, Trivigno) Zac Jones (8) – 11:46 2–1 2–2 8:14 – PP – Parker Ford (7) (Thompson, Callahan) (Jones) Bobby Trivigno (10) – GW – 21:22 3–2 (Del Gaizo, Felix) George Mika (3) – 49:32 4–2 (unassisted) Marc Del Gaizo (3) – EN – 59:18 5–2
	2 min	Penalties	0 min
	27	Shots	22

Finals

(3) Massachusetts vs. (7) UMass Lowell

March 20, 2021 7:00 PM

Massachusetts

1 – 0 (1–0, 0–0, 0–0)

UMass Lowell

Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Filip Lindberg	Goalies	Henry Welsch	Referees: Peter Schlittenhardt Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Bob Bernard Nicholas Brignati
	(Gicewicz, Chau) Jake Gaudet (3) – GW – 15:32 1–0
	4 min	Penalties	4 min
	22	Shots	16

Tournament Awards

All-Tournament Team

• Goaltender – Filip Lindberg, Massachusetts
• Defenceman – Anthony Baxter, UMass Lowell
• Defenceman – Zac Jones, Massachusetts
• Forward – Matt Brown, UMass Lowell
• Forward – Jake Gaudet, Massachusetts
• Forward – Bobby Trivigno, Massachusetts

Tournament MVP

• Bobby Trivigno, Massachusetts

References

1. "Hockey East Unveils 2021 Tournament and Seeding Format - Hockey East Association". hockeyeastonline.com. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
2. McMahon, Mike. "COVID-19 ends season for Merrimack hockey team". Eagle-Tribune. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
3. "2021 Hockey East Men's Tournament - Hockey East Association". hockeyeastonline.com.
4. "Hockey East Unveils 2021 Tournament and Seeding Format - Hockey East Association". hockeyeastonline.com. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
5. "2021 Hockey East Women's Tournament Field Set". hockeyeastonline.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
6. "2021 Hockey East Men's Tournament Field Set - Hockey East Association". hockeyeastonline.com. Retrieved March 8, 2021.

External links

• 2021 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament