Hockey East Tournament

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the Opening Round and Quarterfinals

	Opening Round[1] March 6-8							Quarterfinals March 13–15							Semifinals March 20					Championship March 21
								1	Boston University
	5	Notre Dame	3	5
	12	UMass	4*****	3
								2	Providence
	6	Northeastern	2	1	–
	11	Merrimack	3*	2**	–
								3	Boston College
	7	Vermont	4	2
	10	Maine	2	4
								4	UMass Lowell
	8	New Hampshire	5	2	–
	9	Connecticut	2	0	–

     The hockey East Tournament is underway. The top 4 teams have a bye for the first round and they will need it. Boston College, Boston University and Providence all should make the NCAA tournament. The bubble teams are UMass Lowell  and Vermont. these 2 teams have to reach the HE Final and they might get a shot at the NCAA at large. All the other teams will have to win the tournament to get selected for the NCAA. So as of today only 3 Hockey East Teams will participate in the tournament that will be played in the Boston Garden.

Since ND and Vermont lost a games so far in the opening round,.....this further throws them down the Pair Wise ranking. Vermont sits at 20th and is a long shot. Even if they beat Maine and advance to the Final of Hockey East this will give them 4 more wins. They will still be an at Large invite and would need other to lose above them.

   Lowell is waiting for it's HE match up, yet to be determined. They have won Hockey East 2 year running and will be hard to knock off. They will be playing at home. They also have to advance to get off the bubble. They are on the right side of the bubble at 14th but could be bounced if another team wins their championship (like the weak Big 10's Michigan beating Minnesota in the final) and the weak 10 placed Minnesota and Michigan in the tournament. ugggg

    Notre Dame has to win the Hockey East to get in. Enough of the NCAA. lets see about the Hockey East tournament.

Northeastern is the highest team bounced so far. The huskies lost to Merrimack. Northeastern recently played in the Bean Pot Final against BU and lost heart breaking game. Then they split a pair against HE regular season champion BU. Northeastern will be grabbing the gold clubs early and will be wondering what could have been if they won the Bean Pot.

UConn got bounced by UHN. This was UConn first season in Hockey East and they placed a respectable 9th in a very competitive league. This was a big success for the Huskies on ice.


Notre Dame is tied 1 to 1 against UMass. I do not believe either team will advance in the next round. First both teams played the longest game ever played in game 1. Second if UMass winns they get BU at Agannis. This is #12 against #1. Notre Dame has to travel from Indiana and play a well rested UMass-Lowell team. Lowell has won HE 2 years running and want to continue this trend. Lowell also knows they are on the bubble and need to win to have a chance to enter the NCAA. Lowell will come out with guns blazing.

The 2 Northern States of Vermont and UMaine are locked in a bragging rights battle. UVM will have the advantage at home. Whoever loses knows the season will be over. This should be a great one.