2014 Hockey East men's ice hockey tournament

2014 Hockey East Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 7-22, 2014
Teams	11
Finals site	TD Garden Boston
Champions	UMass Lowell (2nd title)
Winning coach	Norm Bazin (2nd title)
MVP	Connor Hellebuyck (UML)
Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2013 2015 →

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 College†	20	16	2	2	34	75	40		40	28	8	4	164	94
#5 Massachusetts–Lowell*	20	11	6	3	25	54	43		41	26	11	4	116	77
#10 Providence	20	11	7	2	24	50	49		39	22	11	6	115	88
#18 New Hampshire	20	11	9	0	22	64	51		41	22	18	1	126	106
#19 Northeastern	20	10	8	2	22	52	51		37	19	14	4	117	103
Maine	20	9	8	3	21	59	48		35	16	15	4	102	83
#14 Vermont	20	10	10	0	20	49	48		38	20	15	3	105	89
#9 Notre Dame	20	9	9	2	20	43	40		40	23	15	2	120	86
Boston University	20	5	12	3	13	43	66		35	10	21	4	81	113
Massachusetts	20	4	13	3	11	42	61		34	8	22	4	76	106
Merrimack	20	3	15	2	8	32	66		33	8	22	3	62	97
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

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) UMass

1 – 2 (0–0, 1–1, 0–1)

(7) Vermont

Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vermont Attendance: 2823

Game reference
	Steve Mastalerz	Goalies	Brody Hoffman	Referees: Tim Benedetto Dave Hansen Linesmen: Matt Riegert Jeremy Lovett
	Power (Iacobellis, Sheary) – 22:40 1 – 0 1 – 1 37:18 – Paliotta (Fallon, Markison) 1 – 2 58:53 – Brickley (DeCenzo, White)
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	19	Shots	26

March 8, 2014 7:05 pm

(9) Boston University

2 – 3 (0–1, 1–1, 1–1)

(8) Notre Dame

Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Indiana Attendance: 5022

Game reference
	Matt O'Connor	Goalies	Steven Summerhays	Referees: Mark Wilkins Jeff Bunyon Linesmen: Marc Sullivan Jeremy Lewis
	0 – 1 6:28 – Rust (Tynan, Herr) 0 – 2 29:25 – Costello (Taker, Tynan) Rodrigues (Baillargeon) – 36:04 1 – 2 1 – 3 43:07 – Schneider (Johns, Lind) Baillargeon (Noonan, Oksanen) (PP) – 54:22 2 – 3
	6 min	Penalties	8 min
	27	Shots	29

March 8, 2014 7:05 pm

(11) Merrimack

0 – 2 (0–1, 0–0, 0–1)

(6) Maine

Alfond Arena, Orono, Maine Attendance: 3678

Game reference
	Rasmus Tirronen	Goalies	Martin Ouellette	Referees: Cameron Voss Geoff Miller Linesmen: Patrick Turcotte Chris Aughe
	0 – 1 2:01 – Anthoine (Swavely, Cerretani) 0 – 2 59:41 – Shore (Hutton, Renouf) (EN)
	10 min	Penalties	10 min
	29	Shots	35

Quarterfinals–Final

Template:8TeamBracket-NCAA Note: * denotes overtime periods

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• F Kevin Goumas (New Hampshire)
• F Joe Pendenza (Massachusetts-Lowell)
• F A. J. White (Massachusetts-Lowell)
• D Christian Folin (Massachusetts-Lowell)
• D Stephen Johns (Notre Dame)
• G Connor Hellebuyck* (Massachusetts-Lowell)

* 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.

External links

• 2014 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament