This is one of my favorite weekends of the hockey calendar with the Hockey East Championships and MIAA finals at the TD Garden in Boston.
The Hockey East semifinals and finals could be especially intriguing with just one league team locked into a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Regular season champion Boston University will be in the national tournament, regardless of this weekend’s results, when the field is announced Sunday.
Merrimack, the second seed, has a chance to get into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large but needs quite a bit of fortuitous results across the country in other league tournaments. UMass Lowell and Providence both need to win two games this weekend and skate off the TD Garden ice with the Lamoriello Trophy if they are to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Here are 10 thoughts I have on recent goings on in Hockey East, pertaining to the league playoffs, awards, the transfer portal, and recent pro signings:
