READING, PA – Beginning on Friday, March 13, Hockey East will begin their 25th annual tournament with the top eight teams at the end of the regular season participating. All series are a best-of-three series in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. 
The winner of the tournament will be given and automatic bid to the upcoming Frozen Four tournament. Below is a look at the upcoming head-to-head matchups. No. 1 seed Boston University (27-5-4, 18-5-4 HEA) will host No. 8 Maine (12-20-4, 7-17-3 HEA) at Agganis Arena in Boston. The Terriers won the season series with the Black Bears, 2-0-1. The teams last met in the playoffs in March of 2004 in the HEA semifinals (Maine shutout BU, 1-0). The Terriers clinched their eighth Hockey East regular-season title in school history on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 shutout of Providence. BU enters the tournament unbeaten in its last 16 games (13-0-3) Players to watch: BU – Colin Wilson tied for the league lead in points (35) with Massachusetts James Marcou, and led overall (46).Wilson is the Nashville Predator’s first round draft pick in 2008 (seventh overall). Maine – The Black Bears have a Phoenix Coyotes goaltending prospects in Scott Darling who is ninth in goals against average and twelfth in save percentage No. 2 seed Northeastern (23-9-4, 18-6-3) will entertain No. 7 seed Massachusetts (15-18-3, 10-14-3 HEA) at Matthews Arena in Boston. The Minutemen won the season series, 2-1-0. The two teams have never met in the Hockey East playoffs. Players to watch NU – Wade MacLeod and Ryan Ginand lead the Northeastern offense with 32 and 31 points on the season. Mass. – James Marcou and the goaltending tandem of Paul Dainton and Dan Meyers. No. 3 seed New Hampshire (19-10-5, 15-8-4) will match up against No. 6 Boston College (16-13-5, 11-11-5) at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. UNH took the season series with the Eagles, 2-1-0. BC has won three of the last four Hockey East Tournament titles. Players to watch NH – Philadelphia Flyers is a first round pick in 2007 (second overall) was seventh overall in scoring with 15 goals and 22 assists. BC – Brock Bradford is a Boston Bruins prospect (7th round pick in 2005) and was tied for fourth overall in scoring. No. 4 seed Vermont (20-9-5, 15-8-4) plays host to No. 5 seed UMass-Lowell (17-15-2, 14-11-2 HEA) at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt. The season series was a deadlock at 1-1-1. These two teams also meet for the first time in league tournament play. Players to watch VT – Viktor Stolberg was tied with Bradford in overall scoring, and is a prospect of the Toronto Maple Leafs. UML – Goaltender Carter Hutton was second overall in goals against average and third in save percentage. The winners of each quarterfinal series will advance to the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston for the Hockey East Championships on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21. The semifinals will be played Friday with the title game will be played on Saturday night. The Hockey East Association is a 10-team, Division-I college hockey conference, with offices based in Wakefield, Mass. Founded in 1983, the league has won five NCAA championships in the past 14 years. The conference also sponsors an eight-team women’s league which began play in 2002-03. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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