The Women's Hockey East Postseason Tournament schedule released. #6 seed Maine will be at #3 Boston College in the quarterfinals next Saturday, March 1st at 4:30 p.m.

Here is the full schedule-

https://easternmainesports.com/2025/02/23/womens-hockey-east-tournament-bracket-is-set-maine-to-play-at-boston-college/

Here is the schedule for the America East Women's Basketball Tournament beginning on Thursday night. Maine is in the #4 spot and will host #5 NJIT in the Pit.

Thursday, March 6th Quarterfinals

#7 UMBC (14-14) at #2 Vermont (18-12)- 5 p.m.

#5 NJIT (11-18) at #4 Maine (14-15)- 6 p.m.

#6 Binghamton (15-14) at #3 Bryant (16-13)- 6 p.m.

#8 UNH (10-19) at #1 Albany (24-5)- 6:30 p.m.

Monday, March 10 Semifinals (after re-seeding)

Semifinal 1- Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed- Time to be announced 

Semifinal 2- Second lowest remaining seed at second highest remaining seed- Time to be announced

Friday, March 14 Championship game (winner gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament)

Semifinal 1 winner vs Semifinal 2 winner at the highest remaining seed home court- 5 p.m.

Preview- Maine vs Northeastern in the Hockey East Semifinals on Thursday in Boston

For the fourth time this season the University of Maine Black Bears and Northeastern University Huskies will square off on the ice, but this one will be alot bigger as the teams ready themselves for a men's Hockey East semifinal showdown at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night.

#9 seed Northeastern (14-19-3) is the biggest surprise of the postseason, earning a double overtime 3-2 road victory over Merrimack College last Wednesday night in the opening round before going into Conte Forum on Saturday and shocking the top seed and top team in the country Boston College 3-1 in the quarterfinals. The Huskies are the first #9 seed ever to make it to the final four of Hockey East. Junior forward and Biddeford, Maine native Jack Williams is the points leader for NU with 41 (16 goals, 25 assists). He has been held to a pair of goals over his last eight games, but has eight assists in that same time period. Junior forward Cam Lund has 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists). Lund has put up eight points in his last six contests (four goals, four assists). Sophomore forward Dylan Hryckowian has recorded 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists), including the game winner in the double overtime opening round victory over Merrimack. Hryckowian has three goals and five assists in his last six games. In net, sophomore Cam Whitehead had been playing superb in the two postseason games. The native of Orleans, Ontario has a total of 74 saves in the games vs. MC and BC while only allowing three goals in the two victories.

#2 seed and #4 nationally ranked Maine (22-7-6) comes in to this semifinal game playing better hockey, especially over their last four periods. The Black Bears rallied from down 2-0 after 40 minutes in a 2-2 road tie with UMass in the regular season finale on March 8th, and then had seven different players score a goal in a 7-1 quarterfinal home romp over #7 seed UMass-Lowell this past Saturday at Alfond Arena. Maine is on the way to Boston for a second straight season, after they snapped a 12-year hiatus last year before falling to Boston University at the Garden 4-1 in the semis. Senior forward Harrison Scott and junior forward Thomas Freel both scored in the quarterfinal victory for just the second time in 15 and 14 games respectively, and will be an important part of the Black Bears success for the remainder of the postseason. Graduate forward Ross Mitton (knee) and junior defenseman Brandon Chabrier (upper-body) also returned from injury on Saturday. Mitton scored a goal for the first time since December 1st at RPI, the fourth of the season for the transfer from Colgate. Graduate co-captain Lynden Breen has been biggest comeback story. The St. John, New Brunswick native scored the third goal for his team of the second period vs UMass-Lowell, his first since returning from a serious injury. Breen suffered a fractured fibula at RPI on November 30th and shortly after underwent surgery, but worked his way back onto the ice 82 days later (February 21st at UConn) and would find the back of the net in his final game in front of the Alfond faithful. Sophomore Albin Boija continues to be one of the top goaltenders in the country, and will be instrumental in not only the remainder of the Hockey East playoffs but into the NCAA Tournament that will start at the end of next week. The Black Bears are seeking their first appearance in the conference championship game since the 2011-12 season (lost 4-1 to Boston College), and will be looking for their first title since they defeated UMass 2-1 in triple overtime in 2003-2004 on a goal by Ben Murphy. Maine would lose the national championship game that season 1-0 to Denver, which was the last time they were in the college hockey final.

Maine and Northeastern met three times in the regular season, with the Black Bears going 2-0-1 vs the Huskies. In this most recent meeting on January 31st, Maine won 3-1 at the Alfond. The teams also met in the Hockey East openers at Matthews Arena in Boston back on October 25th and 26th, with the Black Bears winning game one 4-1 before settling for a 2-2 tie the next night. The face-off at TD Garden on Thursday is set for 7:30 p.m. The Maine-NU winner advances to the title game, and will play the winner of #3 seed BU (21-12-2) and #4 UConn (21-10-4) who play in the first semifinal on Thursday at 4 p.m. The league championship contest is scheduled for 7:30 on Friday.

Maine men's hockey with a chance to end Hockey East Championship drought tonight at the Garden

After many Maine fans made the trip Thursday night to watch a tense 4-3 double overtime victory over Northeastern in the semifinals, the TD Garden is set to become Alfond South even more so tonight at 7:30 when the Black Bears battle the University of Connecticut Huskies at 7:30 in the Men's Hockey East Championship game.

Maine (23-7-6) is returning to the Hockey East Final for the first time since the 2011-2012 campaign (lost to BC), while UConn (22-10-4) is in their second title game and first since the 2021-2022 season (lost to UMass). The Black Bears will be seeking their first Lamoriello Trophy since beating UMass in 2003-2004, while the Huskies look for their first since joining the league in 2014-2015 after spending 11 seasons in Atlantic Hockey. 

The regular season matchups mean practically nothing once you get to the playoffs in just a one game elimination format. Maine was likely a bit gassed once last evening came to an end, after putting 61 shots on goal and attempting 136 in a contest that went just over 91 minutes, but the adrenaline is something that certainly that can take over in a championship matchup. Just statistically speaking, UConn has gone 2-0-1 in the three games vs the Black Bears so far this year. They got a win (4-2) and a tie (2-2) at the Alfond Arena on January 17th and 18th, and a 3-2 overtime win in Storrs on February 21st in which they put 45 shots on goal. The Huskies come into tonight winners of their last five and with two dominant Hockey East postseason games under their belts (3-1 over Providence in the quarters, and 5-2 over BU in the semis on Thursday). We're only hours away from seeing who is crowned as the 2024-25 champion, with either Maine ending their drought or UConn taking home their first conference trophy.

Maine is the top seed in Allentown as they get set to face Penn State in the NCAA Regionals Friday night 

For the second straight season, the Maine men's hockey team is headed to the NCAA Tournament. This time the Black Bears are the top seed in their regional (#3 overall in the field), and will square off with Big 10 opponent the Penn State Nittany Lions (#13 overall seed) at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. PSU will have a total of 13 days between games before their matchup with Maine. Six Hockey East schools made the 16 team tournament- Maine, UConn, Boston College, Providence, Boston University, and UMass.

Fresh off their first Hockey East Championship in 21 years, 5-2 over UConn this past Friday night at TD Garden in Boston, the #4 nationally ranked Black Bears (24-7-6) will be looking for their first NCAA Tournament win since the 2006-2007 season in what will be the equivalent of a home game for the Nittany Lions. This will be the first ever hockey meeting between Maine and Penn State. They were supposed to meet for a two game series at Pegula Ice Arena in Pennsylvania during the 2021-22 season, but a COVID outbreak at the school canceled that.

The #4 regional seed from Penn State has a record of 20-13-4, and went 9-11-4 in the Big 10 during the regular season. They eliminated Michigan in two games in the best of three conference quarterfinals, before falling in overtime in the semifinals to Ohio State. The 12th ranked Nittany Lions are in the tournament for a fourth time in school history, and have five skaters that have recorded 27 points or more led by sophomore forward Aiden Fink with 52 (23 goals, 29 assists). Senior forward Danny Dzhaniyev (12 G, 18 A) and sophomore forward Reese Laubach (15 G, 15 A) both have 30 points, sophomore forward Matt DiMarsico has 29 (14 G, 15 A), while senior defenseman Simon Mack has 27 (3 G, 24 A). They will be without one of their best defenseman in junior Carter Schade who has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a lower body injury. Schade had put up 18 points (9 G, 9A), and also had 48 blocked shots in 35 games played. Junior goaltender and UConn transfer Arsenii Sergeev has appeared in 30 of the 37 games in net and has a record of 17-8-4 with a 2.70 goals against average, a save percentage of .915, to go along with four shutouts. PSU has been one of the hottest teams in the country in the second half of the season going 13-4-4 since the calendar rolled over to 2025.

#7 ranked UConn and #11 Quinnipiac, the #2 and #3 regional seeds respectively, will play in the opener in Allentown on Friday at 5 p.m. The two semifinal winners will meet on Sunday at either 4:30 or 7 p.m. (to be determined) for the regional championship and a chance to advance to the Frozen Four. The Black Bears are familiar with the other two teams in their bracket as they have gone 1-2-1 against the Huskies this season, getting their lone victory with the 5-2 win in the Hockey East Championship game. They also have seen Quinnipiac twice, sweeping the Bobcats in a series back in early October at Alfond Arena in Orono (2-1 and 6-5 in overtime). The other three teams awarded #1 regional seeds include Boston College (Manchester, NH), Michigan State (Toledo, OH), and Western Michigan (Fargo, ND). The Denver Pioneers are the defending national champions and play Providence in their opening round game in Manchester in the regional that also includes BC and Bentley University.

The 24 wins for Maine are the most since the 2005-06 season (28-12-2). That Black Bears squad was led by Tim Whitehead and lost in a national semifinal of the Frozen Four in St. Louis to Michigan State 4-2. This year's Frozen Four is also in St. Louis. Head coach Ben Barr, who is in his fourth year, has his team in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. Maine went 7-22-4 (5-17-2 in Hockey East- last place finish) in his first year behind the bench. In his short tenure, he has helped move the program from last in the league to the top of the mountain in capturing their sixth conference title in school history last Friday. Clinching back to back trips to TD Garden and the NCAA Tournament hadn't happened for the Black Bears prior to this season since 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. Senior forwards Taylor Makar and Harrison Scott are now tied for the team lead with 18 goals a piece, while sophomore forward Josh Nadeau is up to 10 with his powerplay tally vs UConn. Sophomore goalie Albin Boija has 23 wins on the year, and his goals against average sits at 1.76 with a save percentage of .930. Boija also picked up his second career assist on Friday on the goal by Nadeau, and will play in his first ever regional after being sidelined in their opening game loss last year with an illness. Penn State averages 3.5 goals per game but gives up over 3.0, while Maine scores 3.3 and is stingy defensively only allowing 1.9. This is the 19th all-time appearance in the national tournament for the two-time champion Black Bears, who fell to Cornell 3-1 in their first round matchup last season in Springfield, Massachusetts.