# 2016 Hockey East men's ice hockey tournament

The 2016 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 3 and March 19, 2016 at campus locations and at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Northeastern Huskies defeated the UMass Lowell River Hawks by a score of 3–2 to earn their 2nd Hockey East championship in school history and earn Hockey East's automatic bid into the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. Kevin Boyle was named tournament MVP.
The tournament was the 32nd in league history.

## Format

The tournament will include all twelve teams in the conference. Seeds 1–4 earned a first-round bye, and seeds 5–12 played a best-of-three Opening Round played on campus locations. Winners advanced to play the 1–4 seeds in the best-of-three Quarterfinals on campus locations. Winners of those series played in a single-game Semifinal, and those winners faced off in a single-game Championship Final, both at the TD Garden.

### Regular season standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
2015–16 Hockey East men's standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #5 Boston College † | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 35 | 91 | 45 | 41 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 156 | 82 |
| #3 Providence † | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 35 | 71 | 39 | 38 | 27 | 7 | 4 | 124 | 71 |
| #13 Notre Dame | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 32 | 70 | 40 | 37 | 19 | 11 | 7 | 115 | 86 |
| #8 Massachusetts–Lowell | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 28 | 58 | 37 | 40 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 121 | 75 |
| #11 Boston University | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 28 | 75 | 56 | 36 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 124 | 106 |
| #14 Northeastern * | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 24 | 75 | 56 | 41 | 22 | 14 | 5 | 134 | 105 |
| Merrimack | 22 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 50 | 70 | 39 | 13 | 19 | 7 | 95 | 108 |
| Connecticut | 22 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 49 | 70 | 36 | 11 | 21 | 4 | 88 | 114 |
| Vermont | 22 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 15 | 48 | 66 | 40 | 15 | 22 | 3 | 86 | 107 |
| New Hampshire | 22 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 57 | 73 | 37 | 11 | 20 | 6 | 112 | 121 |
| Maine | 22 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 42 | 77 | 38 | 8 | 24 | 6 | 76 | 129 |
| Massachusetts | 22 | 2 | 16 | 4 | 8 | 44 | 101 | 36 | 8 | 24 | 4 | 84 | 146 |
| Championship: March 19, 2016 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 8, 2016 |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the Opening Round and Quarterfinals
| Opening Round March 3–6 | Opening Round March 3–6 | Opening Round March 3–6 | Opening Round March 3–6 | Opening Round March 3–6 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 |
| | | | | | 1 | Boston College | 3 | 2 | 4* | | | | | | |
| 5 | Boston University | 2* | 5 | — | 9 | Vermont | 0 | 4 | 3 | | | | | | |
| 12 | Massachusetts | 1 | 4 | — | | | | | | 1 | Boston College | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 6 | Northeastern | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Providence | 3 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
| 6 | Northeastern | 3* | 4* | — | 7 | Merrimack | 1 | 0 | — | | | | | | |
| 11 | Maine | 2 | 3 | — | | | | | | | | | 6 | Northeastern | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Massachusetts–Lowell | 2 |
| | | | | | 3 | Notre Dame | 1 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 7 | Merrimack | 1 | 3* | 2 | 6 | Northeastern | 3 | 6 | — | | | | | | |
| 10 | New Hampshire | 3 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | 2 | Providence | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Massachusetts–Lowell | 2*** | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Massachusetts–Lowell | 3 | 5 | — | | | | | | |
| 8 | Connecticut | 1 | 3 | — | 5 | Boston University | 2 | 0 | — | | | | | | |
| 9 | Vermont | 2 | 4 | — | | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Results
### Opening Round
#### (5) Boston University vs. (12) Massachusetts

* Boston University won series 2–0

#### (6) Northeastern vs. (11) Maine

* Northeastern won series 2–0

#### (7) Merrimack vs. (10) New Hampshire

* Merrimack won series 2–1

#### (8) Connecticut vs. (9) Vermont

* Vermont won series 2–0

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Boston College vs. (9) Vermont

* Boston College won series 2–1

#### (2) Providence vs. (7) Merrimack

* Providence won series 2–0

#### (3) Notre Dame vs. (6) Northeastern

* Northeastern won series 2–0

#### (4) Massachusetts–Lowell vs. (5) Boston University

* Massachusetts–Lowell won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (4) Massachusetts–Lowell vs. (6) Northeastern
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* F Nolan Stevens (Northeastern)
* F Zach Aston-Reese (Northeastern)
* F C. J. Smith (Massachusetts–Lowell)
* D Colton Saucerman (Northeastern)
* D Dylan Zink (Massachusetts–Lowell)
* G Kevin Boyle* (Massachusetts–Lowell)
* Tournament MVP(s)