Hockey East The Hockey East Association , more often referred to simply as Hockey East , is one of the Big Four conferences in NCAA Men ' s Division I , and one of four conferences in Women ' s Division I . Its men ' s member teams include : Its women ' s member teams include : Men ' s History . Hockey East was formed in the early 1980 ' s in response to discontent over the academic direction of the ECAC . There was speculation at the time that the Ivies might break away and form their own conference . Providence , BC , BU , New Hampshire , and Northeastern led the exodus of several schools that preferred not to limit their hockey programs due to academic concerns , and they were joined by Maine . Also , the University of Lowell ( now UMass - Lowell ) upgraded their program from Division II to Division I in time to begin play in the conference . The conference was chartered in 1983 , with play beginning a year later in the 1984 - 85 season . In the early years of the conference , an interlocking schedule was played with the WCHA , where games against the western schools also counted in the Hockey East standings . Merrimack was added to the conference in 1989 . The flagship Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts revived their dormant hockey program and joined the conference in 1993 , beginning conference play two years later . The University of Vermont has arranged to leave the ECAC and join Hockey East , with the Catamounts beginning conference play in the 2005 - 06 season . The University of Notre Dame joined starting with the 2013 - 14 season when the CCHA folded . The University of Connecticut will be joining the league for the 2014 - 15 season , having previously played in Atlantic Hockey . On March 22 , 2016 , it was announced that the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish men ' s team would leave Hockey East to join the Big Ten as hockey members starting in the 2017 - 2018 season . Women ' s History . The Women ' s Division of Hockey East began in the 2002 - 2003 season . It consisted of Providence , New Hampshire , Boston College , Northeastern , and Maine , all of whom were already members of the Men ' s League . Connecticut was also admitted as the 6th charter member of the Women ' s League , with a full compliment of scholarships , despite it ' s men ' s program not being in Hockey East . All six schools were members of the ECAC Women ' s League , and split off to be charter members of Women ' s Hockey East . The first two years of the league were dominated by Providence and New Hampshire , each of which already had successful programs established . The other four schools were building largely from the club level and struggled over the first two seasons , especially against Providence and New Hampshire . Providence has won all three conference tournament championships , the first two against New Hampshire . 2005 was the first sign that parity was coming to the league , as Connecticut defeated New Hampshire in the semis to move on to the championship game , falling in the final minutes to Providence , who captured it ' s third consecutive championship . 2005 also saw the expansion of the NCAA Division I Women ' s Ice Hockey Championship to an 8 - team format , and Hockey East for the first recieved an automatic bid , to be awarded to it ' s tournament champion . 2005 - 2006 saw the addition of two teams . Boston University movd it ' s team to Division I from the club level . Vermont moved both it ' s men ' s and women ' s Division I programs from the ECACHL to Hockey East . Merrimack College will be joining the women ' s league for the 2015 - 16 season when the sport is elevated to varsity status Members . There are currently 12 member schools ; the men ' s division of Hockey East has ten members , while the women ' s division has eight . The conference expanded to 12 men ' s members for 2014 - 15 with the addition of the UConn Huskies from Atlantic Hockey and the Women ' s conference wll be expanding to ten members with the addition on the Women ' s team from Merrimack College for the 2015 - 16 season . This will leave only the two UMass schools ( Amherst and Lowell ) as being men ' s only members of the conference as neither school offers women ' s hockey . List of Men ' s Hockey East Championship Games . The Hockey East Championship Game has been held in Boston since 1987 , at the Boston Garden , and now the TD Garden , since 1996 . The first two were held in Providence , Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center ( now the Dunkin ' Donuts Center ) . The final game and the semifinal games are held on consecutive nights in mid - March at the Garden . The quarterfinal round takes place the previous weekend . The top eight teams in the league advance to the quarterfinal round : the quarterfinal round series are 2 - out - of - 3 series with all games played at the higher seed ' s rink . There have been two cases where the # 8 seed won on the # 1 team ' s ice . With the arrival of the Connecticut men ' s program , joining the conference for 2014 - 15 season , the Hockey East directors voted on May 12 , 2014 to revise the conference tournament format . All twelve teams participate in the tournament with the opening round being a best of three round involving 5 vs . 12 ; 6 vs . 11 ; 7 vs 10 and vs 9 . The games would be played at the higher seeds rink . The following weekend would have the best of three quarterfinal round with the 1 seed hosting the lowest seeded first round winner , the 2 seed would host the 2nd lowest seed , etc . again at the higher seeds rink . The semifinal and final round wil be held the following Friday and Saturday at the TD Garden in Boston . hockey east press release on new tournament format List of Women ' s Hockey East Championship Games . The Hockey East Championship was held in Boston since its inception in 2003 until 2007 . The event was held at Northeastern ' s Matthews Arena in 2003 and 2004 before moving to BU ' s Walter Brown Arena in 2005 . The tournament returned to Matthews Arena in 2006 , was held at UNH ' s Whittemore Center in 2007 and 2009 , and at UConn ' s Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum in 2008 . The tournament was held in Providence in 2010 . The tournament returned to Boston at the Agganis Arena in 2011 . The tournament was moved to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Hyannis , Massachusetts starting in 2012 .