| 2008 Hockey East Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 14–22, 2008 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Finals site | TD Banknorth Garden Boston, Massachusetts |
| Champions | Boston College (8th title) |
| Winning coach | Jerry York (5th title) |
| MVP | Nathan Gerbe (Boston College) |
Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
The 2008 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 24th tournament in the history of the conference. It was played between March 14 and March 22, 2008 at campus locations and at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. By winning the tournament, Boston College was awarded the Lamoriello Trophy and an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. [1]
The tournament featured three rounds of play. The teams that finish below eighth in the conference are not eligible for tournament play. In the first round, the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third seed and sixth seeds, and the fourth seed and fifth seeds played a best-of-three with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play a single-elimination game, with the winner advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| #6 New Hampshire† | 27 | 19 | 5 | 3 | 41 | 84 | 54 | 38 | 25 | 10 | 3 | 132 | 94 | |
| Boston University | 27 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 33 | 97 | 72 | 40 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 135 | 117 | |
| Vermont | 27 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 31 | 67 | 78 | 39 | 17 | 15 | 7 | 88 | 106 | |
| #1 Boston College* | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 29 | 82 | 67 | 44 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 160 | 101 | |
| Providence | 27 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 66 | 66 | 36 | 14 | 17 | 5 | 91 | 99 | |
| Northeastern | 27 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 26 | 73 | 80 | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 92 | 105 | |
| Massachusetts–Lowell | 27 | 10 | 13 | 4 | 24 | 70 | 76 | 37 | 16 | 17 | 4 | 100 | 96 | |
| Massachusetts | 27 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 23 | 73 | 71 | 36 | 14 | 16 | 6 | 98 | 97 | |
| Maine | 27 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 21 | 59 | 73 | 34 | 13 | 18 | 3 | 77 | 92 | |
| Merrimack | 27 | 6 | 18 | 3 | 15 | 48 | 82 | 34 | 12 | 18 | 4 | 71 | 93 | |
| Championship: Boston College † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll | ||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals March 14–16 | Semifinals March 21 | Championship March 22 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | New Hampshire | 4 | 7 | — | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Massachusetts | 1 | 2 | — | ||||||||||||
| 1 | New Hampshire | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Boston College | 5*** | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Boston University | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Massachusetts-Lowell | 3 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Vermont | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Boston College | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Vermont | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Northeastern | 0 | 2* | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Boston University | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Vermont | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Boston College | 5 | 5 | — | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Providence | 1 | 1 | — | ||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
| March 14 | New Hampshire | 4 – 1 | Massachusetts | Whittemore Center | ||||
| March 15 | New Hampshire | 7 – 2 | Massachusetts | Whittemore Center | ||||
| New Hampshire won series 2–0 | |
| March 14 | Boston University | 5 – 3 | Massachusetts-Lowell | Agganis Arena | ||||
| March 15 | Boston University | 1 – 4 | Massachusetts-Lowell | Agganis Arena | ||||
| March 16 | Boston University | 4 – 2 | Massachusetts-Lowell | Agganis Arena | ||||
| Boston University won series 2–1 | |
| March 14 | Vermont | 1 – 0 | Northeastern | Gutterson Fieldhouse | ||||
| March 15 | Vermont | 1 – 2 | OT | Northeastern | Gutterson Fieldhouse | |||
| March 16 | Vermont | 4 – 1 | Northeastern | Gutterson Fieldhouse | ||||
| Vermont won series 2–1 | |
| March 14 | Boston College | 5 – 1 | Providence | Kelley Rink | ||||
| March 15 | Boston College | 5 – 1 | Providence | Kelley Rink | ||||
| Boston College won series 2–0 | |
| March 21 | New Hampshire | 4 – 5 | 3OT | Boston College | TD Banknorth Garden | Recap | ||
| Bobby Butler - pp - 05:17 Jamie Fritsch - 15:16 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bobby Butler - 09:27 Thomas Fortney - sh - 12:23 | Second period | 01:34 - pp - Ben Smith 13:42 - pp - Joe Whitney 16:37 - Brian Gibbons | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 04:53 - Dan Bertram | ||||||
| No scoring | Third overtime period | 00:43 - pp - Benn Ferriero | ||||||
| Kevin Regan ( 62 saves / 67 shots ) | Goalie stats | John Muse ( 45 saves / 49 shots ) | ||||||
| March 21 | Boston University | 1 – 3 | Vermont | TD Banknorth Garden | Recap | |||
| Chris Higgins - 10:17 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 13:48 - Peter Lenes 14:17 - Colin Vock | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 19:20 - en - Corey Carlson | ||||||
| Brett Bennett ( 13 saves / 15 shots ) | Goalie stats | Joe Fallon ( 25 saves / 26 shots ) | ||||||
| March 22 | Vermont | 0 – 4 | Boston College | TD Banknorth Garden | Recap | |||
| No Scoring | First period | 18:32 - Ben Smith | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 05:01 - Tim Kunes 19:40 - pp - Brian Gibbons | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 18:55 - en - Nathan Gerbe | ||||||
| Joe Fallon ( 24 saves / 27 shots ) | Goalie stats | John Muse ( 29 saves / 29 shots ) | ||||||