September 19, 2011

Women's Hockey East will kick off its 10th season this weekend

Wakefield, Mass. -- Hockey East announced the league's composite women's schedule for its upcoming 10th anniversary season on Monday afternoon.

The Maine Black Bears will officially kick off the regular-season schedule for the third straight year as they host Sacred Heart for a two-game series beginning on Friday night, September 23rd. Six other league teams will play exhibition contests this coming weekend. Boston University, the 2011 WHEA Regular-Season Champions, will open its season on Friday, September 30 in the first of a twogame series with WCHA foe North Dakota. Connecticut and Vermont will also open the season on Sept. 30th vs. ECAC opponents, Rensselaer and Clarkson, respectively.

New Hampshire opens on the road with a series at Niagara starting on Sept. 30, while Providence opens the same weekend with a series at Bemidji State. Northeastern will open its season at home on Friday, October 7 vs. Syracuse, while defending Hockey East Tournament Champion Boston College will be the last league team to officially start the season on Oct. 8th at Minnesota-Duluth. The top six teams qualify for the WHEA Tournament with the top two seeds getting a bye to semifinal play. The No. 3 seed will host No. 6 and the No. 4 seed will host No. 5 in quarterfinal playoff games the weekend of February 25 and 26 in a one game playoff on the campus of the high seed. The winners of the quarterfinal matchups advance and then are reseeded to play the teams the top two teams in semifinal play.

Hockey East will host the 2012 Women's Hockey East Championship Tournament at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center (HYCC) on Saturday, March 3rd and Sunday, March 4th in the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Skating Rink. The semifinals will be held on Saturday, March 3rd with games at 12pm and 3pm. The winners of each semifinal will advance to the 10th annual Women's Hockey East Championship Game on Sunday, March 4th, which is tentatively scheduled for 12:30 pm.

The Women's Hockey East Association is an eight-team, Division-I college hockey conference which began play in 2002-2003, with offices based in Wakefield, Mass. The league also sponsors a 10-team men's league which began play in 1984.