WAKEFIELD, Mass. - The Hockey East Association announced today the new playoff format for the 2019 Hockey East Tournament at the league’s annual media day held at TD Garden. Just eight teams will advance to the playoffs and compete in one round of best-of-three series on campus sites March 15-17. The winners move on to the TD Garden for the 35th annual championship weekend, March 22-23.

“The new format will only amplify the value of our 2018-19 regular season,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. “Given our recent history, we expect a slim margin between those who make the playoffs and those who will not. The fans will be among the beneficiaries of this change as competition down the stretch is certain to be intense.”

For the first time since 2012-13, just eight of the 11 programs will qualify for the playoff tournament. The four highest seeds will earn hosting duties for the quarterfinal round, welcoming seeds five through eight on campus. The four winning teams will then be reseeded and enter the TD Garden on March 22-23 for the 35th annual Hockey East Championship.

Ticket information for the tournament will be made available at a later date.

ABOUT HOCKEY EAST: The Hockey East Association is an 11-team Division I college men’s hockey conference founded in 1984 and a nine-team Division I women’s league which began play in 2002-03. The men’s league has won nine NCAA championships in the past 25 years including Providence College in 2015 at TD Garden in Boston. Since 1999, Hockey East has won seven NCAA Championships with 15 NCAA Championship Game appearances, while placing 25 teams in the Frozen Four and 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament during that time. Overall, Hockey East has sent 112 teams to the NCAA Tournament since its inaugural season, more than any other conference in that span.