New Agreement Brings Long-Time Partners Closer Than Ever Before
Hockey East and NESN Announce Multi-Year Partnership
New Agreement Brings Long-Time Partners Closer Than Ever Before

BOSTON, Mass. - The Hockey East Association and the New England Sports Network (NESN) today announced a new multi-year partnership in conjunction with the league's annual media day at TD Garden in Boston. Under the new agreement, Hockey East becomes NESN's premier college partner and will appear on NESN or NESNplus nearly 100 times in 2019-20. A full schedule can be found below.

"No partner has been alongside Hockey East for more years and with more impact than NESN," said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. "We value this relationship and are thrilled to see it continue to grow with this new agreement."

"NESN is thrilled to expand its relationship with the premier hockey conference in the country" said Rick Jaffe, VP of Programming & Production. "NESN has been and is the natural home network for so many current and future NHL players."

Beginning in the 2019-20 season, NESN and NESNplus will air more Hockey East games than ever before as the two entities further develop a relationship that began in 1984 when Hockey East and NESN were founded. The agreement secures television coverage for both men's and women's regular season contests, and extensive postseason coverage that will include both the men's and women's championship weekends. Games airing on NESN and NESNplus will be available exclusively on the networks and the NESNgo app within New England.

The revamped NESN schedule kicks off on October 5, when Providence hosts Maine in the first men's league contest of 2019-20. NESN or NESNplus will air 16 games in October alone and the comprehensive schedule culminates on March 20-21 at the 36th annual Hockey East men's championship weekend from TD Garden.

Hockey East enters 2019-20 after a record showing at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft with 27 current players and recruits selected, representing seven of the 11 Hockey East member schools. Hockey East's 27 selections were the most of any college hockey conference in a draft that saw 71 NCAA players and recruits chosen, the most since 2007.

The 2018-19 season was a banner year for Hockey East, one that saw the league capture the Spencer Penrose Coach of the Year Award (Greg Carvel, Massachusetts), the Hobey Baker Award (Cale Makar, Massachusetts), the Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year Award (Joel Farabee, Boston University), and the Mike Richter National Goaltender of the Year Award (Cayden Primeau, Northeastern.) In total, 96 Hockey East alumni played in the NHL in 2018-19, more than any other college hockey conference. That number is 16 more than the second place league and nearly double the next-closest conference.

Further, the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship gold-medal winning Team USA featured eight players with Hockey East ties, including 2019-20 returners Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif./Boston College) and Jesse Compher (Northbrook, Ill./Boston University). In 2018-19, Hockey East boasted three Top-10 Finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award including Compher, rising sophomore Alina Mueller (Winterthur, Switzerland/Northeastern), and Megan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich./Boston College.) Additionally, the MVP award of each major North American professional league went to a Boston University alum, as Maddie Elia won the NWHL Award and Marie-Philip Poulin was so honored by the CWHL.

ABOUT NESN: NESN is consistently one of the top-rated regional sports networks in the country with award-winning Red Sox and Bruins coverage. NESN and NESNplus are delivered throughout the six-state New England region and are available anytime, anywhere on any device on the NESNgo app and at NESNgo.com. The network is also distributed nationally as NESN National. For the past six years, Forbes Magazine has ranked NESN as one of the 10 Most Valuable Sports Business Brands in the World. NESN. com is one of the country's most visited sports websites with a state-of-the-art HD studio dedicated to digital video productions. NESN's social responsibility program, NESN Connects, is proud to support and connect its employees with charitable organizations in our communities. NESN is owned by Fenway Sports Group (owners of the Boston Red Sox) and Delaware North (owners of the Boston Bruins).

ABOUT HOCKEY EAST: The Hockey East Association is an 11-team Division I college men's hockey conference founded in 1984 and a 10-team Division I women's league which began play in 2002-03. The men's league has won nine NCAA championships in the past 26 years including Providence College in 2015 at TD Garden in Boston. Since 1999, Hockey East has won seven NCAA Championships with 16 NCAA Championship Game appearances, while placing 27 teams in the Frozen Four and 71 teams in the NCAA Tournament during that time. Overall, Hockey East has sent 115 teams to the NCAA Tournament since its inaugural season, more than any other conference in that span.

2019-20 Hockey East on NESN Schedule
Day Date Time Away Home
Saturday 5-Oct 4p Maine Providence
Friday 11-Oct 7p RPI Massachusetts
Friday 11-Oct 7p* Wisconsin Boston Coll.
Saturday 12-Oct 8p* UMass Lowell UMD
Tuesday 15-Oct 7p Massachusetts Northeastern
Thursday 17-Oct 7p* Merrimack Holy Cross
Friday 18-Oct 7p Union Massachusetts
Saturday 19-Oct 7p* Holy Cross Northeastern
Sunday 20-Oct 3p* UNH (W) Northeastern (W)
Friday 25-Oct 2p Holy Cross (W) Boston Coll. (W)
Friday 25-Oct 7p Boston Univ. UMass Lowell
Friday 25-Oct 7p* Providence Boston Coll.
Saturday 26-Oct 4p* Maine (W) Boston Coll. (W)
Saturday 26-Oct 7p UMass Lowell Providence
Friday 1-Nov 7p Boston Coll. UNH
Friday 1-Nov 7p* Massachusetts Northeastern
Saturday 2-Nov 3:30p Boston Univ. (W) Northeastern (W)
Saturday 2-Nov 4p* Providence (W) Boston Coll. (W)
Saturday 2-Nov 8p* Northeastern Massachusetts
Friday 8-Nov 1p Holy Cross (W) Northeastern (W)
Saturday 9-Nov 3:30p Boston Coll. UConn
Saturday 9-Nov 7p Boston Univ. Providence
Sunday 10-Nov 1p Massachusetts UNH
Thursday 14-Nov 7p* Merrimack (W) Holy Cross (W)
Saturday 16-Nov 7p* UNH Maine
Friday 22-Nov 7p Merrimack Massachusetts
Friday 22-Nov 7p* Maine Northeastern
Saturday 23-Nov 4p Vermont Boston Univ.
Saturday 23-Nov 7p* Maine Northeastern
Sunday 24-Nov 2p Maine (W) Northeastern (W)
Friday 29-Nov 4:30p Boston Coll. Harvard
Saturday 30-Nov 7p Quinnipiac Massachusetts
Friday 6-Dec 7p Merrimack UNH
Friday 6-Dec 7p* Boston Coll. (W) Boston Univ. (W)
Saturday 7-Dec 1:30p* Boston Univ. (W) Boston Coll. (W)
Saturday 7-Dec 3:30p Vermont UConn
Saturday 7-Dec 7p* Maine Massachusetts
Tuesday 10-Dec 7p Massachusetts Brown
Saturday 14-Dec 4p^ Dartmouth Northeastern
Monday 30-Dec 4p Vermont (W) Northeastern (W)
Friday 3-Jan 7p Yale UNH
Saturday 4-Jan 4:30p Vermont Boston Coll.
Saturday 4-Jan 7p Brown UNH
Monday 6-Jan 7p Bentley Northeastern
Friday 10-Jan 7p Massachusetts Boston Coll.
Saturday 11-Jan 7p* Boston Coll. Massachusetts
Sunday 12-Jan 1p Boston Coll. (W) Northeastern (W)
Wednesday 15-Jan 7p Maine UConn
Friday 17-Jan 7p UNH Providence
Saturday 18-Jan 4p UConn Northeastern
Saturday 18-Jan 7p Providence UNH
Saturday 18-Jan 7p* Boston Univ. Boston Coll.
Friday 24-Jan 7p Vermont Merrimack
Friday 24-Jan 7p* Maine Boston Coll.
Saturday 25-Jan 6p Boston Univ. UMass Lowell
Saturday 25-Jan 7p* Massachusetts UNH
Tuesday 28-Jan 7p Boston Univ. (W) Northeastern (W)
Friday 31-Jan 2p UConn (W) Northeastern (W)
Friday 31-Jan 7p* Vermont (W) Boston Univ. (W)
Saturday 1-Feb 4p UNH UConn
Friday 7-Feb 2p UNH (W) Boston Coll. (W)
Friday 7-Feb 7p Providence Massachusetts
Friday 7-Feb 7p* Vermont UNH
Saturday 8-Feb 7p UMass Lowell Merrimack
Saturday 8-Feb 7p* Vermont UNH
Friday 14-Feb 7p* Boston Univ. UNH
Saturday 15-Feb 4:30p Merrimack Boston Coll.
Saturday 15-Feb 7:30p UConn Maine
Saturday 15-Feb 7p* UMass Lowell Northeastern
Sunday 16-Feb 12p Vermont (W) Holy Cross (W)
Sunday 16-Feb 2:30p UNH (W) Boston Univ. (W)
Thursday 20-Feb 7p Boston Coll. Northeastern
Friday 21-Feb 7p^ Northeastern Boston Coll.
Saturday 22-Feb 4:30p Vermont Maine
Saturday 22-Feb 7p UConn Boston Univ.
Saturday 22-Feb 7p* UMass Lowell Massachusetts
Thursday 27-Feb 7p Merrimack Boston Coll.
Saturday 29-Feb 4:30p Maine Providence
Saturday 29-Feb 7p Boston Coll. Boston Univ.
Saturday 29-Feb 8p* UConn Massachusetts
Friday 6-Mar 7p Boston Univ. Northeastern
Saturday 7-Mar TBA* Women's Semifinal 1
Saturday 7-Mar TBA* Women's Semifinal 2
Sunday 8-Mar TBA* Women's Championship
Friday 20-Mar 4p Men's Semifinal 1
Friday 20-Mar 7:30p Men's Semifinal 2
Saturday 21-Mar 7p Men's Championship
* NESNplus
^ NESN/NESNplus