2009 HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT

Hockey East quarterfinal action in 2009 will again be a best-of-three format with the four highest seeds hosting series at their respective campus sites. As the regular season champion, the No. 1 seed will host No. 8. No. 2 will host No. 7, No. 3 will host No. 6, and No. 4 will host No. 5. The quarterfinals will be played from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15. Tickets for these games will be available through the eight participating institutions. Teams will be re-seeded after the quarterfinals, with the four winners advancing to the Hockey East Championship Tournament at the TD BankNorth Garden in Boston. The annual tournament banquet will be held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on the evening of Thursday, March 19. Semifinalists will faceoff at the Garden on the evening of Friday, March 20, with the winners playing for the Lamoriello Trophy the following night, March 21. The winner of the conference tournament receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Championship Tournament, which begins on Friday, March 27th. NCAA regional sites for 2009 are Manchester (NH), Bridgeport (CT), Grand Rapids (MI) and Minneapolis (MN). The 2009 Frozen Four will be held in Washington, D.C. from April 9-11, 2009.

On March 7, 1988, the Hockey East Executive Committee voted to name the conference championship trophy the Lamoriello Trophy. The title honors Lou Lamoriello, the first commissioner of Hockey East and a leader in the formation of the conference. The league commissioned the creation of a permanent trophy in 1998, and it was delivered in time for the 1999 championship.

Lamoriello served as the Providence College head coach for 15 seasons (1968-83), guiding the Friars to an overall record of 248-179-13, a winning percentage of .580. He led the Friars to a 33-10-0 mark in the 1982-83 campaign, the best in the nation that year. Providence also reached the Frozen Four that season for the first time since 1964. Lamoriello resigned as coach following that season to devote more time to his role as the Providence athletic director, a post to which he was appointed in July of 1982.

With the athletics directors from Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire and Northeastern, Lamoriello formed the Hockey East Association in July of 1983. He was the driving force in the history-making interlocking schedule agreement with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and in the first-ever college hockey television package.

A native of Johnston, R.I., Lamoriello attended LaSalle Academy and graduated from Providence College in 1963. As an undergraduate, Lamoriello lettered in baseball and hockey, serving as captain for each team during his senior year. He was inducted into the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.

Lamoriello resigned as commissioner of Hockey East and as Providence College Athletic Director on April 30, 1987, to take the position of President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils.

Lamoriello continued to succeed in the NHL as the Devils have won the Stanley Cup three times during his tenure, most recently in 2003. Five former Hockey East players - Kevin Dean (UNH), Brian Gionta (BC), Bill Guerin (BC), Jay Pandolfo (BU) and Chris Terreri (PC), have won at least one Cup each under Lamoriello's watch.

Lamoriello has won on the international level as well. He organized the Team USA entry in both the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Winter Olympics as the General Manager of each team. The former, paced by Hockey East alumni Brian Leetch (BC), Keith Tkachuk (BU) and Tony Amonte (BU) beat Canada in the finals, two games to one, to win the inaugural World Cup.