Women's Hockey East Quarterfinal Pairs Set
Playoffs Begin Friday In 16th Annual WHEA Tournament
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Boston College holds the top seed for the 2018 Women's Hockey East Tournament

WAKEFIELD, MASS. - The Hockey East Association has announced the pairings for the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the 2018 Women's Hockey East championship tournament. Playoff games begin Friday (Feb. 23). A full schedule can be found below.

Hockey East regular-season champion and No. 1 Boston College (28-3-3/19-2-3 HEA) will play host to No. 8 Vermont (10-18-5/7-13-4 HEA) at Conte Forum beginning Friday (Feb. 23) at 2 p.m. This is the fifth straight season Boston College has earned the top seed and the Eagles have advanced to the championship game each of the last four years, including winning the 2016 and 2017 WHEA Tournament titles. This is Vermont's first time entering the WHEA Tournament as the eighth seed. The quarterfinal series with Boston College is a matchup of last year's WHEA semifinals, a game that saw the Eagles and Catamounts need two overtime frames to settle the contest, 4-3, in the Eagles' favor. Boston College is 2-0 against Vermont in the WHEA Tournament, with both wins coming in semifinal play. Boston College swept the season series, 3-0-0, including a pair of one-goal games.

No. 2 Providence (16-11-7, 12-7-5 HEA) draws No. 7 UConn (13-12-9, 7-11-6 HEA) to Schneider Arena Friday (Feb. 24) at 7 p.m. The Friars and Huskies split the season series, 1-1-1. Providence last appeared in the semifinals in 2013 while UConn most recently advanced out of the quarterfinals in 2015 and 2016. All time in the post season, the Friars hold a 4-1 edge over the Huskies, although the teams have not met since 2010.

No. 3 Maine (17-12-5, 11-9-4 HEA) welcomes No. 6 Boston University (13-15-6, 7-11-5 HEA) to Alfond Arena Friday (Feb. 26) at 2 p.m. to begin their best-of-three series. The Black Bears have not won a Women's Hockey East playoff game, dropping their first 11 chances in the playoffs. Boston University is 22-7 all time in the post season, the most wins of any program to go along with a league-best five championships. Maine swept the season series over the Terriers, 3-0-0. This is the first time Maine and BU will meet in the playoffs.

No. 4 Northeastern (15-16-3, 11-11-2 HEA) will entertain No. 5 New Hampshire (14-13-7, 9-10-5 HEA) at Matthews Arena as the Huskies earn hosting duties for the sixth time in a row dating back to 2013. It is the first meeting between the Huskies and Wildcats since 2015 when Northeastern took the quarterfinal series, 2-1. Northeastern has advanced to the semifinals each year since 2011 while New Hampshire aims for its first semifinal appearance since 2010. Northeastern was 2-1-0 against the Wildcats this season.

ABOUT THE WOMEN'S HOCKEY EAST ASSOCIATION: The Women's Hockey East Association is a nine-team, Division-I college hockey conference which began play in 2002-2003, with offices based in Wakefield, Mass. Member schools include Boston College, Boston University, University of Connecticut, University of Maine, Merrimack College, University of New Hampshire, Northeastern University, Providence College and University of Vermont. The league also sponsors an 11-team men's league which began play in 1984.