The Hockey East Men’s Tournament will again be an all-in format. Seeds six, seven, and eight will host seeds 11, 10, and nine, respectively, in the Opening Round set for Wednesday, March 12, 2025. After a reseeding, the top three seeds will host the winners of the Opening Round while the four seed will host the five seed in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 15.

The Hockey East semifinals and championship to determine the winner of the Lamoriello Trophy and the league’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament will be held at TD Garden in Boston. Additional information will be announced at a later time.

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LOU LAMORIELLO AND THE LAMORIELLO TROPHY

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 Athletics 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.

In April of 1987, Lamoriello resigned as Commissioner of Hockey East and as PC Athletics Director to take the position of President and General Manager of the NHL's New Jersey Devils.

Lamoriello continued to succeed in the NHL as the Devils have won the Stanley Cup three times during his tenure. 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.

Lamoriello was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders category in 2009, and entered the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.

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TD GARDEN

The Hockey East Championships were first held at the Providence Civic Center following the inaugural season of 1984-85. After several successful showings at the original Boston Garden, the tournament moved with its sister events to the building now known as TD Garden. The building has become a recognized leader in hosting college hockey events, having set attendance records for the NCAA Frozen Four in 1998, and boasting progressively larger crowds for the Beanpot and the Hockey East Championships. The 2004 Frozen Four was a huge success, with tickets for the Boston College vs. Maine semifinal among the hottest in town. In 2015, Hockey East and TD Garden again hosted the Frozen Four, with a record number of people packing into the building to see a Providence vs. Boston University national championship contest. Since its grand opening in 1995, more than 30 million people have come to the TD Garden to see the arena's famous tenants, the NHL's Boston Bruins and NBA's Boston Celtics, as well as world-renowned concerts, sporting events, family shows, wrestling, ice shows and so much more. Home to approximately 200 public events annually, the TD Garden hosts well over 3.5 million people each year! The state-of-the-art TD Garden is a year-round, 19,600-seat arena, fully equipped with three (3) private restaurants – Banners Harbor View, Legends, and the Premium Club Bistro – 90 executive suites, 1,100 club seats, a multi-million dollar high definition video scoreboard (Garden HDX) and complete 360-degree LED technology.