AMESBURY, Mass. - The Hockey East Association today announced the field for the 2023 Hockey East Women’s Tournament. The postseason will feature all 10 programs competing in a single-elimination format with all games played on campus sites at the arena of the higher seed. Opening round, quarterfinal, and semifinal games will be streamed on ESPN+, while the championship game will air nationally on ESPNU. A full schedule can be found below.

The Opening Round begins Wednesday, Feb. 22 as No.7 Boston University (11-19-3/9-15-3 HE) hosts No. 10 Merrimack (8-24-2/5-20-2 HE) at Walter Brown Arena at 7:00pm. It will be the first-ever post season meeting between the Terriers and the Warriors. Boston University has won the tournament a record five times, all under head coach Brian Durocher, who recently announced his retirement from coaching following this season. Merrimack earned its first-ever Hockey East Tournament win last year, a 4-1 Opening Round win at UNH. During the 2022-23 regular season, BU went 2-1-0 against Merrimack including wins in their last two outings.

No. 8 New Hampshire (11-20-3/9-15-3 HE) will welcome No. 9 Holy Cross (7-25-1/6-21-0 HE) for their second-ever meeting in the tournament after a 3-0 shutout win for the Wildcats in a COVID-impacted 2020 postseason. New Hampshire is tied for the second-most tournament titles of any league program with four, its last coming in 2009. The Crusaders enter the Hockey East Tournament for the third time in program history and are searching for their first postseason win. New Hampshire went 3-0-0 against Holy Cross in 2022-23, while Holy Cross set a program-record for wins since joining Hockey East.

No. 1 Northeastern (30-2-1/24-2-1 HE) claims the top seed in the Hockey East Tournament for the fifth straight year and is searching for an unprecedented and record-breaking sixth consecutive Bertagna Trophy as league tournament champions. The Huskies will welcome the lowest remaining seed from the Opening Round. The other Wednesday winner will travel north to Burlington to face Vermont (21-10-3/16-8-3 HE), which finished second in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings for the second consecutive year, tying the Catamounts’ highest-ever regular season finish. The Huskies will play host at 2:00pm on Saturday, Feb. 25, while the Catamounts are set to drop the puck at 1:00pm on the same day.

No. 3 Providence (20-10-4/15-8-4 HE) earned the right to host a quarterfinal game and will welcome No. 6 Maine (15-17-2/12-13-2 HE) to Schneider Arena on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:00pm. The Friars hold a 4-0 record over the Black Bears in tournament play, including two quarterfinal wins and two semifinal victories. Maine has appeared in the semifinals in four of the last five tournaments (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022) and has never advanced to the championship game in six overall attempts. Providence took a 2-0-1 mark over Maine in the regular season.

No. 4 Boston College (19-14-1/16-11-0 HE) will take on No. 5 UConn (18-12-4/12-11-4 HE) in a quarterfinal match up for the fourth time in five years, each team holding a 3-3 record since 2019. The Eagles look to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2019 after last winning the Bertagna Trophy in 2017. UConn has moved onto the semifinals each of the last three years and four times since 2018. The Huskies appeared in the title game in 2018, 2020, and 2022 but have yet to win the Bertagna Trophy. UConn was 3-0-0 against BC this season. Puck drop at Conte Forum is set for Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2:30pm

The 2023 Hockey East Women’s Tournament Championship will be played Saturday, March 4 at 12:00pm. The game will be broadcast live nationally for the first time in league history on ESPNU.

Tickets are available via the host institution for each game.