To say this college hockey season has been a logistical challenge would be an understatement. Despite sticking to a conference-only schedule, limiting travel as much as possible, and testing frequently, conferences around the country, including Hockey East, have had to be flexible and adapt to games being postponed or canceled on pretty much a weekly basis.
In Hockey East, some teams on the men’s side like UMass and Providence have played as many as 18 or 19 games this season, while others like Boston University and Vermont have played as few as eight. The same is true on the women’s side, where New Hampshire leads the way with 18 games played, while Vermont has played just six.
Some conference rivals have already played each other as many as four times head-to-head, while others haven’t played each other at all and may not before the end of the regular season.
Hockey East eventually scrapped whatever semblance of a full-season schedule it had left and shifted to scheduling games on a weekly basis based on which teams are available to play and which matchups make the most sense.
Needless to say, that has all led to a very unbalanced schedule and unbalanced standings, which creates more challenges when it comes to planning a conference tournament.
Well, Hockey East has once again adapted and come up with a plan to address those challenges. On Wednesday the league unveiled its tournament and seeding format, which includes a newly developed mathematical formula called the Hockey East Power Index that will be used to determine the standings.
Hockey East describes the formula as similar to the Pairwise formula that is used to rank teams nationally for the NCAA tournament. It is meant to mitigate the discrepancies in games played and strength of schedule by taking into account a number of different factors.
All 11 men’s teams and all 10 women’s teams will qualify for the conference tournament, with the women’s tournament set to begin on Feb. 24 and the men’s tournament schedule to start on March 10. All rounds will be single elimination played at the home arena of the higher seed.
The women’s championship game will be held on March 6 and the men’s final will be March 20. The winner of each tournament will receive the league’s automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. Last season’s conference tournaments and NCAA tournaments were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new plan was unanimously approved by Hockey East members and created in consultation with league medical personnel and administrators.
“The 2020-21 season has presented new challenges each day and Hockey East has done everything in our power to ensure a safe and fulfilling experience for our student-athletes in this difficult year,” said Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf. “Inviting all teams into the Hockey East Tournament and using the Hockey East Power Index to seed each program respects the importance and integrity of each regular-season game. Ultimately, our goal is to provide the best experience possible for our student-athletes.”
“In a season where nothing has been easy, Hockey East’s dedication to providing our student-athletes every opportunity to compete, and the ingenuity in doing so, has been a bright spot,” said Boston College coach Jerry York. “The unprecedented year has required new and innovative ideas to create a level playing field. The Hockey East Power Index is another example of Hockey East leadership pushing our league to the forefront of college sports.”
Click here for up-to-date men’s Hockey East Power Index rankings and here for the latest women’s rankings.