And then there were four.
After starting out with 10 teams just last week, the Hockey East playoffs have whittled the field down to the last four programs standing before the semifinal round on Tuesday. Two of the teams are regulars around these parts of post season play, one has seen success in the past, and the last is charting completely new territory. We’re gonna do a brief overview of how we got to this point, and then go into some detail about what could be on deck. Buckle up, everyone.
How We Got Here
Opening Round
Both games of the opening round were surprisingly easy, at least for the two teams that came out victorious. First was seventh-seeded Maine playing host to #10 Merrimack, and the Black Bears wasted no time getting on the board. Within the first 11 minutes of play it was 2-0 in favor of the home team, then an additional two goals in the second period extended that lead to 4-0, which is what stood as the final score by the end of the night. Merrimack starter Adreanna Doucette was pulled halfway through the game after allowing three goals on 13 shots, while counterpart Kiia Lahtinen made 20 saves in a shutout victory.
Then we have #9 Providence who headed north to take on #8 Boston University. Again, it was a shutout win for the home squad, thanks to a game-winning shorthanded goal from Sydney Healey early in the second, plus two empty netters in the last two minutes for a 3-0 victory. The Terriers played a far better game than they did to close out the regular season, outshooting Providence 31-20. The Maeve’s — Kelly and Carey — each blocked three shots apiece for BU to help secure the win for their squad.
Quarterfinals
While the opening round didn’t have too many surprises, we saw an upset early in the quarters, courtesy of the Vermont Catamounts. After traveling to take on the three-seeded Boston College Eagles, #6 UVM skated into Conte Forum, scored two goals in quick succession in the second period, and never looked back. Julia Mesplède had two points and led her team with five shots on goal, while netminder Ellie Simmons made 37 saves en route to the 3-1 win. BC’s Kate Ham scored late in the third to bring her team within one, but it was too little too late, as BC’s woes in the postseason continued for yet another year.
Then was the most chaotic of the games, courtesy of Holy Cross and New Hampshire. The Crusaders, ranked fourth in the conference, hosted their first ever quarterfinal game on Saturday, and rewarded their fans with a win — also a first in program history. UNH took the lead originally, and the two teams were tied at 2-2 heading into the third. Then three goals from the home team made it 5-2 with eight minutes remaining, in which things seemed to be well in hand. However, two late goals from the Wildcats made things interesting, and it was goaltender Abby Hornung (who made 36 total saves) making nine stops in the final minutes of regulation to help the Crusaders hold on to advance to the semis for the first time in program history.
Remember like two minutes ago when I said Maine had a fairly easy opening round? While that did not continue in the quarters, as #2 UConn came out and dominated them from start to finish. Claire Murdoch led the way with four points including a power play goal, Julia Pellerin scored short handed early in the second period, and the Huskies skated away with a 6-1 win to advance to the semis for a third year in a row. Isabelle Michaud scored for a second time in the post season late in the third, while Lahtinen made 47 saves on 53 shots in the losing effort as the Black Bears season came to a close.
Finally we come to the game that, in complete transparency, probably took a year or two off my life. #1 Northeastern — who notably, does not have a rink right now — went across town to play BU. And narrowly escaped with their season’s hopes in a 2-1, double overtime victory to close out the quarters. Éloïse Caron, in her return to the lineup, scored early for Northeastern, while Sydney Healey scored while short handed again to knot things up at 1-1. Both Lisa Jönsson and Mari Pietersen were superb in this game, even as their opponents continued to pressure. It was 74 seconds into the second overtime period when freshman Emy McDermid batted a rebound in to send the Huskies back to the semifinals.
Semifinals
#4 Holy Cross at #2 UConn | Tuesday, March 3 | Toscano Family Ice Forum, Storrs, CT at 6 PM EST
Following two high-offensive quarterfinal wins, the Crusaders and Huskies will meet in the first of the two semifinals on Tuesday. It will be the second time the two teams have met ever in the post season, the first being just two years ago, when UConn claimed a 4-2 win in the quarters on their way to the conference title.
This season, things have been quite close for the two teams, at least in the games they’ve played against one another. Back in November, UConn only managed to beat HC by scores of 4-3, and 3-2, with the first of those games going to overtime to boot.
Statistically speaking, the defense for both of these teams are fairly well matched, thanks in large part to the top netminders — two of the top netminders in the entire conference. Both squads are allowing just 1.7 goals against per game, and while Holy Cross has a slight lead in their ability to limit their opponents chances, the 27.2 shots against per game for the Crusaders and the 30.2 for the Huskies speaks far more highly of their goaltending abilities than anything else. With penalty killing percentages sitting around 86% success for both, what becomes crucial is the ability to stay out of the box, an aspect of the game UConn excels in, with just 70 infractions taken all season.
But where things differ the most is in one place: offensive output. UConn’s offense is near the top of the standings this season, just two goals off the lead in HEA with 105 scored. Holy Cross on the other hand has not been as fortuitous with their scoring productivity, as their 82 goals-for sits middle of the pack.
The Huskies just seem to have more depth throughout their lineup who can score at will compared to the Crusaders, who have had to battle their way through at times this season. Their five goals against UNH weren’t a season-high, to be sure, but it’s certainly a height found in the second semester, as scoring woes have plagued them for large portions of 2026.
Storyline: Can Holy Cross Do What Many Thought Impossible? Or Will UConn Return to the Top of the Mountain?
All time, UConn has beaten Holy Cross 22 of the 25 times they have met, with just one of those losses coming when both schools were members of Hockey East back in February of 2023. All-time Holy Cross has never made the semifinals, let alone a Hockey East championship game.
Something to note, about those games back in November, is that we never saw the two top goaltenders for each team face off against one another. Tia Chan started the second game of the weekend, after Taylor Belchetz allowed three goals on 26 shots the night before. In that overtime game it was Abby Hornung who got the nod, but after four goals on 35 shots Holy Cross instead turned to Brooke Loranger for game two — and she then made 37 saves of her own.
The biggest thing, based on these numbers, will be for Holy Cross to at the very least keep the shot margin close, something throughout the season they’ve managed to do against their opponents. UConn has a way of overwhelming teams they’re facing, and while Hornung is a solid netminder, there’s only so much one can do while being peppered from all sides of the ice for the entirety of 60 minutes.
At the end of the day, UConn is overall a more solid team, which we’ve seen for the better part of the last half decade. But there’s something to be said about a team on a run, and that’s been Holy Cross for the better part of this year. Both teams will need to pick their spots against the opposing netminder, which will be a challenge for sure. It’s just a matter of how difficult a challenge that may be.
And who is more prepared to step up to it.
#6 Vermont at #1 Northeastern | Tuesday, March 3 | Walter Brown Arena, Boston at 6 PM EST
May I just say, for a brief moment, that it’s really frustrating that both of these games are at the exact same time, and are only 72 hours removed from the quarterfinal round? Okay, soap box moment over, but really. What was so wrong about the staggered start times on a Wednesday? Can we go back to that next year? Please?
Back to the game at hand, which will see Vermont stay in the Boston area to take on another top-3 team, this time being the top-seeded Huskies. Following their upset of Boston College, the Catamounts are riding high, and return to the semifinals for the first time since 2022-23. They’ll take on an NU team that honestly is pretty damn lucky to have survived their quarterfinal game, but who is no stranger to the semifinals — this is their 16th straight year in the semis.
The last time these two teams played one another, Vermont nearly played upset, after a late game-tying goal from Rose-Marie Brochu sent the teams into overtime. Allie Lalonde’s overtime winner gave Northeastern the win, and the Hockey East regular season title, but it was still a game Vermont overall outplayed Northeastern in, which in turn bodes well for this semifinal. NU did also win the first two matches of the season, 3-0 and 3-2 back in November.
On paper, this is a far better team than we’ve seen in the last two seasons from Vermont. Sure, the Catamounts have struggled at various points this season to find consistent scoring. Their 81 goals scored is sixth-best in Hockey East, though it is a step up from their totals in previous seasons to be sure, and their defensive numbers have been improved upon, to a tune of 2.4 goals against per game (down from the 2.9 they were sporting last season).
However, they’re still trailing Northeastern in the majority of categories. The Huskies have scored 107 goals this season, the most out of anyone in the conference, which averages out to a 3.1 goals per game. On the flip side they allow just 1.7 goals per game, over half a goal less than Vermont does. And of course there is the penalty kill, which is currently second-best in the NCAA at 89.3% success — Vermont’s is dead last in the conference, at just 77%.
Storyline: Can Northeastern find their way in the title game for another year? Or will Vermont finally get a chance to play for the Bertagna Trophy?
Just like in the other semifinal, what we see is a team that has had recent success facing off against a team that has never played in a title game before. All time, Northeastern has dominated the series against UVM, with a record of 52-13-5 dating back to 2001. The last time the two met in the playoffs was all the way back in 2019-20, where NU swept the quarterfinal round, (which at that time was a best of three), with 5-1 and 3-1 victories. The two teams have never faced off in a semifinal before.
Something I’m interested to see is, again, about the goaltenders. After 37 saves at BC, it seems more than likely that it will be Ellie Simmons in net for Vermont on Tuesday. The redshirt junior made 28 saves in a losing effort against Northeastern in the fall, and very well may need to do that again for her team to secure the win. On the opposite side it will undoubtedly be Lisa Jönsson, who mentioned earlier made 39 saves of her own against BU on Saturday.
What I like the most about the Catamounts is their resiliency. This season the team has been streaky, seeing a stretch of 2-8-0 back in the fall turn into a stretch of 9-4-3 to close out the year. They come into the matchup riding a three game win streak, thanks in part to upsets of Holy Cross and BC in the last 10 days. They know what it takes to beat Northeastern, and they know what it takes to beat a top opponent — they did it just Saturday.
On the other side, this is a Northeastern team that is without a doubt dialed in. Even when playing with a shorter bench the last few weeks, the team has kept finding ways to win. It didn’t matter that they weren’t playing in a home rink, considering theirs is currently being torn down (no, I don’t want to talk about it). They know what they’re playing for, and they desperately want to get back to being conference champions.
So who is it going to be? Only Tuesday can tell us that one.
Both HEA Semifinal games will be available to stream on ESPN+ at 6 PM EST on Tuesday. The winners of the two games will face off for the conference title on Saturday, March 7th at 3:30 PM EST, hosted by the top remaining team.