Pairings Set For 2012 Hockey East Tournament

The pairings are now set for the 28th annual Hockey East Tournament quarterfinals. The top-seeded, Hockey East regular season champion Eagles will host 8th seeded Massachusetts in a best-of-3 first-round series with the Minutemen starting on Friday night.

UMass took the regular season series from the Eagles, 2-1-0, as BC dropped both games at the Mullins Center -- a 4-2 loss back on November 5 and a 4-0 shutout on January 13. The 4-0 shutout back on January 13 was easily BC's poorest performance of the season.

BC is seeking its third straight Lamoriello Trophy and its sixth in eight years. The Eagles have won a Hockey East-best 10 tournament titles -- 1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. All your trophies are belong to us.

Here are the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal pairings:

No. 1 Boston College vs. No. 8 Massachusetts (UMA 2-1-0)
No. 2 UMass-Lowell vs. No. 7 Providence (UML 2-1-0)
No. 3 Boston University vs. No. 6 New Hampshire (BU 3-0-0)
No. 4 Maine vs. No. 5 Merrimack (MC 2-1-0)

The Lowell-Providence series is a rematch of the regular season finale this past weekend, a series the River Hawks swept 5-1 and 4-2. The Terriers swept the regular season series with the Wildcats, while the Warriors earned a 2-1-0 regular season series victory over the Black Bears.

Go Eagles! (Woo trophies!!)