NEHC announces expansion of 2022 men’s, women’s postseason tournaments to include all 10 teams

Due to ongoing rescheduling hurdles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NEHC has announced an expansion of its league postseason tournaments for the 2021-22 season.

Typically an eight-team field, the tournaments will expand for the 2021-22 postseason only to accommodate the qualification of all 10 programs.

A first-round game has been added for Wednesday, February 16. In this round, the No. 7 seed will host the No. 10 seed while the No. 8 seed will host No. 9. The winners of the first-round contests will advance to the quarterfinal round scheduled for Saturday, February 19. The postseason is re-seeded after each round of the tournament with the higher seeds being awarded the opportunity to host.

Conference standings via a point system will be used to seed the teams. Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win and one point for an overtime loss. For games ending in a tie, each team will receive one point.

The regular season is scheduled to end on Saturday, February 12. Teams will be seeded following those contests. For any conference games unable to be made up before the end of the regular season, forfeit wins and losses will be added to league standings as appropriate due to COVID-19 postponements. Final seeds and pairings will be announced no later than Sunday, February 13.