1986 Hockey East men's ice hockey tournament explained

Year:	1986
Conference:	Hockey East
Gender:	Men's
Dates:	March 7–15, 1986
Teams:	7
Finalarena:	Providence Civic Center
Finalcity:	Providence, Rhode Island
Champions:	Boston University^[1]
Titlecount:	1st
Coach:	Jack Parker^[2]
Coachcount:	1st
Mvp:	Peter Marshall^[3]
Mvpteam:	Boston University
Prevseason Year:	1985
Prevseason Link:	1985 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Nextseason Year:	1987
Nextseason Link:	1987 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 1986 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 2nd Tournament in the history of the conference. It was played between March 7 and March 15, 1986. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were, for the first time, played at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. This was the final year the Hockey East championship was decided at a venue outside of the state of Massachusetts (as of 2014). By winning the tournament, Boston University received the Hockey East's automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play. In the quarterfinals, the second seed and seventh seed, the third seed and sixth seeds, and the fourth seed and fifth seeds played a two-game series where the team that scored the most total goals was declared the winner and advanced to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the first seed was matched against the lowest remaining quarterfinalist while the other remaining quarterfinalists met in a single-elimination game with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers meeting in a third-place game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.