University of Connecticut Athletics
Hockey East Releases Men’s & Women’s 2020-21 Schedule
11/11/2020 3:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, Women's Ice Hockey
Men's Hockey Schedule | Women's Hockey Schedule
OFFICIAL HOCKEY EAST ANNOUNCEMENT
STORRS, Conn. – The Hockey East Association announced details for the 2020-21 men's and women's hockey seasons with play set to begin on Friday, November 20. The conference announced its composite league schedules, featuring a double round robin format while also announcing a 34-game TV schedule with NESN through January 1.
Each of the 11 men's team will play 20 league contests while the 10 women's programs will compete in 18 games that will count toward the final Army ROTC Hockey East Regular Season Standings to determine the 2020-21 Hockey East Regular Season Champion.
Both the men's and women's schedules feature weekend home-and-home series and day-of-game travel, with the exception of games involving Maine and Vermont, to allow for proper and consistent testing protocols throughout the season while adhering to all state guidelines.
Three of the final five weekends of regular season play in each league are designated as Flex Weekends. These Flex Weekend contests are tentative and opponents may be changed in order to maintain a competitively balanced schedule for each team. If games are postponed during the regular season, these Flex Weekend games will be rescheduled with those postponed games. Any games played during Flex Weekends will be designated as "non-conference" games and will not count toward the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings. Additional Flex Dates have been added throughout the schedule where availability allowed to maximize flexibility to play a full regular season schedule and prioritize the student-athlete experience.
The UConn men's and women's programs will each have 26-games on their schedules with both programs calling the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum on campus home for this season. State of Connecticut public health officials have ruled that in-person attendance at Freitas Ice Forum will initially be limited to the families of student-athletes and coaches. Should conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic improve over the course of the 2020-21 hockey seasons, the directive can be adjusted.
The Husky men will play 20 league games and have flex games that will include home-and-home series with New Hampshire, Northeastern and UMass Lowell. UConn will open the season with a two-game series at Vermont starting on November 20 and 21 and then host Maine for two-games on November 27 and 28 before moving to home-and home series the rest of the way.
The UConn women will play an 18-game conference slate and have home-and-home flex games with Providence, Boston College and Merrimack and a two-game home flex series with Maine. The Huskies open the season hosting Vermont for two-games on November 20 and 21 and then head up to Maine for a weekend series on November 27 and 28.
Hockey East will once again partner with NESN and ViacomCBS Digital to provide fans across the world the opportunity to view every single Hockey East game in the 2020-21 season. Today, Hockey East announced a slate of games that can be seen on NESN through January 1, as well as news that all other streamed games will be made available to fans for free on one of ViacomCBS Digital's platforms. Full television schedule details and How-To-Watch information about streamed games, as well as specific game times, will be announced in the coming days.
Details on the 2021 Hockey East Tournament formats will be announced at a later date. Schedules are tentative and subject to change.
