Hockey East Championship Coverage in Boston 2016

What to Watch in Hockey East Playoffs

There have been many times since coming to Boston University that things have felt incredibly surreal, and being able to cover the Hockey East championship and semi finals tops that list.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to cover the tournament once Boston University was out of it, as I was sure to be able to go for some form of student media if they were there. However, since UMass Lowell made the it, I was lucky enough to get credentials through ESPN New Hampshire.

I covered the Lowell vs BU playoff series for ESPN NH the week before, and was a guest on their radio program the next Monday, hosted by Pete Sheppard, who I grew up listening to on sports talk radio.

On Friday, I was invited to be a guest at The Harp, a local sports bar/eatery across from the TD Garden. I went to The Harp before Boston Bruins games when I was younger, and would see sports shows from 98.5 The Sports Hub live there, so it was rather surreal to be a part of one of the shows there.

ESPN NH was hosting a pre game show for UMass Lowell, who had made it to the Hockey East semi finals against Providence. I was on with Sheppard and his co hosts, Mike Grinnell (also the editor for the ESPN NH site) and Brad Johnson, who were all super supportive of the work I have been doing, which was really cool.

After I was on I headed to the garden for three games.

Errr… Two games.

The first game, the one between Lowell and Providence, went to triple overtime. It was a 1-1 game, and on air before the game, we had joked it would be the kind of contest that went double overtime.

Well, I guess we were right.

Luckily it was the last night ever of the MBTA having late night service, so I was able to stay till the end and also see the second game, Boston College vs Northeastern, which the Huskies won to advance to face Lowell.

That game was the next night, and with a Boston University vs Bucknell women’s lacrosse game sandwiched in between the two days, I headed to the Garden for the championship.

Northeastern won the game and won its first Hockey East championship since 1988. I went 3-for-3 in my series predictions, which was awesome, but now having gone to the Garden five times this semester, this might have been the best event of all.

Working for ESPN NH has been a blast and I am so grateful they keep letting me do cool things. This definitely tops my list of cool sports media experiences.