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No. 1 seed UMass Lowell became the first team to advance to the Hockey East semifinals, beating No. 8 seed Maine 2-1 in overtime Friday night in Lowell, Mass., to sweep the best-of-three series in two games after Thursday's 4-2 win.

In other quarterfinal action Friday night, No. 2 seed Boston College defeated No. 7 seed Vermont 4-2 at Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill. The teams will play again Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Boston University also held serve at home, blanking No. 6 seed Merrimack 3-0 in the opening game of their quarterfinal at Agganis Arena. The Terriers and Warriors face off again Saturday at 7 p.m.

Finally, No. 4 seed Providence made it a perfect 4-0 night for Hockey East's home teams, edging No. 5 seed New Hampshire 3-2. The Friars and Wildcats resume their battle in Providence, R.I., at 4 p.m. Saturday.

No. 1 seed UMass Lowell beat No. 8 seed Maine 4-2 on Thursday night in the first game of the Hockey East tournament.

River Hawks sophomore forward Scott Wilson netted two goals and junior defenseman Chad Ruhwedel added two assists to pace Lowell on home ice.

The teams' quarterfinal matchup continues at the Tsongas Center on Friday night at 7 p.m., when Lowell will look to finish off the Black Bears and advance to the semifinals. Maine will try to stave off elimination and force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday.

Though they finished tied for second in the conference, the Boston University Terriers (17-12, 11-5 America East) found themselves on the sidelines for Championship Week in 2013.

Because of BU's impending move to the Patriot League for 2013-14, the America East Conference ruled the Terriers ineligible for the postseason tournament prior to the season.

But coach Joe Jones & Co. won't be sitting out the postseason entirely, as the school announced Thursday it has accepted an invitation to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

"We are very excited to accept an opportunity to continue our season in the College Insider Tournament," Jones said in a statement. "My staff and I are very excited to work with our guys and continue to build the foundation for our program.

“We look forward to represent our great university in the postseason."

Led by junior D.J. Irving, at 14.3 points per game the sixth most prolific scorer in America East, the Terriers placed four players on all-conference teams in 2012-13. Irving was a unanimous All-AE first team selection, junior Dom Morris and freshman Maurice Watson Jr. were named to the All-AE third team, and Watson and John Papale were also named to the AE All-Rookie team.

This is the third time in the past four seasons that BU will play in a postseason tournament, with a CBI berth in 2010 and an NCAA berth in 2011.

Coincidentally, the Terriers will face another future Patriot League member, Loyola Maryland (21-11, 12-6 MAAC), in the first round of the CIT on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET).

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

In previewing the Atlantic 10 tournament, which begins Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, ESPN.com college basketball writer Eamonn Brennan lists UMass point guard Chaz Williams as one of his five players to watch and lists the Minutemen, who open play Thursday night at 9 against George Washington, as his sleeper pick:

Sleeper pick: This is kind of a funny question, because as I mentioned in the intro, at the start of the season it felt as though this league had about 10 sleepers. Those ranks have dwindled, of course, but there are still plenty of threats that didn't get a first-round bye. Xavier has improved steadily over the course of the season (and the first rule of Xavier is never bet against Xavier); Richmond is a threat to get hot and rattle off a handful of wins with Derrick Williams back from injury; anything can happen with Charlotte, but it's a tough out; and Saint Joe's … well, OK, let's not go too far. If I had to settle on one, I'd probably go with UMass. The Minutemen are the team with the most on the line, and they certainly have the talent to go deep.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Brennan's A-10 tourney preview.

College hockey's "second season" -- highlighted by the Hockey East quarterfinals -- resumes Thursday in Lowell, with the River Hawks hosting Maine. The remaining three quarterfinal matchups start Friday.

The Hockey East championship has been won by a local Boston squad -- Boston College six times, and Boston University twice -- each of the past eight years. Still, given the tight race for Hockey East's regular-season crown, with two points separating the top five teams, the postseason promises no easy passage to the NCAAs. Only top-ranked Lowell and second-seeded Boston College appear to be locks for at-large bids to the national tournament, though New Hampshire (ranked seventh nationally) should be safe as well. The remaining five teams must capture the Hockey East crown to prolong their season.

"This is anybody's tournament," said BU coach Jack Parker on Tuesday. "There's a lot of [teams] that have had really solid years. It's unbelievable that Northeastern and UMass are not in this tournament; they are such good college teams. Anybody you get is going to be a tough draw."

Here's the breakdown of the matchups, and the eight teams gunning to play in the league semifinals at TD Garden in Boston on March 22:

Hockey East
No. 1 Lowell vs. No. 8 Maine
The student faces the teacher. River Hawks coach Norm Bazin, in just his second year at Lowell, guided his squad to the top of the Hockey East with a remarkable second-half surge, going 18-3-1 since Dec. 8, and finishing 22-10-2 (16-9-2 in Hockey East). Now he'll face a Maine squad (11-17-8; 7-12-8 HE) led by Tim Whitehead, the man who hired Bazin when he was running the Lowell program.

"Obviously we're good friends," said Bazin. "He gave me my first opportunity in coaching and you never forget that. We really respect their staff and their team and the way they compete.

"It's one of those things you're certainly going to have a candid conversation before the game, but come game time, I think we'll have our game faces on."

Whitehead, who coached Bazin before adding him to the Lowell staff, echoed the comments of his former assistant, saying: "It is bittersweet to have to go against him in this playoff series. When the puck is dropped, it will be a great competition."

He's right. Maine, despite sneaking into the playoffs last weekend, took the season series from the River Hawks, including a 4-3 win at the Tsongas Center. Plus, the Black Bears are a road-worthy team, coming off a huge three-point weekend at rival New Hampshire.

"We were gripping our sticks a little tightly at home," said Whitehead, adding that the seniors had never suffered a losing record in Orono. "When we started going on the road, we were able to play with a lot more composure and intensity."

In Lowell, the Black Bears face a team with incredible balance. "Up front, I think we have four second lines," said Bazin of a squad that boasts eight players with 18 points or more. "I can't tell you who's going to be our best line every night, and I can't tell you who will be our weakest."

Bazin, however, did say his team won't make the same mistake as last year, when the River Hawks, then seeded No. 2, were upset at home by Providence. "Some of the best lessons you learn are from your failures," he said. "We probably didn't bring our A-game to the table every night. I think we have better depth this year."

Depth is something the Black Bears lack. What they do have, at the moment, is great goaltending from junior Martin Ouellette, fiery leadership from captain Joey Diamond and house money.

"We just want to keep playing," said Whitehead. "It is a very tight-knit group. They have stuck together through a lot. Our seniors have been excellent. ... They have all fought through adversity, but have stuck together and really helped our team move forward and improve. It is a great opportunity to get into the playoffs. We just want to play."

No. 2 Boston College vs. No. 7 Vermont
The BC Eagles (20-10-4; 15-9-3 HE) are in the rare position of looking up at someone above them in the Hockey East playoff seedings. But Friday's 4-4 tie with Vermont (11-17-6; 8-13-6 HE), coupled with Lowell's victory over Providence, cost the Eagles a shot at the regular-season crown.

"We're disappointed in the fact that we couldn't win a championship, but you've got to reset and all of a sudden it's the playoff championship we're going to go after," said BC coach Jerry York. "Our goal is to try and win it. We understand just because of our seeding doesn't put us in the Garden. We have to get by Kevin Sneddon's team, who has played very well at times over the course of the year, and I thought played us toe-to-toe on Friday night up in Burlington."

For the second year in a row, the league's No. 2 vs. 7 matchup pits two teams that met the week before, in the regular season's final games. Last year, it was Lowell against Providence, and the No. 7 Friars bounced the host River Hawks from the playoffs. York will likely remind his squad of that result. He said he doesn't expect any surprises, and he doesn't expect his Eagles to look past the seventh-seeded Catamounts.

"It's not like, hey, we played them six weeks ago, what are they like now?" said York. "We know exactly what Vermont is and what their strengths are, and we're going to have to really be conscious of that, because they're a dangerous team."

York's senior class is looking for its fourth straight championship, but the current edition of the Eagles isn't the same as last year's model, which finished the season winning 19 straight to capture the NCAA title.

"We're completely different teams from last year," said York. "We lost a lot of seniors, we lost [Chris] Kreider, we lost [Brian] Dumoulin. Coming into this year is a whole new group of players to work with, with different strengths and different weaknesses. We've tried to address the weaknesses during the course of the year and build on our strengths. I think we've got a pretty good club."

Vermont, meanwhile, is returning the playoffs after a brief absence. Sneddon said his players have already put last weekend, and especially Saturday's 7-2 loss, behind them.

"There was a little bit of an emotional letdown from just kind of knowing we're in the playoffs, we're the seventh seed," said Sneddon. "It was a good learning lesson for us, to just remind our guys that if we're going to play soft against a team like Boston College, that's what they can do to you. In some respects, it may have been a perfect reminder as we head into the new season here."

Vermont's success in the postseason will hinge on the Catamounts' ability to shackle the league's most potent offense (88 goals), led by the likes of Johnny Gaudreau (18 goals, 28 assists, 46 points), Steve Whitney (24-17-41), captain Pat Mullane (15-23-38) and Bill Arnold (16-17-33). It will also be an interesting matchup in goal between UVM freshman Brody Hoffman and BC senior Parker Milner, the MVP of last year's NCAA title run.

"The biggest thing we have to do is make sure we're well aware of when Mr. Gaudreau, Mr. Whitney and Mr. Arnold are on the ice," said Sneddon. "They're excellent players, they're going to get chances. We just have to make sure that we make them earn those chances and minimize to the best of our ability their time of possession with the puck.

"I think right now our depth has helped us," he said. "Knock on wood, we're healthy and ready to go, and I think it's going to be a pretty big battle so we're going to rely on that depth."

No. 3 Boston University vs. No. 6 Merrimack
There's no shortage of one-liners when BU coach Jack Parker and Merrimack bench boss Mark Dennehy discuss hockey.

"I think I just heard [Parker] say that even though they finished third [in Hockey East], and they beat us three times, that Merrimack may be favored," said Warriors head coach Mark Dennehy on Tuesday. "He is amazing. Again, I just tip my cap, because he is always coaching."

But Parker's run is about to come to an end, and Dennehy knows full well that his 5th-seeded Warriors (15-15-6; 13-11-3 HE) are facing a Terriers team (18-15-2; 15-10-2 HE) eager to deliver Parker his eighth Hockey East championship, and its automatic bid to the NCAAs.

"My players have to be motivated too, because I'm coming back next year," Dennehy said. "So whoever is coming back with me better be motivated as well. This time of the year, I don't think it comes down to motivation. I believe it comes down to execution."

Execution has been a concern for the Terriers, who have played uneven throughout the year. The Terriers have again been a force up front, with 82 league goals (second in Hockey East), but the goaltending of freshmen Matt O'Connor and Sean Maguire, while good, hasn't been championship caliber. With O'Connor injured, Maguire will carry the load in the playoffs.

"We had a very solid and consistent first half. When we came back after break, we were very inconsistent," said Parker. "Mostly our inconsistency was in regard to playing without the puck -- how well we defended, how well we defended the initial rush, how well we played in our own zone. That lack of consistency of effort and focus is something that caused us some heartache, as far as wins and losses are considered. We seem to be out of that now."

The Terriers enter the playoffs having won five of their past six, a streak that started with a 5-2 series-sweeping victory over Merrimack. "It wasn't as if we dominated any one of those games" against Merrimack, said Parker. "They always saw our best game and hopefully we can do that again. I'm not sure if we saw Merrimack's best game, so I would say the advantage falls with them right now as far as that's concerned."

Dennehy agreed, to a point. "We do think we can play better against the Terriers than we have played, but you have to give them a lot of credit," he said. "Jack has said that they have played their best hockey against us; it's good to hear that we bring out the best in them. But it would be nice to see our team play a little bit better as well. They are very hard to play against. They defend incredibly well and all of their goaltenders have played well against us. They have got some timely goal-scoring and some really good play out of their better players."

"The biggest thing that we have recognized in the three games that we have played them -- two out of the three we outshot them by a pretty good margin -- was our turnovers and
giveaways," Dennehy said. "You can't turn the puck over against a team whose defensemen move the puck way too well. They can transition. Their forwards are fast, and if they get up the side on you, they make really good plays on the rush and they go to the net very hard."

No. 4 Providence vs. No. 5 New Hampshire
Last year, Nate Leaman got the Friars back into the Hockey East playoffs. This year, his second on the job, Leaman got them home ice. Now Providence (15-12-7; 13-8-6 HE) has got a date with New Hampshire, one of the league's perennial powers.

"Our games against UNH this year were all extremely tight games, and obviously we tied with them in the standings," said Leaman. "It's Hockey East, there's obviously a lot of really good teams. We are really excited about hosting and again, expecting really tight games.

"They bring statistically the best goaltender in the league. That's always concerning," said Leaman of UNH's Casey DeSmith. "They have a very good power play. They have a lot of pluses, they have a lot of weapons. Overall they were a very good offensive team. They have a very good power play and don't take a lot of penalties."

With the league's best defense, and third most potent offense, it's alarming that the Wildcats (18-9-7; 13-8-6 HE) slipped to fifth in the league, despite a lofty national ranking (No. 7). But if the lack of killer instinct (four one-goal losses and five ties in the past 14 games) was a concern for UNH coach Dick Umile, he didn't let on this week.

"Nate has done a tremendous job at Providence," said Umile. "The team is playing well and they have great goaltending [with freshman John Gillies], but I don't think enough is said about their great balance and speed. It's going to be a challenge, but as the team knows, it's a whole new season since only four teams go on to the Boston Garden.

"We have good leadership on the team and I think the team is ready to get on the bus, head down to Providence and play down there."

A day after the Ancient Eight season ended officially, Siyani Chambers was unanimously voted the 2012-13 Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

But that's not all.

Chambers also found his name on the list for All-Ivy League first team, along with teammate Wesley Saunders (a unanimous selection). Junior co-captain Laurent Rivard and sophomore Steve Moundou-Missi were honorable mentions.

A 6-foot, 170-pound point guard from Golden Valley, Minn., Chambers finished first in the Ivy League in assists per game (5.7, 1.6 more than Princeton's Ian Hummer in second) and in minutes played (37.8 per game), fourth in free throw percentage (81.9), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (44.0) and sixth in scoring (12.9 points per game).

Chambers is the seventh Crimson player to be named Ivy Rookie of the Year, and the first since Kyle Casey won the award in 2009-10.

He was second on the Harvard roster in scoring, behind only Saunders. The sophomore from Los Angeles led the Ivy League in scoring with 16.5 points per game, ranked seventh in assists per game (1.9) and third in minutes played per game (37.3).

Saunders scored in double digits in all 28 of Harvard's games, helping the Crimson to a 19-9 overall record, including an 11-3 Ivy record, the team's second straight outright Ivy title and NCAA berth.

Rivard, a sharpshooter from Saint-Bruno, Quebec, tied a single-season team record with 74 3-pointers in 2012-13. The junior averaged 10.4 points this season, and has made the second-most 3s in Harvard history through three seasons in Cambridge.

Moundou-Missi, a sophomore from Yaounde, Cameroon, led the Crimson in rebounding, with 5.1 boards a game (10th in the Ivy League).

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

A day after he was the only unanimous selection for the All-ACC freshman team and earned his fourth ACC Rookie of the Week honor, Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan has been named ACC Rookie of the Year.

Hanlan, a native of Aylmer, Quebec, received 43 of the 77 votes cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. The next highest vote-getter was Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon, with 15.

“It is a great honor for him and well deserved,” BC coach Steve Donahue said in a statement, “mostly because he is someone who is putting a great amount of work in to improve both on and off the basketball court.

"It is also a credit to his teammates for trusting him with the ball quite a bit. Their unselfishness has made him better as well."

Hanlan becomes the fifth BC player to win a conference rookie of the year honor, and the first since Troy Bell won Big East Rookie of the Year in 1999-2000.

The 6-foot-4, 188-pound point guard finished eighth in the ACC in scoring (14.6 points per game) and led all freshmen with 26 games scoring in double figures.

Hanlan and the Eagles will face Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament on Thursday in Greensboro, N.C.

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

The regular season is over, and the honors have begun to roll in for Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan.

On Monday, the freshman from Aylmer, Quebec, was named ACC rookie of the week for the fourth time and was the lone unanimous selection for the All-ACC freshman team. Ryan Anderson, BC’s leading scorer, was named to the All-ACC third team.

The four weekly honors is the most in the conference this season, and the latest one comes after Hanlan helped lead the Eagles to a three-game winning streak to end the ACC slate. In the past week, Hanlan averaged 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in BC’s two games (a road win over Clemson and a home win over Georgia Tech).

Hanlan finished the season tied for eighth in the ACC in scoring (14.6) and was among the top six rookies in both rebounds (4.2) and assists (2.3) per game.

Anderson finished his sophomore season averaging 15.1 points (sixth in the ACC) and 8.1 rebounds (fourth) per game. His nine 20-point games was third in the league, his nine 10-rebound games was fifth and his eight double-doubles was sixth.

On his weekly ACC conference call earlier Monday, BC coach Steve Donahue was asked about Hanlan’s season.

“I think it’s been incredible,” he said. “I don’t really get caught up in these things -- I don’t think I’ve ever talked publicly about any of my players and what they deserve [as far as awards] -- but it’s hard to imagine, [he was] sixth in the league in scoring [15.7 PPG in ACC play] and 10th in field goal percentage [as] a freshman guard.

“Obviously he’s been our leader and catalyst in our improvement,” Donahue said. “I can’t imagine anybody having a better year and I think nationally there can’t be too many freshmen that have had the impact that he’s had in this league. And I think he’s one of the better players in the league, as well.

“Honestly he’s achieved way more than I ever could have imagined this early in his career.”

Hanlan was the only freshman named to all 77 ballots for the All-ACC freshman team in the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association voting. He also received honorable mention for the All-ACC team.

With Hanlan in the fold, the Eagles improved modestly from 9-21 overall and 4-12 in the ACC to 15-16 overall and 7-11 in the ACC.

Donahue gives a great deal of credit for the improvement to Hanlan and fellow freshman backcourt member Joe Rahon. The coach also praised Hanlan’s work ethic.

“I say this to recruits, ‘The thing that I don’t know about you guys is are you really going to work hard?’” Donahue said. “Everyone says they work hard. Are they going to come here, in college, and have to be great? And that’s one thing [Hanlan] did since day one.

“The other thing is are you coachable? Are you willing to hear criticism and willing to work on it in a manner that you’re going to get better because you’re coachable? That kid’s a sponge and he wants every information that you can have. And our development is a credit to him because of those two things.”

Siyani Chambers doesn’t play like a freshman, but every once in a while there’s a reminder that he is one.

On Monday, two days after Harvard clinched its second straight outright Ivy League title (third straight if you include a share of the title in 2010-11) and berth in the NCAA tournament, Chambers was named Ivy rookie of the week for the sixth time in 2012-13.

That ties Chambers, a native of Golden Valley, Minn., for fifth most all time.

But that wasn’t what was on Chambers’ mind on Monday, when he took to Twitter with an update that made it clear that though he may be advanced beyond his age on the court, off the court he’s still new to this whole experience:

So I just got hit by a buzz saw in terms of that midterm #countthestuggles

— Siyani Chambers (@SChambers4) March 11, 2013

It’s easy to count the struggles Chambers has had on the court because there haven’t been many. It’s harder to count the successes.

In Harvard’s final two regular-season games, needing to win out to preserve a shot at the title, Chambers was his usual steady, savvy self.

He scored 16 points (on 5-for-6 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 shooting from the line), had three assists and grabbed two steals against Columbia on Friday -- a statline that doesn’t do justice to the impact he had on the game, especially late. Then on Saturday, he had 16 points (on 6-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point land), five assists and four rebounds against Cornell.

Chambers finished first in the Ivy League in assists per game (5.7, 1.6 more than Ian Hummer in second) and in minutes played (37.8 per game), fourth in free throw percentage (81.9), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (44.0) and sixth in scoring (12.9 points per game).

It’s to the point that Tommy Amaker doesn’t know what else he can say about his preternaturally polished point guard.

“You can’t say enough about Chambers,” Amaker said after the rookie led the Crimson back against the Lions. “What else can the kid do for our team this year? His minutes, his efforts, his moxie, his savvy, his daring. All those things we’ve seen a lot this year.”

As of Monday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Harvard as a No. 13 seed in the South region of the Big Dance, matching up with No. 3 seed Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Harvard has been marveling at the Chambers show all season long, and chances are at least one more opponent will see a similar display in the NCAAs.

When the smoke finally cleared on the final night of one of the craziest, most hotly contested regular seasons in the 29 years of Hockey East, history had been made.

For the first time, one of the league's perennial "top four" powers -- Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire and Maine -- wasn't wearing the crown when the final whistle blew. That honor went to the UMass-Lowell River Hawks, just two short years after the club finished dead last and missed the league playoffs altogether.

To capture the title, the River Hawks (22-10-2; 16-9-2 Hockey East) had to rebound from Friday's home loss to Providence and turn the tables on the Friars (15-12-7; 13-8-6) in Rhode Island, taking the rematch 4-1. Lowell got big games from Josh Holmstrom (game-winning goal, plus an assist) and Scott Wilson (goal, assist) to wrest the crown from defending champion and second-place finishers Boston College.

Still, the River Hawks have a surprisingly tough 1 vs. 8 matchup in the league quarterfinals, as Norm Bazin's troops will host Maine (11-17-8; 7-12-8) just as it appears to be rounding into form. Tim Whitehead's eighth-seeded squad has proven it can win big games on the road, not only by knocking UNH out of the home-ice derby with a win (4-3) and a tie (4-4 on Saturday) and ensuring that Massachusetts would miss the playoffs for the first time since 2002, but also by taking two from Boston College at Conte Forum in late January.

The Black Bears also beat UMass-Lowell at the Tsongas Center back on Nov. 11, and took the season series from the River Hawks, 2-1.

The key for the River Hawks will be the continued stellar play of freshman goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (14-2-0) and its offense-by-committee (eight players with 18 or more points). Maine will have to hope its mercurial captain, Joey Diamond, is more of a leader (team-high 24 points on 14 goals and 10 assists) than a liability (he became the program's all-time leader in penalty minutes during the UNH series).

Second-seeded BC (20-10-4; 15-9-3), fresh off a three-point weekend in Burlington, Vt., will face the seventh-seeded Catamounts (11-17-6; 8-13-6) in its own barn starting Friday. Entering the weekend, the Eagles still had a shot at the league title, but Friday's 4-4 draw combined with Lowell's win on Saturday left BC a point short of the top spot.

Unlike last year, when the Eagles rode an 11-game winning streak into the league playoffs, this season's model finished with a less flashy 6-3-2 record over its last 11. However, Jerry York's team served notice that it won't surrender its league title easily, following Friday's tie with a 7-2 thumping of the Catamounts.

Vermont has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde unit of late, notching a big win against BU on March 2 (5-2 at Agganis Arena) and critical points with ties against UNH and BC. But Kevin Sneddon's squad has also lost to likes of Penn State in its first varsity season. Following a hard-fought tug-of-war stalemate against BC on Friday, the Catamounts were overwhelmed by the Eagles on Saturday, surrendering the first five goals en route to a 7-2 loss and seeing stalwart freshman netminder Brody Hoffman chased from the game.

BU (18-15-2; 15-10-2) made sure that it wouldn't miss out on home ice for the quarterfinals for the first time since 2005, as Jack Parker's Terriers swept their weekend set against Northeastern, 4-2 on Friday and 5-0 on Saturday, behind the superb goaltending of freshman Sean Maguire. The twin-killing allowed the Terriers to gain a measure of revenge against the last-place Huskies (9-21-4; 5-18-4), who beat BU twice earlier in the season, and grab the third seed based on having two more wins in league play than either UNH or Providence. But they needed a little help from UNH, who held a key tiebreaker against the Terriers (winning the season series, 2-1) but could only manage a single point in two games against Maine over the weekend.

As a result, the Terriers will host sixth-seed Merrimack (15-15-6; 13-11-3 HE), which has struggled down the stretch, going 2-5-1 since Valentine's Day. As recently as Feb. 26, the Warriors were only a point out of first place, but a pair of losses to UMass-Lowell and a regular season-ending defeat at the hands of UMass erased any hope of Merrimack finishing in the top four. The last time these teams met in the playoffs, the Terriers emerged victorious in an epic three-game quarterfinal series in 2010.

New Hampshire (18-9-7; 13-8-6) was the weekend's biggest loser. The Wildcats blew their chance to host the quarterfinals at the Whittemore Center, dropping three of a possible four points at home to archrival Maine. Though Eric Knodel's goal with less than four minutes left enabled the Wildcats to finish in a dead heat for third place with BU and Providence, UNH lost out on the tiebreakers. Since BU had more league wins (15, compared to 13 for the Wildcats), and Providence won the season series against UNH (2-0-1), Dick Umile's squad tumbled to fifth place in the standings.

And their consolation prize is a best-of-three set against the Friars. The series could turn on a goaltending duel between UNH sophomore Casey DeSmith and Providence freshman John Gillies, former teammates in the USHL who are now among the best netminders in Hockey East. Providence, as coach Nate Leaman has said, has been a solid bounce-back team all year and is playing with a maturity that belies a roster that features 10 freshmen.

Legendary Boston University hockey coach Jack Parker will announce his retirement Monday, on his 68th birthday, sources close to the program tell ESPN.

Parker, who has coached the Terriers for 40 seasons, has won three national championships and led BU to 24 NCAA hockey tournament berths, most by any coach.

His 894 career victories are the most by a coach with one school, and third most all-time, trailing current Boston College coach Jerry York and former Michigan State coach Ron Mason.

His teams have also captured seven Hockey East titles and 21 Beanpot championships, the annual February tournament featuring BU, BC, Northeastern and Harvard.

BU finishes the 2012-13 regular seasons with a record of 18-15-2 and will face Merrimack in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament next weekend.

The legacy of Parker's program took a hit last year when a report commissioned by the school concluded that hockey players were given star treatment and lived in a "culture of sexual entitlement", detailing numerous inappropriate incidents. The report was commissioned after two BU players were charged with sexual assault, in different incidents, less than three months apart.

The report did not conclude that Parker knew of the inappropriate behavior, but he was stripped of his title as executive athletic director.

The pairings are set for the Atlantic 10 tournament, with the sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts to open against No. 11 George Washington on Thursday night (9 p.m.) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The winner of that game will face No. 3 seed Temple in the quarterfinals. The Owls beat VCU, 84-76, on Sunday.

UMass, which was 9-7 in the A-10 for the second straight year, suffered what may have been their worst loss of the season -- at least in terms of their standing in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee -- at the hands of the Colonials, losing 79-76 on Jan. 19 in Amherst. The Minutemen trailed much of the day and fell behind by 16 in the second half before staging a furious rally that fell short.

UMass' chances of getting an at-large bid to the Big Dance appear slim, although wins of Temple and second seed VCU in the semifinals could conceivably at least put them in the bubble conversation. But clearly if the Minutemen want their first NCAA bid since 1998, they'd best win four games in four days. And the way the bracket sets up, they could have four teams who already have beaten them -- GW, Temple, VCU and St. Louis or Butler -- lined up ahead of them.

This time, Harvard only had to wait about a half hour to find out its fate.

After the Crimson held serve at home against Cornell on Saturday evening, winning 65-56, they had to wait for Princeton's game with Brown to end to know whether they would be assured of a share of the Ivy League title for a third straight season, or whether they would own it outright.

And when the buzzer sounded in Providence, with Brown winning 80-67, Tommy Amaker & Co. knew: They were Ivy League champs, and would be headed to the Big Dance for the second straight season.

Last season, the Crimson were watching from home -- most of them studying for midterms -- when they won the Ivy League as Princeton beat Penn.

“When you’re in league play and you’re on the road, chances are those things have a way of happening," Amaker said Friday night, after Harvard came back to beat Columbia and Princeton tripped up at Yale, giving control of the Ivy back to the Crimson.

Those things happened again on Saturday, with the Bears (13-15, 7-7 Ivy) upsetting the Tigers (16-11, 9-4) to assure Harvard's second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

“If we win tomorrow we get a chance to say we’re Ivy champions and to hang a banner and all the things that come with that is pretty significant and pretty neat," Amaker said Friday. "So I’m really obviously proud of our kids for having us in the position to do that, given this year and the journey we’ve been on all season.”

Before the season even started, Harvard was dealt a blow when would-be senior co-captains Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry were implicated in the academic cheating scandal that made waves on the Cambridge campus. Both chose to withdraw from school for the year, rather than risk starting the year and losing a season of eligibility while the appeal process was underway.

Just like that, instead of heavy favorites to repeat the Crimson were predicted to fall short in the Ancient Eight. There was only one problem with that: The players left on the roster had another idea.

Led by freshman point guard Siyani Chambers, who should be a shoo-in for Ivy Rookie of the Year, and sophomore forward Wesley Saunders, who should be a shoo-in for Ivy Player of the Year, the Crimson came close to leading the Ivy wire to wire and will now wait only for their names to be called on Selection Sunday.

“It’s a great position to be in," Saunders said after beating Columbia on Friday. "We just took care of business and did what we were supposed to do tonight. So hopefully we can keep building on this and do some damage.”

Just wait 'til the field gets a look at these Crimson.

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

NEWTON, Mass. -- Steve Donahue likes to say college basketball is a game of runs. If one team makes a few baskets in a row, the other will inevitably do the same.

Saturday’s regular season finale – a 74-72 come-from-behind victory over Georgia Tech at Conte Forum -- played out just that way.

The Yellow Jackets zipped out to an 8-2 lead before Andrew Van Nest, starting on senior day as the Eagles’ lone on-court senior (he’s actually a grad student), brought the Eagles back. The 6-foot-10, 247-pound former Harvard Crimson forward hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key on one possession, then made a driving layup on another.

When he checked out of the game for the first time, he was the Eagles’ leading scorer (with five of their nine points).

The lead volleyed back and forth throughout the first half, with the score tied three times and the lead changing hands six times. As the second half began the Eagles tried to keep things close, but when Marcus Georges-Hunt hit a long 2 from the top of the key they found themselves down 10 with 14:23 to go.

Donahue called time to talk it over.

“We’ve done this,” Donahue said. “It seems like we’ve been down 10 [often]. I said that in the huddle, ‘We’ve been down 10 before.’”

After the timeout, Ryan Anderson lofted a long pass from the top of the key to a streaking Eddie Odio for an alley-oop. That started a string of eight straight points by the sophomore from Miami, to cut into the Yellow Jackets’ lead and give the hosts a jump-start.

BC wasn’t going to let a little thing like a double-digit deficit with just more than 14 minutes to go get in its way.

“It’s our mentality,” Joe Rahon said. “We don’t get down. We play the whole 40 minutes. We know basketball is a long game and 40 minutes is a long time, we’ve gotta grind out for all 40 minutes.

“No one wavered, no one put their head down. We kept believing in each other and kept pushing. We got stops when we needed to, made shots when we needed to and came out with the win.”

It wasn’t quite as simple as that sounds, however. Every time the Eagles made a run at the Yellow Jackets’ lead, the visitors responded and kept the hosts at arm’s length.

But with just under five minutes to go, Rahon found Odio open on the right wing, right in front of the Eagles’ bench. Odio set his feet and let it fly, swishing the 3 to bring the Eagles within three. And though Daniel Miller answered with a jumper on the other end, the Yellow Jackets wouldn’t score again until there were just 25 ticks left on the clock.

By then, Rahon had put the Eagles on his back and carried them into the lead.

The freshman two-guard knew that the defense wasn’t going to collapse on him when he drove the lane, since the Jackets had been burned by Odio several times already when Odio’s man left him to help on Rahon. So he repeatedly took the ball to the basket, converting an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game and then blowing by his defender to put the Eagles up to stay 66-64.

“Coach just told me ‘if they don’t stop you just get to the rim’ and I was able to do that,” said Rahon, who had a team-high 15 points.

And while there were some rocky moments down the stretch, as Georgia Tech (16-14, 6-12 ACC) refused to go away and BC (15-16, 7-11 ACC) made life more difficult for itself with some shaky free throw shooting -- the Eagles missed more freebies (11, on 25 attempts) than the Yellow Jackets took all game (7) -- the regular season ended with a 74-72 win.

“We’re still a young team, but we’ve gotta do what we gotta do to win,” Odio said. “And we did it down the stretch.”

Rahon said their experience, such as the tight win over Virginia last weekend, helped.

“We’ve been talking all season, even when we were losing those close games, like ‘These are gonna help us down the road. We’re gonna be in close games down the road and these are gonna teach us how to win,’” he said.

“We put in the hard work and it’s starting to pay off already this season. Those close games earlier in the year, we learned from them and now we’re pretty good at them.”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The PA announcer at Lavietes Pavilion played it cool.

The Crimson desperately needed a win Friday night to keep their hopes of a third consecutive Ivy League title and a second straight NCAA berth alive. And then they would still need help to catch Princeton.

They’d trailed visiting Columbia, the only Ancient Eight opponent to beat them all season prior to a disastrous sweep at Princeton and Penn the weekend before, for most of the first 38 minutes. But led by clutch plays from Steve Moundou-Missi and Siyani Chambers, the Crimson came roaring back and took the lead late.

The crowd was on its feet, still delirious from the Crimson’s charge, when the announcer’s voice piped in.

“Final score: Princeton 66,” he said, pausing slightly, “Yale 71.”

The crowd went wild again. Not only had the Crimson come from behind to secure what would be a 56-51 win over the Lions, but they’d gotten the help they needed and were once again in control of their postseason destiny.

“Seems like another typical night in the Ivy League,” Tommy Amaker joked. “Just really thrilled for us to be able to gut this win out. [We] didn’t play exceptionally well, obviously.”

The Lions sprinted out to a 9-2 lead in the first six minutes of the game as the hosts made just one of their first six shots and turned the ball over twice. The Crimson eventually got their offense going somewhat, cutting the Lions’ lead to three on two occasions, but Columbia led by six at the half, 28-22.

Harvard shot just 1-for-7 (14.3 percent) from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes, while Columbia shot 3-for-5 (60 percent) in the same span.

When the Crimson went in for the half, Amaker let them in on one piece of news: Princeton was also losing at the half, down 12 at Yale.

“Coach did let us know that, just to see if that would give us a little extra drive,” Kenyatta Smith said. “And I think to some degree it did, that and our frustration with ourselves and the way we were playing. We knew we had to get it together. We knew we weren’t playing the way we wanted to play, the way we should’ve been playing.”

Whether it was more the news from New Haven or the knowledge that they weren’t playing up to their own standards, the Crimson were noticeably more aggressive in the second half.

A three-point play by Wesley Saunders and a 3 by Laurent Rivard got them back within striking distance, then Chambers came up with the first of his big plays, making a steal and winning the race to the basket to tie the game.

From there, the teams went back and forth as the time ticked off.

With Harvard down two and less than a minute to go, the crowd was on its feet trying to will a defensive stop. Moundou-Missi obliged, cutting off the baseline on Isaac Cohen’s drive, altering the shot without fouling and then corralling the rebound. The outlet quickly found Chambers, who pushed it hard, found a seam, took the contact and made the layup for an and-1 to put Harvard ahead 50-49 with 40 seconds to go.

“You can’t say enough about Chambers. What else can the kid do for our team this year?” Amaker said. “His minutes, his efforts, his moxie, his savvy, his daring. All those things we’ve seen a lot this year. But at a moment like this, in a situation where we’re down two, and he drives it and gets the foul and makes the bucket and gets the free throw …”

But the game wasn’t over yet, as Columbia advanced the ball and called time with 35.7 to go. Harvard would need to hold onto its one-point lead.

That’s when Moundou-Missi showed up again, reading the inbounds play, easily stealing the pass and going in all alone for a big, two-handed dunk to put Harvard up three and essentially seal the win.

Now 18-9 overall and 10-3 in the Ivy, if Harvard can hold serve Saturday evening against Cornell (13-17, 5-8) they’ll be assured of at least a share of the Ivy title. If Princeton also wins out (at Brown on Saturday, at Penn on Tuesday), there will be a playoff game on Selection Sunday, March 17, at 1 p.m. in the Palestra in Philadelphia.

But that’s for later.

“We tried to come in here not worrying about [Princeton’s] game, we were trying to focus on our game,” Chambers said, “but hearing that they did lose and that we might still get a chance to get a share of the title was very exciting.”

Apparently, the PA announcer isn’t the only one at Harvard who can play it cool.

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.