[3][4] On October 5, 2011, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish (an ACC member outside football) announced they would be joining Hockey East as the conference's first non-New England school in 2013 after the CCHA folded.

[7] On October 24, 2013, Merrimack College, already a member of the Hockey East men's league, announced that it would upgrade its women's team from club level to full varsity status effective in 2015 and join the Hockey East women's league.

The semifinal and final games are held on consecutive nights in mid-March at TD Garden.

The top eight teams in the league advance to the quarterfinal round, which is a best 2-out-of-3 series with all games played at the higher seed's rink.

The tournament returned to Matthews Arena in 2006, was held at UNH's Whittemore Center in 2007, and at UConn's Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum in 2008.

The tournament went back to UNH in 2009, Providence in 2010, and the last campus to host was Boston University in 2011.

Since the 2019–2020 season, Hockey East games have aired regionally on NESN and are available in the rest of the United States and in Canada on Paramount+ and SportsLive.