FROM THE ARCHIVES: Hockey East Men's Championship 2024 @ TD Garden (Boston, MA)

*Since the 2026 Hockey East men's championship game is tonight, I figured I’d go back a bit and talk about the time I went to the game back on March 23, 2024 - almost exactly two years ago. A decent chunk of this was written back then, but I did update this quite a bit (for example, it includes mentions of subsequent Hockey East tournaments which obviously hadn’t happened when I first wrote this). Also, with this, I've officially caught up with all of my old hockey writing - at least until I get to certain games/arenas (hopefully in the fall).

A lot of sports leagues/events have their "signature venue" for their championship: England’s FA Cup has Wembley Stadium, the Australian Football League has the Melbourne Cricket Ground...and Hockey East has TD Garden.

I don’t feel there’s a need to dive too deep into Hockey East’s history outside of its establishment in 1984 (as a "spin off" from the ECAC), but I should at least explain the conference tournament/championship game a little bit. For those who don’t know, most college athletic conferences in the United States host end-of-season tournaments (or sometimes a single game like in football) to determine an official conference champion. Said champion receives an automatic bid to their sport’s national tournament (with football, once again, being a semi-exception), where the best teams in the country compete to determine a singular national champion for that sport¹.

In Hockey East’s case, its first two championship games (along with the semifinals) were held in Providence, RI at what is now Amica Mutual Pavilion (home of the Providence Bruins of the AHL²). In 1987, the championship moved to the original Boston Garden (the former home of the Bruins and Celtics), and has been held either there or at what is now TD Garden (i.e. the old Garden’s replacement built in 1995) most years - with three exceptions:

• In 1989 and 1990, the final game was played at Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College. I’m not FULLY certain as to why this happened (though part of it may beu because Conte had just opened in 1988), but Boston College hosted Maine in both games (with the two teams splitting wins).
• In 2021, ongoing restrictions forced all tournament games to be played at campus sites (the women's tournament still operates this way FWIW). The final that year ended up being an all-UMass affair, as eventual national champion UMass (Amherst) beat UMass Lowell at the Mullins Center. This is probably where I should also mention that the 2020 tournament got cancelled before it even started because...I don’t need to explain why, right?

As an aside, the semifinals usually been played at the same venue as the final - with three exceptions (one of them being 2021). In those years, the semifinals were played at the venues of the higher seeded semifinalist.

Anyhoo, the building now known as TD Garden was opened in 1995 as a replacement for the old Boston Garden NINE INCHES AWAY. Originally the Shawmut Center, it became the FleetCenter after Shawmut Bank was acquired by Fleet BEFORE the arena opened, and then went through a series of one day names (not including the Derek Jeter Center) after Fleet was acquired in 2004 before TD Bank (then TD Banknorth) bought the naming rights.

I honestly can’t tell you when the first time I visited the arena was, as the only things I remember are that it was sometime in the 90s (as it was still the FleetCenter at the time) and I’m pretty sure it was for either Disney on Ice or the ol’ Ringling Brothers and REDACTED³ and Bailey Circus (back when people glossed over animal abuse for entertainment). I’ve been to one Bruins game at TD Garden, but that game was way back in November of 2006 - Zdeno Chara’s first year as Bruins captain and the last year of the infamous 90s uniform set (as well as being long before a series of extensive constructions/renovations in the area).

I can’t really say much about the arena itself as I feel like it’s more or less what you’d expect from an NHL/NBA arena: two concourses filled with fans and (frighteningly expensive) concessions, a few merch stands here and there which are also kinda pricey, and the occasional bar area for alcohol sales. I feel it should be noted that there as I remember it, the upper concourse didn’t have merch stands. One thing that does stand out to me, however, is the near complete lack of natural light inside the concourses. There are a couple of reasons for this, but it really does mute the atmosphere quite a bit (especially when you consider that other NHL/NBA arenas I’ve been to do not feature this problem). One thing that was interesting, however, was a special exhibit I got to see pregame featuring a look at the history of the Bruins, as they were celebrating their 100th anniversary that season.

The thing with championship games is that inasmuch as it’s always expected to be an exciting experience since one team will be raising a trophy at the end of the day, some matchups will likely lead to different atmospheres. For example, last year (2025) featured Maine vs. UConn - maybe not the most exciting matchup on paper (especially for the locals), but would still draw quite a crowd given how popular Maine is. This year, UConn's back in the final, but their opponent should (theoretically) draw more local interest because it's...MERRIMACK.

However, in 2024, the matchup was #1 BC vs. #2 BU...and boy did I learn something that night:

Students are something else.

For starters, it's BC/BU - one of college hockey's most famous rivalries. Case in point: I mentioned it way back when I talked about BU's men's team, but their fans love to chant "BC SUCKS" even when the game at hand has NOTHING to do with Boston College. Moreover, the two teams were widely considered the two best teams in the country that year (those numbers next to their names represent their NATIONAL RANKINGS): BC with their crop of FOUR first-round draft picks plus the country's best goaltender (all of whom are now in the NHL), and BU with then-top draft prospect Macklin Celebrini (who was, in fact, drafted first overall a few months after this game). However, the best thing about going to college hockey (and especially its most intense rivalry games): student cheers/jeers.

Let’s be honest: a crowd of 17,000 fans chanting "LET’S GO BRUINS" every ten minutes is...fine. In my opinion, however, it’s not nearly as good as 8,000 students telling the opposing goalie "YOU SUCK. AT LIFE. and goaltending." - which they did quite a bit. Boston College dominated this game on and off the ice: current San Jose Shark Will Smith (one of BC's first round picks) scored FOUR GOALS, and their student turnout VASTLY outnumbered BU’s⁴.

Also, one of the main reasons I haven’t seen the Bruins at home in 20 years: I managed to snag a seat ten rows from the ice for what ended up being ~$65⁵. That doesn’t even get you in the building for a good number of Bruins games nowadays...even with the team kinda sorta rebuilding (and don't even think about trying to see the Celtics at that price point).

Finally, as a protip if you ever consider visiting: you probably don’t NEED to park in the Garden garage - it’s EXPENSIVE and you’ll end up being stuck for a while postgame. Evening and weekend parking in many parts of Boston (and its suburbs) is WAY CHEAPER (and surprisingly inexpensive by city standards)...so long as you’re willing to either walk a bit and/or trust the T (though I can understand if you’d rather not do either/both).

MERCH

I cannot tell you how many times I have been to the TD Garden ProShop. It was one of my "Sunday staples" when I lived in Massachusetts, and the number of things I have gotten from there is absolutely staggering. Part of that is thanks to a deal where if you have a TD Bank debit or credit card (which I’ve had since 2017), you can get a 15% discount on almost everything in the store - not a bad deal I must say (and it has come in VERY HANDY quite often⁶). It’s also where I bought my first "authentic" hockey jersey - a 2023 NHL Winter Classic with Patrice Bergeron’s name, number, and captain’s patch (along with the actual NHL Winter Classic patch - something other places didn't have for some reason).

The main souvenir store, however, is technically outside of the arena (it’s part of a development next to the arena), so it’s inaccessible during games (which kinda sucks as the discount was apparently not available in the arena for this game)⁷. While it does have a lot of the standard items PLUS things that are difficult to find elsewhere, a lot of things (most especially jerseys) are marked up a bit because that seems to be a standard arena store thing (though when you get a 15% discount on things, you end up doing a lot of math and somehow finding that certain items are still cheaper at the ProShop). There’s also the fact that it’s the only place I’ve been able to find Boston Celtics jerseys with stitched on letters and numbers (that I know are 100% genuine), so that’s something to keep in mind (the Bruins are a BIT different, but maybe I’ll discuss that in the future).

At the Hockey East championship, I got a Hockey East crewneck sweater and hat (plus a David Pastrnak Bruins Centennial third jersey). I was tempted to buy a novelty chain featuring the Hockey East logo, but decided against it.

And yes, the display title of this page is the reference some of you think it is - if you don't get it, go get cultured or summat

ON DECK

More hockey...though whether or not it's "better" really depends (as it doesn't feature FIVE NHL first round draft picks).