Bracket

After claiming their fourth straight MASCAC Regular Season crown, the Plymouth State Panthers earned the number one seed in the upcoming MASCAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament which begins on Saturday, February 29 with the quarterfinal round.

Up first in the quarterfinals, #3 UMass Dartmouth faces off with #6 Worcester State at 3 pm on Saturday while #4 Westfield State and #5 Salem State take the ice at 5:35. The winner of Salem/Westfield will play #1 Plymouth State on Tuesday, March 3 while the UMass Dartmouth/Worcester winner will face #2 Fitchburg State with both games at 7 pm.

The victors of the semifinal contests will then meet on Saturday, March 7 at the highest remaining seed to determine the MASCAC Tournament Champion and the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament. 

Plymouth State claimed the MASCAC regular season title and a first round bye after finishing the league regular season with a 13-3-2 record. The Panthers are led by freshman Myles Abbate who ended the regular season first in goals with 14, third in game-winning goals with three and led all freshman in scored with 23 points on 14 goals and nine assists.  

Taking home the other first round bye in the second spot is Fitchburg State. The Falcons closed out the MASCAC campaign 11-3-4. Between the pipes, Brian McGrath finished the season atop the conference in goals against average at 1.97, saves with 797, save percentage at .945 and winning percentage at .727 with four shutouts on the year.

UMass Dartmouth is the third seed after ended the season at 10-6-2 during conference action. For the Corsairs, Steven Leonard leads the way after tallying 11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points, including four game-winning and four power-play goals all of which are in the top four of the conference at the conclusion of the regular season. 

Sitting as the fourth seed is Westfield State. The Owls were 9-7-2 at the end of MASCAC competition. F.X. Girard netted 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points, the fifth-best total in the league this season while leading the league in power play points with 10 on four goals and six assists and adding one game-winner.

Salem State and Worcester State round out the 2020 Men's Ice Hockey Tournament field with the fifth and sixth seed, respectively. The Vikings and Lancers both have four MASCAC wins on the year. For Salem State, Billy McGwin led the team in goals with seven while adding seven assists for 14 points. He also had three power-play scored and one game-tying tally. For Worcester State, Matthew Manning collected the most points on the squad with 19 on 10 goals and nine assists. He led the MASCAC at the end of the regular season in power-play goals with five while finding the back of the net on one game-winning and game-tying goal. 

During last year's MASCAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Championship, top seed Plymouth State defeated sixth seed Salem State, 3-0 to earn the MASCAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.