Officially it’s the Hockey East championship, but during the league’s four decades it might as well have been called the Bay State Invitational. Year in, year out there has been at least one and usually two Massachusetts sextets playing for the trophy at TD Garden.

Maine and Boston University are both back from last year while UConn and Northeastern are making their first appearance since 2022.

Maine has been a dormant program looking to reclaim a dominant position in Hockey East. Senior center Nolan Renwick scored the game winner at 11:02 in double overtime to lift the Black Bears to a 4-3 victory over Northeastern in the late Hockey East semifinal game on Thursday night at the TD Garden.