BOSTON — It was a Hockey East lovefest at TD Garden, at least until the puck dropped for the NCAA championship game Saturday night.

A conference that qualified only three teams for the NCAA tournament had the last two standing in Boston University and Providence College.

It was certainly a point of pride for the coaches.

“I never thought it was a down year. I thought we had a lot of good teams in our league,” BU Coach David Quinn said. “You go through the standings. I mean, Vermont, really good team. UNH finished eighth in our league and they were playing as well as anyone at the end of the year. We saw them in the semifinals.

“Our league has been great for 30-plus years. And I say this all the time, somebody has to finish last in our league, and more times than not the last-place team is still a good hockey team.”

Providence was the preseason pick to win Hockey East, then stumbled at the outset, winning just four of its first 10 games. Coach Nate Leaman admits his team didn’t initially do its part to hold up the honor of the league.

“It’s really how you do nonconference,” he said. “We struggled a little bit out of the gate. And we’ve been fortunate to win the games since then.”

Quinn is a native of Cranston, Rhode Island, and remains a member of the Wannamoisett Country Club in that state. So he heard from a lot of people in his home state after his Terriers advanced to face Providence.

“I’ve been engaged in a lot of fun text exchanges,” Quinn said Friday.

Quinn was a BU freshman the last time the Friars reached a Frozen Four, in 1985. Providence ousted his team in the Hockey East semifinals that year.

“I know it’s been a long time coming for Providence. It’s been a great program for a long time,” Quinn said. “I’m happy for the team, I’m happy for the school, but I will be happier to beat them.”

Providence won, 4-3.

Leaman has a Maine connection. He was studying for a master’s degree in biology in 1999 while serving as a volunteer assistant on a Black Bears team that won a national title. He received a ring. “I think it’s in a drawer at home. I haven’t looked at it in two or three years,” Leaman told the Providence Journal. … Saturday was the third all-Hockey East title game. Maine was in the previous two, losing to BU in 1995 and beating New Hampshire in 1999.