Formerly | MAAC (Men) (1997–2003) Atlantic Hockey (Men) (2003–24) College Hockey America (Women) (2002–24) |
---|---|
Association | NCAA |
Founded | Men: 1997 (as MAAC) Women: 2002 (as CHA) |
First season | 2024–25 |
Commissioner | Michelle Morgan (since 2024) |
Sports fielded | |
Division | Division I |
No. of teams | 11: Men's (10 in 2025) 6: Women's |
Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
Region | Northeastern United States, Colorado and Missouri |
Official website | atlantichockeyonline.com |
Locations | |
Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. [1] The conference was formed by the merger of the men-only Atlantic Hockey Association and the women-only College Hockey America (CHA). [2]
In 2010, the men's division of CHA collapsed and two of the remaining teams joined the Atlantic Hockey Association. [3] At that time, the two leagues began working together by sharing a commissioner and administrative staff in order to streamline their operating costs. [4] The arrangement worked well enough that by 2023, the two entities decided to formalize their relationship and announced that they were merging. The new league would begin in the 2024–25 season and would welcome a new member, Delaware, the following year. [5] However, the number of men's members will be reduced by 1 in the same year as AIC drops their program to the Division II level, opting to place their hockey program in their all-sports conference of the NE-10 [6] [7]
Three schools, Mercyhurst, RIT and Robert Morris, have programs in both the men's and women's divisions. Holy Cross, Lindenwood, Penn State and Sacred Heart each operate teams of both sexes, but only one is a member of AHA. Niagara and Syracuse only have one varsity program active as of 2024 but both previously supported the other gender. [8]
Conference affiliations are current for the first season of the merged AHA in 2024–25.
Member departing for Division II in 2025.
Primary conference affiliation is current for the first season of AHA play.
Institution | Location | Nickname | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Joining | Men's | Women's | Primary Conference [a] | Colors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Delaware | Newark, Delaware | Fightin' Blue Hens | 1743 | Public [b] | 23,281 | 2025 | CUSA |
Men Women Both
The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Participating schools are located principally in the Northeastern United States, from which the conference derives its name.
The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) was an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other college athletic conferences, Atlantic Hockey had no women's division, though it shared some organizational and administrative roles with the women's-only College Hockey America (CHA).
College Hockey America (CHA) was a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference's final membership featured six women's teams, with three in Pennsylvania; two in New York, and one in Missouri.
NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
College Hockey East (CHE) is a mixed American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 and Division 3 league for universities in the Western Pennsylvania region.
The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the athletic teams of the University of Delaware (UD) of Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Coastal Athletic Association and its technically separate football league, CAA Football.
The RIT Tigers men's ice hockey team is a collegiate ice hockey team representing the Rochester Institute of Technology in suburban Rochester, New York, United States. The school's men's team competes in the Division I Atlantic Hockey America. The team has won two national championships, one each at the Division II and Division III levels. It lost in the semifinals of the Division I "Frozen Four" in 2010.
The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey team is a college ice hockey program representing Mercyhurst University in NCAA Division I competition as a member of the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference. They play in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, located on the Mercyhurst campus.
The Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Niagara University. The Purple Eagles are members of Atlantic Hockey America. They play at the Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, New York.
The Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Robert Morris University. The team plays its home games at the Clearview Arena, located at the RMU Island Sports Center in Neville Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The Colonials are members of Atlantic Hockey America, formed shortly after the 2023–24 season by the merger of RMU's former men's league of the Atlantic Hockey Association and the women-only College Hockey America (CHA), in which RMU had been a member. The Colonials men had been members of CHA until its men's division disbanded at the end of the 2009–10 season.
Syracuse Orange women's ice hockey is a college ice hockey program that has represented Syracuse University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and Atlantic Hockey America (AHA). The Orange joined AHA at the conference's creation after the 2023–24 season, when College Hockey America (CHA), the Orange's home since the 2008–09 season, merged with the Atlantic Hockey Association. Syracuse plays its home games at Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion in Syracuse, New York.
Robert Morris Colonials women's ice hockey is a college ice hockey program representing Robert Morris University in NCAA Division I as a member of the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference.
The Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association hockey team that represents Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania under Head Coach Rick Gotkin. The team is currently a Division I hockey team playing out of the Mercyhurst Ice Center located on the school campus. The Mercyhurst Lakers started out as a club sport at the school, moving up to Division III, followed by Division II, and now plays in Division I in Atlantic Hockey America, formed shortly after the 2023–24 season by the merger of the Lakers' former home, the Atlantic Hockey Association, with College Hockey America. After joining their step up into Division I in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1998, the Lakers have won their conference tournament making NCAA tournament appearances in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
Penn State Nittany Lions women's ice hockey is a college ice hockey program that has represented Penn State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I since the 2012–13 season. The Nittany Lions were members of College Hockey America (CHA) from their first season through the 2023–24 season, after which CHA merged with the Atlantic Hockey Association to form Atlantic Hockey America.
The RIT Tigers women's ice hockey team is one of two college ice hockey teams representing Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference of NCAA Division I. The team plays in suburban Rochester, New York at the Gene Polisseni Center. RIT alumna and former Tigers captain Celeste Brown has served as the Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach since July 2020.
The AHA tournament is the conference tournament for the Atlantic Hockey Association. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.
The following is a list of women's college ice hockey programs (teams) that participate in Division I ice hockey of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and compete for berths in the annual National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship. Programs (teams) are sorted by the conferences in which they play.
The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey program represented Mercyhurst University during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. Their conference mark was 15-3-2, earning them the College Hockey America regular season title. In the postseason, the Lakers were defeated 2-1 in overtime by the RIT Tigers during the CHA championship tournament. The Lakers would qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In the quarterfinals, the Lakers defeated Cornell by a 3–2 mark in Ithaca, New York. Advancing to the Frozen Four in Hamden, Connecticut, the Lakers were bested by the eventual national champion Golden Knights.
The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 6, 2023, and concluded with the NCAA championship on April 13, 2024. This was the 76th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship is being held, and is US college hockey's 130th year overall.