The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) is an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other college athletic conferences, Atlantic Hockey has no women's division, though it shares some organizational and administrative roles with the women's-only College Hockey America.
NCAA men's ice hockey championship refers to either of the two tournaments in men's ice hockey – one in Division I and one in Division III – contested by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) since 1971. The NCAA Division II Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, contested from 1978 to 1984 and from 1993 to 1999, was discontinued due to a lack of Division II conferences sponsoring ice hockey.
The annual NCAA women's ice hockey tournament—officially known as the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship—is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the top women's team in the NCAA. The 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. It is the only Division II collegiate ice hockey conference in the United States.
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 ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
The American Women's College Hockey Alliance debuted in 1997-98. It was a program funded through the United States Olympic Committee/NCAA Conference Grant Program. The AWCHA organized and developed activities with collegiate women's varsity ice hockey teams, and helped to promote women's ice hockey at all NCAA levels. The first AWCHA Division I National Ice Hockey Championship was held in March 1998. The New Hampshire Wildcats defeated the Brown Bears by a 4-1 score, to become the first recognized national champion in women's college ice hockey. There were two more AWCHA National Championships and then the NCAA became involved. In August 2000, the NCAA announced it would hold its first Division I Women's Ice Hockey National Championship. The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs captured the first NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Championship, defeating the St. Lawrence Skating Saints by a 4-2 tally on March 25, 2001.
The RIT Tigers are composed of 22 teams representing Rochester Institute of Technology in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, crew, cross country, cheerleading, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track and field. Men's sports include baseball and wrestling. Women's sports include softball, and volleyball. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division III and are members of the Liberty League for all sports except ice hockey, which competes in NCAA Division I. The men's ice hockey team is a member of Atlantic Hockey, while the women's ice hockey team is a member of College Hockey America.
The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 8, 2009 and concluded with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament's championship game on April 10, 2010 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Denver and Miami entered the season as the nations' two top ranked teams. This was the 63rd season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 116th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
NCAA Division I independent schools are teams that compete in NCAA ice hockey but are not members of a conference. There are several current schools who, at one time or another, competed as Division I independents.
The Union Garnet Chargers ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college ice hockey program that represents Union College. The Garnet Chargers are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the Frank L. Messa Rink at Achilles Center in Schenectady, New York. The Garnet Chargers won the 2014 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament by defeating the Minnesota Golden Gophers 7–4.
The 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 2, 2010 and concluded with the 2011 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament's championship game on April 9, 2011 at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. This was the 64th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 117th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
The 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 1, 2011 and concluded with the 2012 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament's championship game on April 7, 2012 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. This was the 65th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 118th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
The 2013 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament involved eight schools in single-elimination play that determined the national champion of women's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. Regional quarterfinals were contested on March 15 and 16, 2013. The Frozen Four was played on March 22 and 24, 2013 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, with the University of Minnesota as the host school.
The following is a list of NCAA women's collegiate ice hockey teams, and conferences they compete in, that compete for berths in the annual NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament. The championship has existed since the 2000–2001 season and conferences include the university teams of Divisions I and II of the NCAA.
The NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament is an annual tournament to determine the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division III. The Division III championship was contested from 1984 through 2019, but then suspended due to COVID-19. The tournament resumed in the spring of 2022. The most successful team has been the Middlebury Panthers with eight titles.
The Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey team represents Lindenwood University located in St. Charles, Missouri. The Lady Lions currently participate in the NCAA Division I competition as a member of College Hockey America (CHA). The team played with no conference affiliation as an Independent program for its first season of NCAA competition. During the 2011–12 season, Lindenwood was accepted into College Hockey America (CHA) beginning in the 2012–2013 season. Prior to 2011 the university was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), because the organization does not sponsor women's ice hockey, the program competed in the American Collegiate Hockey Association at the ACHA DI level.
The New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) is a women's college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. As of the next NCAA hockey season in 2023–24, the conference is made up of eight teams, with two each in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and one each in New York and Vermont.
The 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 1, 2022, and concluded with the NCAA championship on April 8, 2023. This was the 75th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held, and was US college hockey's 129th year overall.
