 | |
| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 |
| Commissioner | Katie Boldvich |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division III |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Headquarters | Marshfield, Massachusetts |
| Region | New York and New England |
| Official website | http://www.nehockeyconference.com/ |
| Locations | |
 | |
New England Hockey Conference (formerly the ECAC East) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference. [1]
The New England Hockey Conference began as ECAC East in 1984 when ECAC 2 was split in two and both new conferences dropped down to Division III. The conference was fairly stable for the first decade but began to grow in the mid 1990s. In 1998 four teams left to become Division I programs in the new MAAC conference. A year later, nine more teams split off to join their primary athletic conference, NESCAC, followed by the women's programs in 2001. Membership numbers held steady over the succeeding 15 years, though several teams came and went. In 2015 the conference rebranded itself as the New England Hockey Conference, but no internal changes occurred. Two years later 6 women's and 2 men's programs left to join a variety of conferences, dropping league membership to 11 schools, the lowest number in conference history.
In 2022, Johnson & Wales University announced that they would join Commonwealth Coast Conference as a full-member starting in 2024-25 and sponsor both men's ice hockey and women's ice hockey. [2] In the summer of 2023, Keene State announced that they would begin sponsoring men's and women's ice hockey starting with the 2024–25 season. [3] This gave the Little East Conference six member schools that supported men's ice hockey, the minimum number required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Shortly afterwards, the Little East announced that they would begin sponsoring men's ice hockey as a sport and begin play in the 2025-26 season. [4] In early 2024, New England College was accepted by the Little East as an affiliate ice hockey member, enabling the conference to also support women's hockey. [5] Less than a month later, two more NEHC teams announced that they would be joining the Little East as affiliate members and both Babson and Norwich would be leaving in 2025. [6] The bleeding continued when, in April and May, Hobart, Skidmore and William Smith announced their move to the SUNYAC, [7] while Albertus Magus (who had yet to play a game in the NEHC) and Elmira both announced that they would be leaving to join the UCHC, all in 2025. [8] Salem State also announced that they will leave in 2025 to join their primary conference (MASCAC) and will also start to sponsor women's ice hockey the same year. [9] With just one school remaining for the start of the 2025–26 season, the future of the NEHC is in doubt.
From the time it formally split from ECAC 2 until 1992 all games played between members of ECAC East and ECAC West counted for conference standings. In 1992, after the ECAC West split into two conferences, ECAC East only counted games within their conference for the standings, but because a formal schedule was not yet in place all games between members were still counted. For the 1993–94 season ECAC East had its first official conference schedule with all 18 teams playing each other once. Teams could schedule additional inter-conference games but only one would count in the standings. In 1999, when 9 teams left to form the ice hockey division of the NESCAC, the two conferences continued to count games between one another in their respective standings. This arrangement continued even after the addition of more programs.
There are 12 member schools; the men's division has ten members, while the women's division has nine members. (as of November 2018)
Note: schools in red are planning to leave after the 2024-25 season
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joining | Enrollment | Nickname | Primary Conference | Former Ice Hockey Conference | Colors | (M) | (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albertus Magnus College | New Haven, Connecticut | 1925 | 2024-25 [10] | 1,961 | Falcons | Great Northeast Athletic Conference | Independent |  | | |
| Salve Regina University | Newport, Rhode Island | 1934 | 2024-25 [11] | 2,600 | Seahawks | New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference | Commonwealth Coast Conference | | |
† (as of November 2018)
Men Women Both
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Little East Conference (LEC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. The member institutions are located in all six states of New England.
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Full member institutions are all located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with some affiliate members also located in Connecticut and New Hampshire.
The ECAC Northeast was an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference. For many years it was one of the three men's hockey conferences that operated under the umbrella of the Eastern College Athletic Conference; the others were the ECAC East, and the ECAC West. Member institutions were located in the New England region of the United States, in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
ECAC West was a college athletic conference which operated in the northeastern United States until 2017. It participated in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference. The conference ceased to exist after the end of the 2016–17 season when most joined the newly formed United Collegiate Hockey Conference or Northeast Women's Hockey League.
The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, consisting of schools in the State University of New York system. It was chartered in 1958 as the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
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The Bridgewater State Bears are composed of 22 varsity teams representing Bridgewater State University in intercollegiate athletics. All teams compete at the NCAA Division III level and all teams compete in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), except for field hockey, tennis and swimming & diving which plays in the Little East Conference (LEC).
The Framingham State Rams are composed of 14 varsity teams representing Framingham State University in intercollegiate athletics. All teams compete at the NCAA Division III level and all teams compete in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC).
The United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) is a college athletic conference which operates in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania in the eastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division III as a hockey-only conference.
The ECAC 2 Tournament was a college ice hockey conference tournament played from 1967 until 1984. For several years it was the only championship held for lower-tier college programs under the oversight of the NCAA and served as the de facto NCAA national championship until 1978.
The Northeast Women's Hockey League was an NCAA Division III women's ice hockey conference. The conference was formed in 2017 when the ECAC West collapsed and the women's ice hockey programs of the five schools whose primary conference was the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) banded together to form the NEWHL. While SUNYAC supports men's ice hockey, only five of the ten member schools sponsor women's ice hockey. The conference announced that it would cease operations and would be absorbed by SUNYAC starting in 2023-24 season.
The 1992–93 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey season began in October 1992 and concluded on March 27 of the following year. This was the 20th season of Division III college ice hockey.
The 1999–2000 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey season began on October 22, 1999 and concluded on March 18 of the following year. This was the 27th season of Division III college ice hockey.
The 2009–10 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey season began on October 23, 2009, and concluded on March 20, 2010. This was the 37th season of Division III college ice hockey.
