 | |
| Conference | ACHA |
|---|---|
| Commissioner | William Shannon |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division I |
| No. of teams | 7 |
| Headquarters | Erie, Pennsylvania |
| Region | East Coast |
| Official website | ECHL.com |
The Eastern Collegiate Hockey League was an ACHA Division I club hockey league that consisted of teams in the Northeast United States. The league consisted of 6 teams from schools in New York and Pennsylvania.
The ECHL's had seven member teams that played a 10-game regular season conference schedule. The season concluded with the post-season ECHL Tournament. An automatic bid to the ACHA National Championship Tournament was awarded to the winner of the regular season.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Team Nickname | Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo, New York | 1846 | Public | 28,192 | Bulls | Mid-American Conference (D-I) |
| Canisius College | Buffalo, New York | 1870 | Private/Catholic | 3,490 | Golden Griffins | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (D-I) |
| SUNY Canton | Canton, New York | 1906 | Public | 3,056 | 'Roos | Independent (USCAA) |
| Mercyhurst College | Erie, Pennsylvania | 1926 | Private/Catholic | 3,226 | Lakers | Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (D-II) |
| Niagara University | Lewiston, New York | 1856 | Private/Catholic | 3,746 | Purple Eagles | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (D-I) |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Henrietta, NY | 1829 | Private/Non-sectarian | 13,861 | Tigers | Empire 8 (D-III) |
| University of Rochester | Rochester, New York | 1850 | Private/Non-sectarian | 9,027 | Yellowjackets | University Athletic Association (D-III) |
Note: Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara, RIT, and Robert Morris all have NCAA Division I hockey teams competing in Atlantic Hockey.
| School | Hockey Arena | Location | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | Amherst Ice Center | Amherst, NY | 1,800 |
| Canisius | Dann Memorial Rink | Buffalo, NY | 1,000 |
| Canton | Convocation and Athletic Recreation Center | Canton, NY | TBD |
| Mercyhurst | Mercyhurst Ice Center | Erie, PA | 1,500 |
| Niagara | Dwyer Arena | Lewiston, New York | 1,400 |
| RIT | Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena | Henrietta, NY | 2,100 |
| Rochester | Genesee Valley Park Sports Complex | Rochester, NY | 1,200 |
Established in 1991, the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association is a hockey-only college athletic conference whose members are East Coast schools. The ECHA is part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1.
The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated non-varsity programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegiate ice hockey. The ACHA currently has three mens and two womens divisions and includes approximately 450 teams from across the United States. Teams offer few athletic scholarships and typically receive far less university funding. The ACHA offers an opportunity for college hockey programs that struggle with large budgets and Title IX issues, as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) financial structure.
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The Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) is a non-varsity (club) college ice hockey league in the Northeast region of the United States that competes with Divisions II & III of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Most NECHA member schools have varsity teams that are affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) or the Hockey East Association and most teams receive at least partial funding from their school's athletic departments and/or student government.
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The Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL) is an American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's Division 1 club level hockey-only college athletic conference for women's hockey teams. It is one of four ACHA Women's Division 1 conferences, along with the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association, the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League, and Women's Midwest College Hockey. Primarily, the league has been concentrated in New England and Upstate and Western New York, with eleven of its thirteen members over fourteen seasons based in those areas.
The Davenport Panthers are the athletic teams that represent Davenport University, located in Caledonia Township, Michigan, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for most of its sports as a provisional member since the 2017–18 academic year. The Panthers previously competed in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2005–06 to 2016–17.
Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey, formerly known as the Penn State Icers, is a college ice hockey program that represents the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to the 2012–13 season the program was designated a club sport and competed at the ACHA Division I level. PSU was previously a member of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL, although the team competed as an independent ACHA D-I member for the 2011–12 season before moving to the NCAA D-I level. They play at the Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.
The Lindenwood Lions women's 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.
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The Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club represents Penn State University (PSU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA). Since the team's establishment in 2012, it has been very successful, including a pair of ACHA second-place finishes at the Division 2 level in 2012–13 and 2013–14 and an appearance at the ACHA Division 1 national championship tournament to close the 2014–15 season. PSU is one of just three teams to appear in consecutive ACHA Division 2 championship games, joining the University of Minnesota-Duluth (2007–08) and Rainy River Community College (2008–11).
The UMass Minutemen women's ice hockey team represents the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL). The Minutemen are one of the ACHA's premier programs, having qualified for 16 of the 20 ACHA National Tournaments held for women's teams, a number second to Michigan State for the all-time lead. Additionally, UMass has won four ECWHL playoff titles and has been the home of two Zoë M. Harris Award winners, one of five ACHA D1 programs to produce multiple recipients of the honor.