The ECAC Northeast was an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

as a

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

-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 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...

; the others were the

ECAC East 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. __TOC__ History The New England Ho ...

(now the

New England Hockey Conference 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. __TOC__ History The New England Ho ...

), and the

ECAC West 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 wh ...

(soon to be the

United Collegiate Hockey Conference 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 conferen ...

). Member institutions were located in the New England region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, in the states of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. Unlike the ECAC East and ECAC West, there was no women's division of the ECAC Northeast. Most ECAC Northeast schools did not sponsor women's ice hockey; the two that did (

Nichols Nichols may refer to: People *Nichols (surname) *Nichol, a surname Places Canada * Nichols Islands, Nunavut United States * Nichols, California, an unincorporated community * Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California * Nichols, Connecticut * Nic ...

Salve Regina The "Salve Regina" (, ; meaning 'Hail Queen'), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina ...

) played in the ECAC East. The ECAC Northeast dissolved in 2016 when

The Commonwealth Coast Conference The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Member institutions are located in New England in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, with a Connecticu ...

, a Division III all-sports conference and the primary conference of most ECAC Northeast members, decided to sponsor men's ice hockey as a varsity sport. Becker, Johnson and Wales, and Suffolk joined the CCC as associate members for ice hockey, while CCC member University of New England moved their men's team from the ECAC East to play in the CCC league.

History

The foundation of the ECAC Northeast was laid in 1971 when ECAC 2, the college division of the ECAC created a third conference called

ECAC 3 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 Col ...

. When the NCAA created

in 1973 ECAC 3 was placed at that level and remained there for the rest of its existence. In 1985, as a result of the NCAA beginning a Division III Tournament, ECAC 2 was reorganized into two separate conferences,

and

, with each becoming D-III leagues. To prevent confusion, ECAC 3 was renamed as ECAC North/South with all members split into North and South divisions (similar to how ECAC 2 had been divided into East and West divisions). This arrangement continued until 1992 when ECAC North/South was rearranged into three divisions (North, South and Central) and renamed ECAC North/South/Central. Over the course of the 1997–98 season the South Division lost 6 of its 8 teams, mostly to Division I, but rather than return to a two-division arrangement the league rebranded as ECAC Northeast. A year later the four member schools who were from Division II schools began playing in a separate tournament which allowed the other programs to play in an NCAA-sanctioned D-III conference tournament for the first time. As a result, ECAC Northeast got its first automatic bid to the tournament in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. In 2009 the nine schools whose primary conference was either MASCAC or

Northeast-10 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 o ...

left when those two leagues began sponsoring ice hockey. The remaining teams stayed on for another seven years but in 2016 the

Commonwealth Coast Conference The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Member institutions are located in New England in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, with a Connecticu ...

, the primary conference for seven of the nine member teams, began sponsoring ice hockey. All nine teams joined CCC as either full or associate members and the ECAC Northeast was dissolved.

ECAC Northeast Tournament

Upon its founding, ECAC 3 instituted a tournament. Originally only a single game the championship slowly expanded along with the league.

Members

There were nine member schools as of the conference's final season in 2015–16. † as of 2018 ''* Assumption, Franklin Pierce, Southern New Hampshire, and Stonehill are Division II schools; and were not allowed to participate in the ECAC Northeast playoffs after 1999, nor were they eligible for the Division III national tournament.''

Membership timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 AlignBars = late Colors = id:men value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.8) id:time value:rgb(0.2,0.9,0.2) id:line value:black id:bg value:white LineData = layer:back color:line at:06/15/1985 at:06/15/1992 at:06/15/1998 at:06/15/2016 PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:tim color:time from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/1985 text:ECAC 3 (1971-85) bar:tim color:time from:07/01/1985 till:06/01/1992 text:ECAC North/South (1985-92) bar:tim color:time from:07/01/1992 till:06/01/1998 text:ECAC North/South/Central (1992-98) bar:tim color:time from:07/01/1998 till:06/01/2016 text:ECAC Northeast (1998-2016) bar:Mit color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/1975 text:

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

(1971-75) bar:NAS color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/1975 text: North Adams State (1971-75) bar:Leh color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/1986 text: Lehigh (1971-86) bar:Wes color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/1995 text:

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

(1971-95) bar:Ass color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/2009 text:

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

(1971-2009) bar:WSU color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/2009 text: Worcester State (1971-2009) bar:Nic color:men from:06/01/1971 till:06/01/2016 text:

(1971-2016) bar:NSN color:men from:06/01/1972 till:06/01/1974 text: Nasson (1972-74) bar:USM color:men from:06/01/1972 till:06/01/1975 text: Maine at Portland–Gorham (1972-75) bar:USM color:men from:06/01/1985 till:06/01/1995 text:

Southern Maine Southern Maine Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Maine. It commonly includes the coastal areas of York County and Cumberland County. Some notable towns are Biddeford, Kittery, York, Wells, Ogunquit, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Saco, Old Or ...

(1985-95) bar:Fra color:men from:06/01/1972 till:06/01/1979 text: Framingham State (1972-79, 1982-2009) bar:Fra color:men from:06/01/1982 till:06/01/2009 text: bar:RIT color:men from:06/01/1972 till:06/01/1980 text:

RIT Rit is a brand of dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied i ...

(1972-80) bar:Amh color:men from:06/01/1972 till:06/01/1992 text:

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

(1972-92) bar:Bry color:men from:06/01/1973 till:06/01/1975 text: Bryant (1973-75) bar:Ply color:men from:06/01/1973 till:06/01/2009 text:

Plymouth State Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students and ...

(1973-2009) bar:WfS color:men from:06/01/1974 till:06/01/1978 text:

Westfield State Westfield State University (Westfield State) is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by Horace Mann as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender, or economic class. Ran ...

(1974-78, 2008–09) bar:WfS color:men from:06/01/2008 till:06/01/2009 text: bar:Gor color:men from:06/01/1974 till:06/01/1981 text:

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

(1974-81) bar:Tri color:men from:06/01/1974 till:06/01/1991 text:

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

(1974-91) bar:Fai color:men from:06/01/1974 till:06/01/1998 text: Fairfield (1974-98) bar:MaD color:men from:06/01/1974 till:05/01/1991 text:

Southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts consists of those portions of Massachusetts located along Buzzards Bay, including the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and their respective suburbs. Despite the location of Cape Cod and the islands to its south, ...

(1974-91) bar:MaD color:men from:07/01/1991 till:06/01/2009 text:

UMass Dartmouth The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth or UMassD) is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts Un ...

(1991-2009) bar:MMA color:men from:06/01/1975 till:06/01/1978 text: Massachusetts Maritime (1975-78) bar:Fit color:men from:06/01/1975 till:06/01/2009 text: Fitchburg State (1975-2009) bar:NYC color:men from:06/01/1976 till:06/01/1977 text:

CCNY The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, City ...

(1976-77) bar:Que color:men from:06/01/1976 till:06/01/1980 text:

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

(1976-80) bar:Ram color:men from:06/01/1976 till:06/01/1981 text: Ramapo (1976-81) bar:Qui color:men from:06/01/1976 till:06/01/1998 text:

Quinnipiac Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: ''Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wampano ...

(1976-98) bar:Ben color:men from:06/01/1977 till:06/01/1998 text:

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

(1977-98) bar:Ion color:men from:06/01/1977 till:06/01/1998 text:

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...

(1977-98) bar:SNH color:men from:06/01/1977 till:05/01/2001 text: New Hampshire College (1977-2001) bar:SNH color:men from:07/01/2001 till:06/01/2009 text:

Southern New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north ...

(2001-09) bar:Cla color:men from:06/01/1978 till:06/01/1981 text:

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

(1978-81) bar:Hob color:men from:06/01/1978 till:06/01/1983 text:

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

(1978-83) bar:Sto color:men from:06/01/1978 till:06/01/2009 text: Stonehill (1978-2009) bar:Ups color:men from:06/01/1979 till:06/01/1988 text: Upsala (1979-88) bar:Can color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/1982 text:

Canisius Canisius may refer to: People * Saint Peter Canisius (1521–1597), Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest * Theodorich Canisius (1532–1606), Jesuit academic, half-brother of St. Peter Canisius * Henricus Canisius (1562–1610), Dutch canonist and historia ...

(1980-82) bar:UMB color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/1982 text:

UMass Boston The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

(1980-82) bar:CtC color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/1991 text:

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

(1980-91) bar:SJU color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/1992 text: St. John's (1980-92) bar:Suf color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/2016 text:

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

(1980-2016) bar:WNE color:men from:06/01/1980 till:06/01/2016 text: Western New England (1980-2016) bar:SMC color:men from:06/01/1982 till:06/01/2001 text: Saint Michael's (1982-2001) bar:KSC color:men from:06/01/1983 till:06/01/1986 text:

Keene State Keene State College is a public liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is part of the University System of New Hampshire and the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college (originally, Keene Norm ...

(1983-86) bar:RWU color:men from:06/01/1983 till:06/01/1998 text:

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

(1983-98) bar:Ski color:men from:06/01/1983 till:06/01/1998 text:

Skidmore Skidmore may refer to: Places United States * Skidmore, Kansas * Skidmore, Maryland * Skidmore, Michigan * Skidmore, Missouri * Skidmore, Texas * Skidmore, West Virginia * Skidmore Fountain, a public fountain in Portland, Oregon Other uses * Sk ...

(1983-98) bar:Vil color:men from:06/01/1983 till:06/01/1998 text: Villanova (1983-98) bar:Cur color:men from:06/01/1983 till:06/01/2016 text:

Curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

(1983-2016) bar:Haw color:men from:06/01/1984 till:06/01/1988 text:

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

(1984-88) bar:Scr color:men from:06/01/1985 till:06/01/1991 text:

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

(1985-91) bar:Tuf color:men from:06/01/1986 till:06/01/2001 text:

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

(1986-2001) bar:WIT color:men from:06/01/1992 till:06/01/2016 text:

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

(1992-2016) bar:SHU color:men from:06/01/1993 till:06/01/1998 text:

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

(1993-1998) bar:JWU color:men from:06/01/1997 till:06/01/2016 text:

Johnson & Wales Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

(1997-2016) bar:SRU color:men from:06/01/1997 till:06/01/2016 text:

(1997-2016) bar:LVC color:men from:06/01/1998 till:06/01/2004 text:

Lebanon Valley The Lebanon Valley is a geographic region that lies between South Mountain and the Ridge and Valley Province of eastern Pennsylvania. The valley lies almost entirely within Lebanon and Berks counties in Pennsylvania. Portions of the valley lie ...

(1998-2004) bar:FPU color:men from:06/01/2002 till:06/01/2009 text:

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

(2002-09) bar:Bec color:men from:06/01/2006 till:06/01/2016 text:

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany it can also derive from the ...

(2006-16) bar:End color:men from:06/01/2015 till:06/01/2016 text: Endicott (2015-16) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1975

References

{{NCAA Division III hockey conferences NCAA Division III ice hockey conferences