Established in 1991, the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association is a

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

-only college athletic conference whose members are East Coast schools. The ECHA is part of the

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegi ...

Division 1.

League Format

ECHA members play each conference opponent twice, once at home and once away. In addition teams play non-league games against other ACHA member schools. At the conclusion of the regular season in February the league holds a championship tournament. At the conclusion of the ECHA championship tournament, the ECHA regular season champions receive an automatic bid to the ACHA Men's Division I National Tournament.

League History

The ECHA is currently composed of nine member institutions: George Mason, Villanova, Temple, William Paterson, The United States Naval Academy, Towson, Lehigh, West Chester, and New York. The 2012/2013, 2013/2014, and 2015/2016 regular season titles were won by Navy; they also won the postseason tournament in 2013. Previous members include Lebanon Valley College who ended ECHA competition with the 2012 season. In the 2014/2015 season the University of Scranton folded their hockey program bringing the current number of members to 6. Also in 2014/2015 Drexel won its fifth ECHA tournament championship 10–3 against Towson, while Villanova won the regular season title. Drexel goalie Zach Kanter was named ECHA tournament MVP in 2015. In effort to maintain the conferences automatic bid to the National Championship Tournament, the ECHA welcomed Temple University beginning in 2015/2016. That same year the Naval Academy took home the regular season championship. The ECHA tournament champion is awarded the A.J. Ruth Memorial Cup. . For the 2024-25 season, the ECHA announced that it would be adding

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

and would expand conference play to 16 games.

ECHA Championship History

Member Institutions

Conference arenas

Former members

References

External links

Official ECHA Site
ACHA Division 1 conferences Ice hockey in Maryland 1991 establishments in the United States {{Maryland-sport-stub