Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association

Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
Conference	ACHA
Founded	1991
Commissioner	Gregg Marinari
Sports fielded	Ice hockey men's: yes; women's: no; ;
Division	Division I
No. of teams	8
Headquarters	Parkton, Maryland, U.S.
Region	Mid Atlantic/East Coast
Official website	ECHA.com

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.

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 eight member institutions: George Mason, Villanova, Temple, William Paterson, The United States Naval Academy, Towson, Lehigh, and West Chester. 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. .

ECHA Championship History

Year	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1994-1995	Delaware	Towson (State)
1995-1996		Towson (State)
1999-2000		Towson
2000-2001	Drexel
2001-2002	Rhode Island
2002-2003	Towson
2004-2005	Drexel
2011-12	Drexel	Drexel
2012-13	Navy	Towson
2013-14	Navy	Navy
2014-15	Villanova	Drexel
2015-16	Navy	Navy
2016-17	Drexel	Drexel
2017-18	Drexel	Drexel
2018-19	Drexel	West Chester
2019-20	Drexel	Drexel
2020-21	DID NOT PLAY	DID NOT PLAY
2021-22	Navy	Navy
2022-23	Navy	West Chester
2023-24	West Chester	Lehigh

Member Institutions

School	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Primary conference
Lehigh University	Bethlehem, PA	1865	Private/Non-sectarian	6,956	Mountain Hawks	Patriot League (D-I)
George Mason University	Fairfax, VA	1949	Public	26,515	Patriots	Atlantic Ten Conference (D-I)
Towson University	Towson, MD	1866	Public	19,758	Tigers	Coastal Athletic Association (D-I)
Villanova University	Villanova, PA	1842	Private/Catholic	9,535	Wildcats	Big East Conference (D-I)
United States Naval Academy	Annapolis, MD	1845	Public/Federal	4,000	Midshipmen	Patriot League (D-I)
Temple University	Philadelphia, PA	1884	Public	37,788	Owls	American Athletic Conference (D-I)
William Paterson University	Wayne, NJ	1855	Public	5,298	Pioneers	New Jersey Athletic Conference (D-III)
West Chester University	West Chester, PA	1871	Public	14,712	Golden Rams	Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (D-II)

Conference arenas

School	Hockey Arena	Location	Capacity
Lehigh	Steel Ice Center	Bethlehem, PA	1,000
Navy	McMullen Hockey Arena	Annapolis, MD	1,000 (expandable to 3,000)
William Paterson	Ice Vault Arena	Wayne, NJ	600
Towson	Ice World	Abingdon, MD	1,000
Villanova	Hatfield Ice World	Hatfield, PA	N/A
Temple	Igloo Ice Rink	Mount Laurel, NJ	N/A
George Mason	Prince William Ice Center	Dale City, VA	N/A
West Chester	Ice Line	West Chester, PA	500

Former members

School	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Last year competed in ECHA	Current Conference
Penn State Berks	Spring Township, PA	1958	Public	2,800	Nittany Lions	2020	CSCHC (ACHA D2)
Drexel University	Philadelphia, PA	1891	Private/Non-sectarian	17,000	Dragons	2020	ESCHL
University of Scranton	Scranton, PA	1888	Private	6,034	Royals	2013	CSCHC (ACHA D2)
Lebanon Valley College	Annville, PA	1866	Private	1,600	Flying Dutchmen	2012	ESCHL
University of Rhode Island	Kingston, RI	1892	Public	15,800	Rams	2007	ESCHL
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, NJ	1766	Public	65,000	Scarlet Knights	2007	NECHL
West Virginia University	Morgantown, WV	1867	Public	29,466	Mountaineers	2006	CHMA
Duquesne University	Pittsburgh, PA	1878	Public	10,364	Dukes	2006	CHMA

External links

Official ECHA Site