Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League
| Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL) |
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|---|---|
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| Established | 2003 |
| Association | ACHA |
| Division | Women's Division 1 |
| Members | 3 |
| Sports fielded | Ice Hockey |
| Region | Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island |
| Commissioner | Bill Wright |
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 three ACHA Women's Division 1 conferences, along with the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association and the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League. 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 University of Rhode Island has been the ECWHL's most successful program in conference play, winning nine playoff championships and eight regular season championships in thirteen years. URI and Massachusetts are the only two founding members that have remained in the ECWHL throughout its entire existence, and both have frequently qualified for the ACHA's National Tournament - 12 and 13 times, respectively, while in the ECWHL. However, former member Northeastern University owns the league's sole ACHA National Championship, as the Huskies defeated the University of Minnesota in the final to win in 2011–12.
Notably, four ECWHL members have left the league in order to transition to NCAA varsity status. These alumni programs include Boston University and Penn State in NCAA Division I and Norwich and Canton in NCAA Division III. Penn State re-entered the ECWHL in 2014 with a separate ACHA Division 1 program. Buffalo, Connecticut, Navy, Vermont and Northeastern all departed while dropping to the ACHA's Division 2, where each remains today. Bates presently competes in the non-ACHA Independent Women's Collegiate Hockey League. NCCC left for another non-ACHA conference, the Northeast Women's College Hockey Association, but has since ceased operations.
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