Holy Cross Crusaders

The Holy Cross Crusaders are a Men's Division I team in Atlantic Hockey and a Women's Division I team who play a Division III schedule in the ECAC East.

Men's program
The Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents College of the Holy Cross. The Crusaders are a member of the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA). They play at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Men's Program History
Holy Cross men's ice hockey began in 1966. The team played as an independent NCAA Division I team from its inception in 1966 through 1998. The Crusaders joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for ice hockey beginning in the 1998-99 season. That same season the team won the MAAC Tournament Championship. In 2003 ice hockey was split from the MAAC and became the Atlantic Hockey Association, a hockey-only conference. In its history, the Holy Cross ice hockey program has seen two NCAA appearances, and has won the Atlantic Hockey and MAAC three times (1999, 2004, 2006).

In 2004 after beating Sacred Heart 4–0 to win the Atlantic Hockey Championship, the team received a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the program's history. The Crusaders lost in the NCAA West Regional Semifinal to North Dakota 0–3.

Men's Program Year by Year
On March 24, 2006, the Holy Cross men's hockey team made history by defeating the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA Division I Tournament by the score of 4–3, in overtime. Coined as one of the biggest upsets in NCAA ice hockey history. The upset was the first time a fifteen or sixteen seed beat a number one or two seed, since the field was expanded to sixteen teams.

Women's Program
As a result of the New England Hockey Conference planning on being strictly a Division III conference starting with the 2017-18 season Holy Cross announced in late October 2016 that it would elevate its women's program to full Division I status for the 2017-18 season. The school has been rumored to be eventually moving its men's program to Hockey East as a replacement for the departing Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey program  which is leaving the conference for the Big Ten Conference for the 2017-18 season. The move of the men's program would appparently force the school to elevate the women's program to Division I, the men's program would also be forced into a larger arena as Hockey East requires a minimum capacity of 4,000. The only facility that big in the area would be the DCU Center, which the school has used for several games in 2016 against defending national champion Providence College and in-state rival Boston College  The school stated that is was hoping to announce a conference affiliation for its women's program in December or January. The three options for affiliation are College Hockey America, ECAC and Hockey East. In mid-January of 2017 the team was announced as forming a six team alliance with the Sacred Heart Pioneers, Franklin Pierce Ravens, Post University Eagles, St. Anselm Hawks, and St. Michael's Purple Knights. The teams will play 20 games among themselves and hold a tournament at the end of the season to determine a champion.