On March 12, 2020 the NCAA released the following statement:
"Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities."[1]
NCAA Division I[]
Membership Changes[]
In early June 2018 Long Island University Brooklyn announced they would be adding a Division I women's ice hockey program starting with the 2019-20 season. The whole athletic program for the campus would be combined with the program of the LIU Post (which had previously announced its' intent to start a Division II program for either 2019-20 or 2020-21) and the combined program would be renamed the LIU Sharks and become a member of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance.
On July 9, 2019 the University of Pennsylvania men's and women's hockey teams presently playing in ACHA Division II would be working on an endowment that would first elevate the programs to ACHA Division I status with a goal of establishing NCAA Division I varsity programs within ten years for both men and women.[3]
On April 30,2020 Long Island University announced the start of a men's Men's Division I program to begin with the 2020-21 season. It is unknown as of the time of the announcement if the team will play as an independent for the 2020-21 season or if they are attempting to join a conference. [6]
On May 22, 2020 the University of Alabama, Huntsville announced that they were discontinuing the men's ice hockey program effective immediately citing financial constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chargers became the first men's Division I program to be ended since Wayne State University ended their program in 2008.[7] The program would be saved less than a week later when supporters were able to raise over $750,000. A committee would be formed in an effort to provide for the long term survival of the program.
In late 2017 Long Island University Post put up a job listing advertising an NCAA Division II Women's ice hockey head coaching position. The team would be combined with the LIU Blackbirds to form the LIU Sharks which was part of a larger restructuring of the athletic programs at the two schools which combined the two programs as a Division I program.
The Post University Eagles became an associate member of the Northeast-10 after playing as a scheduling partner for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
Presently all of the Division II women's ice hockey playing universities are members of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance. The NCAA's top level women's ice hockey championship is open to universities at both the Division I and Division II levels.
NCAA Division III[]
Conference Changes[]
On April 4, 2018 a men's team representing Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut was announced as hoping to start play in 2019-20. The team will be called the Albertus Falcons and play out of the Ralph Walker Skating Rink in New Haven. No conference affiliation was announced.
On October 4, 2019 the Commonwealth Coast Conference announced it would be starting to sponsor women's hockey. It will assume operations of the Colonial Hockey Conference. As part of the announcement it was announced that the Suffolk Rams would be joining the conference for 2020-21 and that Western New England Golden Bears would be starting a women's team for 2020-21. This will make six of the seven members of the CHC also being full members of the CCC with the Becker Hawks being an associate member of the conference for both men's and women's hockey. With having seven members the conference will retain its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[9]
