| Conference of New England | |
 | |
| Founded: | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Number of teams: | 8 |
| Defending champions (men): | Endicott Gulls |
| Defending champions (women): | Suffolk Rams |
| Website: | Conference website |
The Conference of New England or "CNE" fomerly the Commonwealth Coast Conference or "CCC" is a NCAA Division III men's ice hockey league that began play with the 2016-17 season. The CNE was first established in 1984 as an all-sport NCAA Division III conference. The CNE is an all-sport conference which already is the all-sport home to Curry, Endicott, Nichols, Salve Regina, University of New England, Wentworth, and Western New England. With the University of New England establishing its program there is now seven teams playing D-III men's hockey and that would qualify the new conference for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The other three schools are "staying" with the conference under its' "new name". The CCC was first established in 1984 as an all-sport NCAA Division III conference. the league would announce its' renaming on August 1, 2024 as part of its' 40th anniversary celebration as an all-sports NCAA Divison III conference.[1]
Addition of Women's Hockey[]
On October 4, 2019 the Commonwealth Coast Conference, which is an all-sports NCAA Division III 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 announce 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.[2]
Logo as Commonwealth Coast Conference
Men's League[]
Seven of the conference's current members already sponsored men's ice hockey. (Previous conference affiliation for men's ice hockey)
- Curry Colonels (ECAC Northeast)
- Endicott Gulls (ECAC Northeast)
- Nichols Bison (ECAC Northeast)
- Salve Regina Seahawks (ECAC Northeast)
- University of New England Nor'Easters (ECAC East)
- Wentworth Leopards (ECAC Northeast)
- Western New England Golden Bears (ECAC Northeast)
Three institutions would also join the conference as associate members for men's ice hockey:
- Becker Hawks (ECAC Northeast)
- Johnson and Wales Wildcats (ECAC Northeast)
- Suffolk Rams (ECAC Northeast)
The following conference member schools do not sponsor men's or women's varsity ice hockey:
- Gordon College Fighting Scots (has a club hockey program, had varsity team 1974-1981)
- Roger Williams University Hawks (has a club hockey program, had varsity team 1984-1998)
Around the same time as the CCC announced its' formation the ECAC East conference (men's and women's) announced it would secede from the ECAC and form their own conference which will be known as the New England Hockey Conference. Due to membership remaining consistent during the process both conferences retained automatic NCAA tournament qualifier spots. Traditionally, new conferences are subject for up to a two-year waiting period for automatic qualification and would have to compete for Pool B bids in the interim.
On January 26, 2017; it was announced that the Johnson and Wales Wildcats and Suffolk Rams would be leaving the conference to join the New England Hockey Conference for the 2018-19 season.
Suffolk would return to the men's league for 2020-21 along with a new women's program when the women's conference started play wit the 2020-21 season Eastern Nazarene College Lions (Crusaders until 2009) (announced the addition of ice hockey in 1964, but no history found on team). The team would leave the conference for the New England Collegiate Conference in 2018.
On March 28, 2021, the Becker College Board of Trustees announced the decision to permanently close the college effective the end of the 2020-21 academic year.[3]
Membership[]
Men's[]
The conference begins sponsoring women's ice hockey with the 2020-21 season. All of the teams with the exception of Wentworth sponsor women's ice hockey by the start of the 2021-22 season.
Year by Year[]
Tiebreaker for Seeding and/or Qualification[]
In the event of a tie in total points in the regular-season standings, the following procedure shall be applied in the designated order to break all ties for seeding or to determine the final team(s) that will qualify for the conference championship:
- Head to head competition between all tied teams;
- Head to head competition against other conference teams. The tied teams will be compared to the first place, second place, third place, etc. until one team holds an advantage over the other tied teams;
- Winning percentage versus common non-conference opponents;
- Highest strength of schedule (SOS) in the latest available NCAA regional rankings;
- Coin toss. In a three-way tie requiring the use of a coin flip, three coins will be flipped simultaneously, with the “odd toss” winning the tiebreaker and the remaining teams starting over from step one (head-to-head comparison).
Note: Ties will be resolved from the top of the standings down for the purposes of resolving ties further down the standings. Should multiple ties exist at two different positions in the standings and each tie depends on the other to be broken (a circular deadlock), the tied teams higher in the standings shall proceed down the above criteria. In the event that three or more teams are tied, when one or more teams can be eliminated by either “winning” (at the top) or “losing” (at the bottom) a specific step in the tiebreaker, the remaining tied teams will be treated as a “new” tie and the procedure will start over from step one.
Women's League members[]
| Team | Location | Arena | Tenure |
| Curry Colonels | Milton, Massachusetts | Canton Ice House | 2021-present |
| Endicott Gulls | Beverly, Massachusetts | Raymond J Bourque Arena | 2020-present |
| Nichols Bison | Dudley, Massachusetts | Levy Rink | 2020-present |
| Salve Regina Seahawks | Newport, Rhode Island | St. George's School Ice Rink | 2020-present |
| Suffolk Rams | Boston, Massachusetts | Porrazzo Memorial Rink | 2020-present |
| University of New England Nor'Easters | Biddeford, Maine | Harold Alfond Forum | 2020-present |
| Western New England Golden Bears | Springfield, Massachusetts | Olympia Ice Center | 2020-present |
Women's Season by Season[]
| Season | Regular Season Champions | Conference Tournament Champions | NCAA Tournament Teams |
| 2020-21 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
| 2021-22 | Endicott Gulls | Endicott Gulls | Endicott Gulls |
| 2022-23 | Suffolk Rams | Suffolk Rams | Suffolk Rams |