Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association

	Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association ; (ECHA)
	Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association logo
Established	1991
ACHA	Division I
Members	7
Sports fielded	Ice hockey (men's: yes; women's: no)
Region	Mid Atlantic/East Coast
Headquarters	Parkton, Maryland
Commissioner	Gregg Marinari
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 seven member institutions: Drexel, Villanova, Temple, Penn State Berks, The United States Naval Academy, Towson, and Lehigh. 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.

For the 2024-25 season, the ECHA announced that it would be adding NYU and would expand conference play to 16 games.^[1]

ECHA Championship History[]

2025-26

Year	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95	Delaware	Towson
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99		Towson
1999-00		Towson
2000-01	Drexel
2001-02	Rhode Island
2002-03	Towson
2003-04
2004-05	Drexel
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
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	Season canceled-COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22	Navy	Navy
2022-23	Navy	West Chester
2023-24	West Chester	Lehigh
2024-25	West Chester	West Chester

Member Institutions[]

School	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Primary conference
Drexel University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1891	Private/Non-sectarian	22,100	Dragons	Coastal Athletic Association (D-I)
George Mason University	Fairfax, Virginia	1949	Public	26,515	Patriots	Atlantic Ten Conference (D-I)
Lehigh University	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	1865	Private/Non-sectarian	6,956	Mountain Hawks	Patriot League (D-I)
New York University	New York City	1832	Private	59,144	Violets	University Athletic Association (D-III)
Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1884	Public	37,788	Owls	American Athletic Conference (D-I)
Towson University	Towson, Maryland	1866	Public	19,758	Tigers	Coastal Athletic Association (D-I)
United States Naval Academy	Annapolis, Maryland	1845	Public/Federal	4,000	Midshipmen	Patriot League (D-I)
University of Rhode Island	Kingston, Rhode Island	1892	Public	17,800	Rams	Atlantic 10 Conference (D-I)
Villanova University	Villanova, Pennsylvania	1842	Private/Catholic	9,535	Wildcats	Big East Conference (D-I)
West Chester University	West Chester, Pennsylvania	1871	Public	14,712	Golden Rams	Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (D-II)
William Paterson University	Wayne, New Jersey	1855	Public	5,298	Pioneers	New Jersey Athletic Conference (D-III)

Conference arenas[]

School	Hockey Arena	Location	Capacity
Drexel	Class of 1923 Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2,500
George Mason	Prince William Ice Center	Dale City, Virginia	N/A
Lehigh	Steel Ice Center	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	1,000
United States Naval Academy	McMullen Hockey Arena	Annapolis, Maryland	1,000 (expandable to 3,000)
William Paterson	Ice Vault Arena	Wayne, New Jersey	600
Rhode Island	Bradford R. Boss Arena	Kingston, Rhode Island	2500
Towson	Ice World	Abingdon, Maryland	1,000
Villanova	Hatfield Ice	Hatfield, Pennsylvania	N/A
Temple	Northeast Skate Zone	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	N/A
West Chester	Ice Line	West Chester, Pennsylvania	500
NYU	Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers	New York City	N/A

Former members[]

School	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Last year competed in ECHA	Current Conference
Penn State Berks	Spring Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania	1958	Public	2,800	Nittany Lions	2020	CSCHC (ACHA D2)
University of Scranton	Scranton, Pennsylvania	1888	Private	6,034	Royals	2013	CSCHC (ACHA D2)
Lebanon Valley College	Annville, Pennsylvania	1866	Private	1,600	Flying Dutchmen	2012	ESCHL
Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey	1766	Public	65,000	Scarlet Knights	2007	NECHL
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	1867	Public	29,466	Mountaineers	2006	CHMA
Duquesne University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1878	Public	10,364	Dukes	2006	CHMA

External links[]

Official ECHA Site