The Middle Atlantic Conference is an NCAA Division III all sports league that will sponsor men's and women's ice hockey starting with the 2017-18 academic year.
The conference is actually three separate conferences that are united under one organizational structure. The three conferences are the Middle Atlantic Conference, MAC Commonwealth, and MAC Freedom. The conference has 17 all-sport members.
The formation of the Hockey Conferences were announced on October 13, 2016. All five teams were previously announced as being members of the then ten team United Collegiate Hockey Conference which was announced on October 4, 2016. The conference will actually use the UCHC conference games for to determine a MAC champion as opposed to being the exclusive conference for the teams in a similar way to the Ivy League using the ECAC standings to determine their hockey champion.
Initial teams
The inaugural members members are King's College Kings, Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen, Manhattanville Valiants, Stevenson Mustangs, and Wilkes University Colonels.
King's and Wilkes are both new programs (in men's and women's) that were announced in 2016 to begin play for the 2017-18 season.
Lebanon Valley men's program is returning to D-III after playing in the ACHA (club level) from 2010 to 2016 after playing at the D-III level from 1999 to 2010. The women's program is new for the 2017-18 season.
Manhattanville has had men's since the 1999-2000 season and women's ice hockey since the NCAA started sponsoring women's ice hockey in 2001-02.
Stevenson has had women's hockey since 2012-13 and the men's program started with the 2016-17 season.
Wilkes University announced on November 9, 2016 that they were delaying the start of play for the men's hockey team until 2018-19 due to the head coach they had hired (Michael Young) deciding to remain as the head coach Westfield State Owls. the school felt it would be in the best interest to delay the start to have time to hire a new head coach and give them a full recruiting cycle to develop a roster for the 2018-19 season.
On August 3, 2017 the Wilkes University Colonels announced they were delaying the start of the women's team until the 2018-19 season due to lower than anticipated roster size.
Expansion
On March 2, 2018 Alvernia University based in Reading, Pennsylvania announced the formation of a women's hockey program to begin play with the 2019-20 season. The team will be based out of the Body Zone and the Santander Arena which is also home of the Reading Royals of the ECHL.[1]
Membership
Joining 2019-20
| Team | Centre | Arena |
| Alvernia Golden Wolves | Reading, Pennsylvania | Santander Arena & Body Zone |
Seasons
- 2017-18 MAC Men's Season
- 2017-18 MAC Women's Season
- 2018-19 MAC Men's Season
- 2018-19 MAC Women's Season