United Collegiate Hockey Conference
The United Collegiate Hockey Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania in the eastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division III as a hockey-only conference.
History
The conference was announced in 2016 as an association of 10 schools and league play began for the 2017–18 academic year, with nine each playing in the men's and women's divisions. The majority of the member schools were previously members of the now-defunct ECAC West hockey conference. Wilkes University was also announced as a future member for both the men's and women's divisions for the start of the 2018–19 academic year, the same time when charter men's member Nazareth College began varsity women's play in the UCHC. The following season, Alvernia University joined for its first season of varsity women's play. In July 2021, Arcadia University new men's and women's programs were accepted into the league. A year later, Alvernia added its men's team to the conference lineup.In 2023, the conference was split in two when Misericordia began sponsoring men's ice hockey, allowing the Middle Atlantic Conferences to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament and form a new ice hockey division. In September of that year, Brockport State and Geneseo State announced that their men's teams would be joining the UCHC for the 2024–25, bringing membership back up to eight teams. About a month later, Neumann and Wilkes also announced that they would be leaving the UCHC for MAC as well. This dropped membership back down to six teams, the minimum number of programs required for an at-large bid. A few months later, the conference added four more schools for the 2025 season with Albertus Magnus, Elmira and St. John's Fischer each adding men's and women's hockey while Hilbert's women's team would join.
The league did not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship or the NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship for the 2017–18 season but the Men's league gained the bid for the 2018–19 season and the Women's league did for the 2019-20 season.
Members schools
Current members
| School | Location | Nickname | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Year Joined | Primary Conference | Colors | ||
| Albertus Magnus College | New Haven, Connecticut | Falcons | 1925 | Private | 1,200 | 2025-26 | GNAC | |||
| Chatham University | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Cougars | 1869 | Private | 2,300 | 2017-18 | PAC | |||
| Elmira College | Elmira, New York | Soaring Eagles | 1855 | Private | 1,170 | 2025-26 | Empire 8 | |||
| Hilbert College | Hamburg, New York | Hawks | 1957 | Private | 800 | 2025-26 | AMCC | |||
| Manhattanville University | Purchase, New York | Valiants | 1841 | Private | 2,700 | 2017-18 | Skyline | |||
| Nazareth University | Pittsford, New York | Golden Flyers | 1924 | Private | 2,800 | 2017-18 2018-19 | Empire 8 | |||
| St. John Fisher University | Pittsford, New York | Cardinals | 1948 | Private | 2,700 | 2025-26 | Empire 8 | |||
| State University of New York at Brockport | Brockport, New York | Golden Eagles | 1867 | Public | 7,924 | 2024-25 | Empire 8 | |||
| State University of New York at Geneseo | Geneseo, New York | Knights | 1871 | Public | 4,910 | 2024-25 | Empire 8 | |||
| Utica University | Utica, New York | Pioneers | 1946 | Private | 4,400 | 2017-18 | Empire 8 |
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2017 till:2027
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:men value:rgb legend:men
id:women value:rgb legend:women
id:both value:rgb legend:both
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:women from:2017 till:2021 text:William Smith
bar:2 color:both from:2017 till:2021 text:Elmira
bar:2 color:both from:2025 till:end
bar:3 color:both from:2017 till:2024 text:King's
bar:4 color:both from:2017 till:2024 text:Lebanon Valley
bar:5 color:both from:2017 till:2024 text:Neumann
bar:6 color:both from:2017 till:2024 text:Stevenson
bar:7 color:both from:2017 till:end text:Manhattanville
bar:8 color:both from:2017 till:end text:Chatham
bar:9 color:men from:2017 till:2018 text:Nazareth
bar:9 color:both from:2018 till:end
bar:10 color:both from:2017 till:end text:Utica
bar:11 color:both from:2018 till:2024 text:Wilkes
bar:12 color:women from:2019 till:2022 text:Alvernia
bar:12 color:both from:2022 till:2024
bar:13 color:both from:2021 till:2024 text:Arcadia
bar:14 color:men from:2024 till:end text:Brockport State
bar:15 color:men from:2024 till:end text:Geneseo State
bar:16 color:both from:2025 till:end text:Albertus Magnus
bar:17 color:women from:2025 till:end text:Hilbert
bar:18 color:both from:2025 till:end text:St. John Fisher
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text:"UCHC Membership History"