New England Women's Hockey Alliance

The New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) is a women's college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of six teams, with two in New Hampshire, two in Connecticut, one in Vermont, and one in New York.

New England Women's Hockey Alliance
NEWHA
Established	2018
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I
Members	6 (7 in 2022)
Sports fielded	Ice hockey
Region	New England, New York
Headquarters	Winthrop, Massachusetts
Commissioner	Robert M. DeGregorio, Jr. (since 2018)
Website	newhaonline.com

History

Prior to 2017, the women's ice hockey program at Sacred Heart University was a longstanding independent team, part of no conference. In that year, three NCAA Division II colleges and one Division I college (College of the Holy Cross) were removed from their NCAA Division III hockey conference (the New England Hockey Conference, formerly the ECAC East). Those teams had previously not been eligible for postseason play, but the conference no longer wanted Division I and II teams playing a conference schedule at all. A sixth team, from Post University, announced plans to start playing that year as well.

Sacred Heart, Post, and the other four programs (Holy Cross, St. Michael's, St. Anselm, and Franklin Pierce) then formed a scheduling alliance called the New England Women's Hockey Alliance. This was not a formal conference affiliation, just an agreement among the teams to schedule each other during the regular season; officially the teams would be classified as Division I or Division II independents. (As the NCAA operates a single National Collegiate Championship for women's hockey that includes both Division I and Division II teams, the distinction between the divisions is minimal.)

Holy Cross intended to be independent only for one season, applying for and gaining membership in Hockey East effective 2018. In that year, the other NEWHA members announced plans to adhere to Division I recruiting rules and offer scholarships, and so applied to the NCAA for the NEWHA to be recognized as an official Division I conference. They also announced the conference would include Long Island University's team when it begins play in 2019. NEWHA was approved as a Division I NCAA conference in September 2019.[1] The conference will need to play at least two seasons with the same six members before being granted an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Championship playoffs in women's ice hockey.[1]

The NEWHA is scheduled to expand to seven members in 2022 with the arrival of Stonehill College, which plans to start a varsity women's hockey team in the 2022–23 season. Stonehill had initially planned to start play in 2021–22,[2] but NCAA-imposed recruiting limits imposed in the wake of COVID-19 led the school to delay the team's start by a year.[3]

On February 22, 2020, Saint Anselm and Franklin Pierce broke the record for longest NCAA women's hockey game with a five-overtime contest in the NEWHA Playoff Tournament that went 147:24. The game eclipsed the previous record of 144:32 in a 2010 game featuring RPI and Quinnipiac.[4]

Members

Current members

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined	Men's Hockey conference	Primary Conference	Colors
Franklin Pierce University	Rindge, NH	Ravens	1962	Private (Nonsectarian)	2,381	2017	Northeast-10 (D-II)	Northeast-10 (D-II)
Long Island University	Brooklyn/Brookville, NY	Sharks	1926	Private (Nonsectarian)	18,500	2019	Independent[lower-alpha 1]	Northeast Conference
Post University	Waterbury, CT	Eagles	1890	Private (For-profit)	7,317	2017	Northeast-10 (D-II)	Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (D-II)
Sacred Heart University	Fairfield, CT	Pioneers	1963	Private (Catholic)	5,428	2017	Atlantic Hockey	Northeast Conference
Saint Anselm College	Goffstown, NH	Hawks	1889	Private (Catholic)	2,015	2017	Northeast-10 (D-II)	Northeast-10 (D-II)
Saint Michael's College	Colchester, VT	Purple Knights	1904	Private (Catholic)	1,600	2017	Northeast-10 (D-II)	Northeast-10 (D-II)

1. While LIU is officially an independent in its first men's ice hockey season in 2020–21, it is a scheduling partner of Atlantic Hockey.[5]

Future member

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joining	Men's hockey conference	Primary conference	Colors
Stonehill College	Easton, MA	Skyhawks	1948	Private (Catholic)	2,500	2022[3]	Northeast-10 (D-II)	Northeast-10 (D-II)

Former members

Institution	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current Conference
College of the Holy Cross	Worcester, Massachusetts	1843	Private (Catholic)	Crusaders	2017	2018	Hockey East

Membership timeline

Champions

Season	Regular Season	NEWHA Tournament	NCAA National
2017–18	Saint Anselm[6]	Sacred Heart[7]	No Autobid
2018–19	Saint Anselm[8]	Saint Anselm[9]	No Autobid
2019–20	Sacred Heart[10]	LIU[11]	No Autobid

See also

• NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament (National Collegiate division)

References

1. USCHO Staff (September 4, 2019). "Alliance approved for NCAA Division I status, effective with '19-20 season". USCHO. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
2. "Stonehill to Add Women's Ice Hockey; Accepts Invitation to Join NEWHA" (Press release). New England Women's Hockey Alliance. December 9, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
3. "Stonehill to Delay First Women's Hockey Season to 2022-23" (Press release). Stonehill Skyhawks. September 11, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
4. Staff (February 23, 2020). "One night after winning longest game, Saint Anselm women fall". The Union Leader. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
5. "Men's Hockey Announced as Atlantic Hockey Scheduling Partner" (Press release). LIU Sharks. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
6. "NEWHA Women's Conference Standings: 2017-2018". USCHO. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
7. "Sacred Heart 3, Saint Anselm 1". uscho. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
8. "NEWHA Women's Conference Standings: 2019-2020". USCHO. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
9. "HIGHLIGHTS/REACTION: Women's Ice Hockey 3, Franklin Pierce 0 - 2018-19 NEWHA Championship Game". YouTube. Saint Anselm Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
10. "NEWHA Women's Conference Standings: 2019-2020". USCHO. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
11. "CHAMPIONS! Women's Ice Hockey Defeats Saint Anselm, 1-0 to Capture NEWHA Championship". LIU Sharks. Long Island University Athletics. February 22, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2020.