It’s a new year of hockey and a very eye-opening experience if you’re unfamiliar with the current changes that have been made in the conference realignment realm of both Men’s & Women’s Division III hockey. Even if you’re aware of the newly added and/or departed teams from their respective conferences, this will be a valuable read for all involved. Our Women’s conference realignment analysis will be posted early next week!

In this article, we’ll discuss the realignment on the men’s side, providing an analysis regarding how each individual conference will be affected by the newly added teams, along with who it helps and who it hurts the most. Please consider this is an overview analysis, this is in no way me “picking winners / losers”, but simply an analysis of how the newly radical realignment will affect teams already in their respective league, along with the teams being moved and/or in their inaugural seasons.

We will also look into how this affects the future of the NCAA Tournament bids of some conferences…

*Please note: this article does not discuss leagues where no realignment has taken place for the 2025-2026 season, these leagues include: MAC, MIAC, NCHA, NESCAC, & Northeast-10*

Conference of New England (CNE)

Added:

Roger Williams University – Inaugural season at the NCAA Division III level 

Departed:

N/A

Biggest Changes

The biggest change as of late in the CNE involved Salve Regina shockingly leaving the league for the NEHC in the 2024-2025 season, you can read about the full story we wrote about this here. As of now, Salve Regina & the CNE have announced that the Seahawks will be returning to the CNE as hockey-only members next season (2026-2027), for now, Salve will play out this season as an independent on both the men’s & women’s sides.

Currently, no other teams have departed the CNE who’ve built up an extremely solid foundation at the top of the league, with the middle-bottom teams showing promise. The new addition this season is a formerly ACHA D-2 program in Roger Williams University, located in Bristol, Rhode Island. The CNE teams will be making another scheduled trip to Rhode Island, but to Bristol, not Newport (Salve Regina).

Leading the Hawks in their first season will be first-year Head Coach Chris Hall. Hall is coming from Babson College where he was an assistant on longtime Head Coach Jamie Rice’s staff, prior to Babson, he was an assistant at the Division-I level at Merrimack for the women’s program.

Expect the Hawks to be competitive as this isn’t a brand-new hockey program necessarily, but it’s not expected to cause massive ripples within the league and other than being a new program. The CNE’s foundation will remain solid as it always has and there aren’t a whole lot of changes to discuss here compared to some of the other leagues we will analyze below.

Little East Conference (LEC)

*First season sponsoring men’s & women’s ice hockey

Added:

Babson College (via NEHC)

VTSU Castleton (via NEHC)

Keene State (prev. Independent)

New England College (via NEHC)

Norwich University (via NEHC)

Plymouth State (via MASCAC)

Univ. Southern Maine (via NEHC)

UMass-Boston (via NEHC)

UMass-Dartmouth (via MASCAC)

Western Connecticut State (Inaugural season)

Breaking it Down

*Correction 9/26/25 1:30pm EST – Men receive auto-bid, women do not*

The Little East Conference has been around since 1986 and this will be the first ever season the league has sponsored Men’s & Women’s Ice Hockey. Largely composed of (as you see above) the former NEHC, but also in the mix are some MASCAC as well as new faces. This league will not receive an auto-bid for the NCAA tournament this upcoming 2025-2026 season, so they’ll need to win a lot of games to get in the dance as we’ll talk about more shortly.

The biggest factor here is travel; these teams make geographically a lot more sense than the NEHC primarily if you look at a map. No more are the Elmira, NY to Goreham, ME / Vermont trips. This league adds a fun mix of teams for some interesting conference play possibilities.

The Biggest Winners

Well, everyone from the NEHC should be considered a ‘winner’ as they get away from Hobart who as of late has rattled off three straight national championship & league titles. The entire MASCAC conference is a ‘winner’ because Plymouth State (won last five of six MASCAC titles) is gone. However, on a more serious note, I think most teams in this league will benefit from it, but there are drawbacks as we’ll get to shortly.

Plymouth State in my opinion will benefit greatly from this move, although the Panthers have had incredible regular season & conference playoff success under head coach Craig Russell who’s been with the program since 2010, holding a career record of 261-97-30 (.711), they’ve come up short in the NCAA tournament time and time again. Now, this isn’t criticizing Plymouth State by any means, but their lone NCAA win came last season at home against SUNY Cortland who were appearing in their first ever NCAA tournament game. I believe a better conference where they’re tested better week-in and week-out will better prepare them for the top competition they’ll face in the NCAA tournament, assuming they receive an auto/at-large bid.

I would compare Plymouth State’s strength-of-schedule (SOS) / NCAA tournament issues similarly to Utica, who’s also historically struggled heavily in NCAA playoff games until recently when the UCHC became mightily better. Both programs have been solid and performed quite well in non-conference play as well, but even head coach Gary Heenan of Utica had made note of their SOS entering the NCAA tournament a few years ago (2023). He mentioned how Adrian was playing St. Norbert the final weekend of their regular season… After checking the numbers, Utica just got done with their regular season, winning their last weekend series vs Arcadia, capping off their final 10 games of the season, winning them all by a combined score of 84-12. Yes, 84 goals scored, 10 allowed.

It’s hard for any top-tier program to get into 7th gear against a top-ranked opponent playing for the highest-stakes when you were winning games in 4th and 5th gear. This is where I think Plymouth State benefits the most for their long-term growth as a program.

Regarding other teams, I genuinely believe the geography helps everyone out here, lots of familiar faces from the NEHC, while Plymouth State & UMass-Dartmouth will get to have their reunion once again as they’re the two former MASCAC teams.

Keene State will look to build off a great inaugural season at the D-III level as an independent (13-10-1) and this conference will do nothing but benefit them in terms of recruiting and SOS.

Western Connecticut State gets the benefit of joining a league for their inaugural season, a luxury not everyone gets when starting / upgrading a program.

NCAA Tournament Implications

As mentioned before, the LEC will not receive an auto-bid in year one of the league, so they’ll need to get a team in via at-large bid. Now, I just got done discussing league SOS above, but this will come in to play when we talk about at-large bids. For teams such as Plymouth State as mentioned, this is a huge upgrade, but for teams such as Babson & Norwich, who frequently found themselves in the mix in the NEHC title and/or at-large bids, this league may be a potential downgrade from the perspective of volume of bids. Since the NEHC was so dominate during its time, we saw annually two, sometimes three bids coming from the one league, in my opinion, that will not happen in the LEC for a long time, if ever. So, from that perspective, it could be considered a downgrade as this will be a one or two bid league annually.

Overall Thoughts

My overall perspective on the Little East is that I love it in terms of the geography and matchups that actually make sense. To me, Elmira playing Southern Maine or Castleton makes little to no sense. Nor does Norwich vs Elmira / Hobart, even though those are fun games to watch, geographically as a league, it just doesn’t seem practical. I’m looking forward to how this season plays out, newly appointed head coach Dominick Dawes looks to rejuvenate his alumnus Norwich, who historically, is one of the greatest D-III programs in history on both the men’s & women’s sides, respectively. Although the NEHC was an extremely strong league, I simply think from a regional entertainment perspective, this will be a fun league to watch.

Meanwhile, seeing how Keene State improves in year two will be intriguing, along with Western Connecticut in year one of the program.

To wrap things up, I think Southern Maine fits this league well, the matchups would appear on paper, to be more favorable than the NEHC and I think they can make a jump this season, possibly making some noise come conference playoff time.

 

Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) 

Added:

N/A

Departed:

Plymouth State (-> Little East)

UMass-Dartmouth (-> Little East)

Breaking it Down

The MASCAC for the past seven years has largely been dominated by Plymouth State, the Panthers (as mentioned in the LEC analysis) won the last five MASCAC titles until this season when the Panthers were upset by the 8-seed MCLA in the quarterfinal round. This led to Fitchburg State defeating MCLA in the finals to get the auto-bid and return to the tournament for the first time since 2018 when the Falcons shutout UMass-Dartmouth 2-0.

For everyone in the league, they should be relieved that Plymouth State is gone. The MASCAC will almost always be a one-bid league, so with SOS being irrelevant, everyone involved shouldn’t be sad to see the Panthers leaving.

Overall Thoughts

I think the MASCAC will become more of a wildcard now with the likes of Salem State and Anna Maria really coming along, both having solid seasons (19-7-0 & 19-8-0). We haven’t seen much parity within this league until this most recent year where MCLA became a cinderella story, making it to the conference title game after finishing the regular season with a record of 4-19-2, led by their stellar goaltender Mat Gover, who recently committed to Huntington College in Alabama for Division III golf.

New England Hockey Conference (NEHC)

Added:

League has been dissolved at the conclusion of this past 2024-2025 season.

Departed:

Albertus Magnus (-> UCHC)

Babson (-> Little East)

Elmira College (-> UCHC)

Hobart College (-> SUNYAC)

UMass-Boston (-> Little East)

New England College (-> Little East)

Norwich University (-> Little East)

Salve Regina (-> D-III Independent)

Skidmore College (-> SUNYAC)

Univ. Southern Maine (-> Little East)

VTSU Castleton (-> Little East)

The End of an Era

This is simply just a quick note thanking a league that provided high-caliber hockey teams and exciting games year-in and year-out, also providing us the last three national champions in Hobart College (’23, ’24, ’25).

State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC)

Added:

Hobart College (via NEHC)

Skidmore College (via NEHC)

Departed:

N/A

This is… Interesting…

For someone like me who grew up watching SUNYAC hockey, Oswego State specifically, the addition of two non-state schools doesn’t feel right from a hockey perspective or practical perspective. I do, however, think on a more positive note, it brings some fun matchups into the mix.

For starters, Hobart has put up a combined conference record during their three-year title reign of 50-4-2 and an overall record of 86-5-2… absolutely dominating the NEHC and everyone they face otherwise. One of those losses came from a new conference opponent who they typically played once annually, Oswego. The Statesman will definitely help the overall conference’s SOS rating, while also fitting in quite nicely geographically as well since they’re fairly close to most of their opponents except for the usual geographical outliers in Canton, Potsdam, Plattsburgh, & now Skidmore.

Heading over to Saratoga, home of the last two Belmont Stakes, we have the Thoroughbreds of Skidmore who have made great strides as of late, appearing in the NEHC conference finals a few times and finding themselves in the top 15 rankings more often than not. Skidmore has seen a fair amount of SUNYAC play lately, playing Morrisville & Plattsburgh in exhibition games last season, along with Brockport, Canton, & Cortland two seasons ago during the regular season.

State Schools vs Private Schools

The biggest takeaway from this is the fact that we need to look at the harsh truth of this scenario. State schools, funded by taxpayers, are subject to extremely in-depth annual audits due to their taxpayer funded status. Private schools on the other hand, typically are all audited annually due to their federal funding, various grants and scholarships offered, but the audits are less stringent and not as in-depth, allowing for less-stringent reporting requirements, while also having more flexibility since they’re ‘privately funded’.

Financial aid has become a big talking point recently in the whole landscape of college sports at the Division III level since the NIL era began. This is in no way insinuating Hobart and/or Skidmore are doing anything wrong, but it’s pointing out that there are major differences between how SUNY schools and private schools can operate in the financial aid department whether you want to believe it or not. Let’s look at the numbers:

For example: Hobart’s total cost of attendance is listed at approximately $82,000 per year for US Citizens, $87,000 for Internationals. Skidmore is estimated at just below $90,000 (numbers via school websites per hyperlink).

For SUNY Cortland, their total cost is estimated (assuming highest possible price tag (on campus, non-NYS resident) is approximately $35,000. SUNY Oswego is listed at approximately $37,000 for out-of-state / international students including on-campus housing (assuming highest possible price tag) … But private schools on many occasions, can land a player for less than a state school even though on paper there is a cost difference in instances like this of approximately $45k – $50k. This same type of aid structure affects teams in the WIAC when compared to their neighbor leagues (MIAC & NCHA). Yes, schools can give academic-based scholarships at the D-III level, but when the sticker price difference is so massive, it’s always a wonder where the final price tag comes from that allows a school who costs more than double the amount of someone else, to consistently get players for lower prices.

Again, this is not a hit-piece or negative assumption about any private colleges versus public, this is not considering the alleged “quality of academics” component that proud alumni and rankings boards claim, but simply a reality of the financial numbers that people should be aware of if they aren’t already. For those of you that solely believe all of these players choose certain schools in D-III for their history, academics, & team quality (many do), a larger portion than you may think do make their decisions based on the final cost of attendance when it’s all said and done.

The reason this is considered into this article’s analysis so heavily, is that I think it’s the biggest question that will be answered in years down the road. Can the other SUNY’s keep up financially in the long run? We will find out since this is an unprecedented situation for the SUNYAC and really, the only ‘moving’ part of this realignment news. Of course, privates and publics can face off in the NCAA tournament, but from a conference perspective, it’s an interesting situation.

NCAA Tournament Implications

The addition of Hobart & Skidmore will benefit the league in the SOS department as mentioned, but it’s more than likely that Hobart will be taking at minimum an at-large bid for the foreseeable future, so from a league perspective, the in-house members have essentially lost a bid. They will be a two-bid league most likely, possibly three if they have an incredible year as a collective, but time will tell.

Overall, from a hockey perspective I like the move as it’s entertaining and exciting matchups, some we haven’t seen much of, if ever. However, I do lean more toward the traditional side of things, so it’ll take getting used to seeing non-SUNYs in the SUNYAC.

United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC)

Added:

Albertus Magnus (via NEHC)

Elmira College (via NEHC)

St. John Fisher (Inaugural season at the NCAA Division III level)

Departed:

N/A

Breaking it Down

The UCHC is officially back to being considered one of the top-tier leagues after their split with the MAC teams two seasons ago and their recent new additions in 2024. Now, they just got even better with the addition of three quality programs.

Prior to last season, the UCHC consisted of 11 teams, seven of them from the MAC and four of them UCHC. Since the league was established in 2018, Utica has won five of the eight conference titles, prior to Geneseo joining last season, they had won five of seven.

Returning to the league is Elmira College who’s made two NCAA tournaments in the past four seasons. The Soaring Eagles were members of the UCHC from 2017-2021 and NEHC members from 2021-2025, winning a UCHC title in 2021 (the last team prior to Geneseo joining the UCHC to win a conference title).

A new program in its inaugural season is St. John Fisher, coached by Reid Lesswing is looking to make a splash and maybe make some noise come conference playoff time if they make it in. With a school that’s ready to invest money athletically and academically, in a recruiting hotbed of Rochester, NY, look for this team to become a player very soon.

Albertus Magnus has made great improvements under their founding head coach Kyle Wallack, winning 16+ games in each of their final three seasons as an independent, then went 12-13-1 in their lone year as a member of the NEHC. Their main highlight of the season and as a program really, was defeating Hobart in overtime, handing them their only loss during the season last year.

Overall Thoughts

This league is very good and should produce two NCAA Tournament teams annually, maybe three if they have a collectively incredible year.

My overall thoughts are the geography simply makes sense. The only outliers are Chatham, Manhattanville, & Albertus Magnus. What makes Albertus and Manhattanville work, is that they’re close enough together where you can justify it. Chatham is the only one that really is an outlier (relative to the others), located in Pittsburgh, PA.

I think the addition of these teams make a lot of sense and provides a great benefit for everyone; it’ll be interesting to see Elmira make its return back to where they once were. While also seeing a new program with high hopes and potential in St. John Fisher. Then capping it off with Albertus Magnus who was the lone team to find a way to dethrone the three-time national champions Hobart last season.

 

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC)

Added:

Beloit College (Inaugural season)

Departed:

Northland College (-> school closed as of 2024-2025)

Overall Thoughts

The addition of Beloit College, a new program in Division III, will essentially replace Northland College who closed down at the end of this past academic year. Adding Beloit will allow the men’s side of the WIAC to keep their automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament as they have six overall hockey members and four core members (the minimum required to maintain auto-bid status). Yes, for anyone who didn’t know, UW-Superior is not a ‘core’ member, UW-Stout gives the men’s WIAC four core members, whilst the women’s side only has three as UW-Stout doesn’t have a women’s program, thus, the men maintain an auto-bid after the minimum member rules changed starting in the 2024-2025 season.

Obviously, I like the move because the WIAC is too good not to receive an auto-bid. Yes, there’s only six teams, but it’s too good of a league to be left out and you cannot and will not convince me, or anyone out west, otherwise.

Division III – Independents

Added:

Hiram College (Inaugural season)

Salve Regina (via NEHC)

Departed:

Keene State (-> Little East)

Overall Thoughts

The D-III Independents list includes a program I don’t think anyone would’ve believed if you told them five years ago, but Salve Regina will play under Independent status for this upcoming 2025-2026 season. Check out our article here to read the full story. The good news is, they’ll be back in the CNE as a hockey-member next year in 2026-2027, but until then, they’ll be independent and are currently in the process of hiring both a head coach for the men’s & women’s programs, respectively.

Hiram College is a wildcard. I’m not quite sure what to think of them at the moment, but we will see how they fare this season with their schedule that ranges from a few ACHA D1 programs, to a two-game series at Adrian College… we will see what the future of the program holds in years to come as geographically they’re the only D-III hockey program in the state of Ohio and they’re not exactly ‘near’ anyone besides Chatham in Pittsburgh, PA or Adrian College in Adrian, MI.