United Collegiate Hockey Conference

United Collegiate Hockey Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	2016
Commissioner	Chuck Mitrano (since 2016)
Sports fielded	Ice hockey men's: 9 teams women's: 8 teams
Division	Division III
Headquarters	Rochester, New York
Region	Eastern United States
Official website	theuchc.com
Locations

The United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) 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.

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,^[1] the same time when charter men's member Nazareth College began varsity women's play in the UCHC.^[2] The following season, Alvernia University joined for its first season of varsity women's play.^[3] In July 2021, Arcadia University new men's and women's programs were accepted into the league.^[4] A year later, Alvernia added its men's team to the conference lineup.^[5]

In 2023, the conference was split in two when the Middle Atlantic Conferences agreed to add Neumann and Wilkes as affiliate members in ice hockey.^[6] This bought the number of members programs above the NCAA-minimum of six for an at-large bid. As a result, the MAC announced it would begin officially sponsoring ice hockey and left the UCHC with just four team for the upcoming season.^[7] In short order, Brockport State and Geneseo State announced that their men's teams would be joining the UCHC for the 2024–25, allowing the conference to retain its own automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.^[8] A few months later, the conference added four more schools beginning in 2025 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

100km
62miles

Brockport

Utica

Nazareth

Manhattanville

Chatham

Geneseo

  

Locations of United Collegiate Hockey Conference members
( men's only)

School	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joined	Primary Conference	Colors	(M)	(W)
Chatham University	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Cougars	1869	Private	2,300	2017-18	PAC		Y	Y
Manhattanville University	Purchase, New York	Valiants	1841	Private	2,700	2017-18	Skyline		Y	Y
Nazareth University	Pittsford, New York	Golden Flyers	1924	Private	2,800	2017-18 (men) 2018-19 (women)	Empire 8		Y	Y
State University of New York at Brockport	Brockport, New York	Golden Eagles	1867	Public	7,924	2024-25	Empire 8		Y	N
State University of New York at Geneseo	Geneseo, New York	Knights	1871	Public	4,910	2024-25	Empire 8		Y	N
Utica University	Utica, New York	Pioneers	1946	Private	4,400	2017-18	Empire 8		Y	Y

School	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joining	Primary Conference	Colors	(M)	(W)
Albertus Magnus College	New Haven, Connecticut	Falcons	1925	Private	1,200	2025-26	GNAC		Y	Y
Elmira College	Elmira, New York	Soaring Eagles	1855	Private	1,170	2025-26*	Empire 8		Y	Y
Hilbert College	Hamburg, New York	Hawks	1957	Private	800	2025-26	AMCC		N	Y
St. John Fisher University	Pittsford, New York	Cardinals	1948	Private	2,700	2025-26	Empire 8		Y	Y

* Elmira was previously a member of the UCHC.

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