News

The Northeast Collegiate Hockey League has announced a new six team format for the 2020-21 season. Following last season Cornell University and Cortland State were dismissed from the NECHL and the conference decided to move forward with the six remaining teams (University at Buffalo, Canisius College, Niagara University, Oswego State, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Rutgers University).

Given the new 6 team structure each team in the conference will now play one another 3 times throughout the regular season. This means each team will now play a total of 15 conference games. The teams will alternate on a yearly basis as to who hosts 2 of the 3 games in the season series. For example, if Team A hosts Team B for 2 of the 3 games this upcoming season Team B would host Team A for 2 of the 3 games in 2021-2022.

The playoff format for the 2020-21 season has yet to be determined.

Niagara University will look to defend their regular season and playoff title next season. Niagara’s 4-3 win over Oswego State in the NECHL Memorial Cup Final gave them an auto bid to the 2020 ACHA Nationals. However, the tournament was later cancelled as a result of the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

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