The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. It is the only Division II collegiate ice hockey conference in the United States.

History

The original 1980 conference was called the "Northeast 7" as the colleges were American International College, Assumption College, Bentley College, Bryant College, the University of Hartford, Springfield College, and Stonehill College. In 1981, Saint Anselm College was the eighth team to join and the resulting "NE-8" stayed this way until 1984 when the University of Hartford left and Merrimack College joined. The “Northeast-10” name came about in 1987 when Saint Michael's College and Quinnipiac College joined the league. The conference remained stable until 1995 when Springfield College left for Division III. The league stayed at ten members as Le Moyne College joined the league in 1996 from the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) and briefly expanded to eleven when Pace University joined in 1997 from the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC). Quinnipiac moved to the Division I Northeast Conference (NEC) to again return the membership to ten. The last major expansion took place prior to 2000, when five new schools joined the fold. Franklin Pierce College, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU; formerly New Hampshire College), the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell), and Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the College of Saint Rose (Saint Rose) giving the NE10 15 members. Since the addition of those five institutions, the league has added football, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field as championship sports. The expansion continued in 2003–04 as the conference added another three championships – men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, and men's ice hockey. However, because the NE10 is the sole Division II men's ice hockey league, its postseason champion cannot compete for the NCAA national hockey championship. David Brunk, the first full-time commissioner in league history, announced in April he was resigning July 1, 2007 to take over the Peach Belt Conference. Brunk had been commissioner since 1998. Julie Ruppert became the next full-time commissioner in June 2008, becoming the first female Division II commissioner in the country. In 2008, Bryant University announced it would begin the five-year process that would make them a full Division I member by 2012; at the same time the NE10 announced that it had given a bid to University of New Haven and they had accepted. In December 2007, Adelphi University announced it had joined the league and began playing in 2009–10. To start the 2008–09 academic year the NE10 still had 15 members and expanded to 16 in 2009-10. On July 1, 2013, UMass Lowell left the NE10 to join the Division I America East Conference. With the departure of UMass Lowell, the Northeast-10 Conference had 15 remaining members. Two other changes to the conference membership, both taking effect with the 2019–20 school year, were announced in 2018. First, Merrimack announced that it would begin a transition to Division I and join the Northeast Conference (the same move that Bryant made in 2008). Then, Long Island University announced that it would unify its two athletic programs—the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers, the latter of which was a NE10 affiliate member in field hockey and football at the time of announcement—into a single D-I athletic program under the LIU name. As such, the LIU Post field hockey team was merged with LIU Brooklyn's previously existing team in that sport, and the LIU Post football team became the new LIU football team, competing as a Division I FCS team in the Northeast Conference. Thus, the NE10 was at a total of 14 member schools. In 2022, the number was reduced to 13 with Stonehill College's announcement of its departure for Division I's Northeast Conference (NEC). The next change in conference membership took place on July 1, 2023 when Le Moyne left for the NEC, dropping the NE10 to 12 members for the 2023-24 season. In 2023, St. Rose announced it was ceasing operations after the 2023-24 academic year, dropping the NE10 to 11 members effective for the 2024-25 season.

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Current members

The NE10 currently has 11 full members; all but one are private schools.

Affiliate members

The NE10 currently has 5 affiliate members:

Former members

The NE10 had nine former full members; all but one were private schools.

Former affiliate members

The NE10 had one former affiliate member, which was also a private school.

Membership timeline

Conference facilities

Presidents' Cup Champions

Sports

Men's sponsored sports by school

Women's sponsored sports by school

Other sponsored sports by school

Championships