Atlantic Hockey America embarks on its third season in 2026-27. The product of a merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America following the 2023-24 season, Atlantic Hockey America enters 2026-27 with 16 programs across 14 member institutions.
Atlantic Hockey America spans a total of seven states, reaching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. The conference fields nine men’s programs (Bentley University, Canisius University, The College of Holy Cross, Niagara University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, Sacred Heart University, the United State Air Force Academy, and the United States Military Academy), and seven women’s programs (University of Delaware, Lindenwood University, Mercyhurst University, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, and Syracuse University).
Atlantic Hockey America is led by commissioner Michelle Morgan, who enters her fourth season in 2026-27. In her first year, Morgan led the merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America.
LEAGUE ORIGINS
College Hockey America (CHA) formed in the fall of 2002 with four teams – Findlay (Ohio), Mercyhurst and Wayne State (Mich.) from the Great Lakes Women’s Hockey Association and Niagara from the ECAC.
In the league’s first year of competition, 2002-03, each member played two games against each of the other conference schools. Mercyhurst won the regular-season title with a 6-0-0 record. The Lakers continued on to win the first-ever CHA postseason tournament, held at the City Sports Center Arena in Detroit, with victories over Wayne State and Findlay.
MEMBERSHIP
The league has seen several changes in membership since 2002, with Mercyhurst the lone remaining original member. Findlay dropped women’s ice hockey after the 2003-04 season and was replaced in the CHA by Quinnipiac, which played the previous season as a Division I independent. The Bobcats played one year in CHA before joining their men’s team in ECAC Hockey. Robert Morris replaced Quinnipiac prior to the 2005-06 season to keep membership at four.
Syracuse was added as a fifth member for the 2008-09 season, and the league schedule increased to 16 games: four against each of the other members.
In that season the conference tournament also expanded to a three-day event for the first time in league history. The league returned to four members when Wayne State dropped women’s hockey prior to the 2010-11 season.
Former commissioner Robert DeGregorio oversaw another period of transition, ushering in Lindenwood, Penn State and RIT for the start of the 2012-13 season. Niagara dropped women’s ice hockey during the same offseason, leaving the league with six members.
The University of Delaware joined in 2024-25, and the 2025-26 season was the first for the Blue Hens at the Division I level. It also marked Atlantic Hockey America’s first season with seven member schools on the women’s side.
REGULAR SEASON AND POSTSEASON TITLES
Mercyhurst has been the conference’s top regular season program, winning or sharing each of the first 14 College Hockey America regular season championships (winning 13 of those outright). The Lakers added a 15th crown in 2019-20 and have never finished lower than third in the regular-season standings.
The last 10 seasons have seen four schools claim the regular-season championship, beginning with three straight by Robert Morris (2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19). Mercyhurst (2019-20) and Syracuse (2021-22) each won titles, while Penn State has finished first in five of the last six seasons, including the last four in a row.
Mercyhurst and Penn State have also bookended the conference’s postseason championships, with the Lakers winning each of the first nine CHA tournaments and the Nittany Lions capturing each of the last four crowns. In between Robert Morris (2012, 2017, 2021), RIT (2014, 2015) and Syracuse (2019, 2022) combined to win seven postseason titles.
NATIONAL STAGE
The conference has been represented in each of the last 22 NCAA Tournament fields, with CHA or AHA teams advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four five times.
Mercyhurst earned the league’s first NCAA Tournament bid in 2005, the first of 10-consecutive bids for the Lakers (2005-2014). Mercyhurst reached four Frozen Fours in that span (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014) and played in the national championship game in 2009. The 10 straight appearances marked the first time a team reached the women’s tournament in 10 consecutive seasons.
In 2019 both Mercyhurst and Syracuse earned NCAA bids, the conference’s first season with two teams in the field. Penn State made its first of four consecutive NCAA appearances in 2023, advancing to the school’s first NCAA Frozen Four in 2026 on home ice at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.
ELITE TALENT
Some of the world’s best players, past and present, have competed in the CHA and AHA, a group including Olympians from around the globe, IIHF World Champions, NCAA All-Americans, national statistical leaders, and players who have gone on to tremendous pro success.
Mercyhurst’s Meghan Agosta was among the league’s first superstars, earning the conference Player of the Year award and First-Team All-America honors four times each. As a freshman in 2007, Agosta became the conference’s first top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in college hockey. Agosta went on to finish in the top three in Patty Kaz voting in all four of her collegiate seasons. The four-time Olympian remains the only player in the Kazmaier Award’s history to be a top-three finisher four times.
In 2009-10, Mercyhurst’s Vicki Bendus became the first CHA player to win the Patty Kazmaier Award, tallying 65 points on 28 goals and 37 assists in 36 games as the Lakers reached their second consecutive Frozen Four.
Agosta and Bendus are among 15 All-America selections in league history, a group that includes Penn State forward and 2026 Olympic gold medalist Tessa Janecke in each of the last three seasons. As a freshman, Janecke became the third CHA or AHA player to win the Julie Chu National Rookie of the Year award.
Janecke was among six current or former conference players at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. In all, CHA/AHA players have made 26 Olympic appearances, including six at both the 2022 and 2026 Olympics.
Alumni have been at the forefront of the growth in women’s professional hockey, including the first three seasons of the PWHL. Each of the league’s Walter Cup champions has featured a former AHA/CHA player on its roster, with former Lindenwood star goaltender backstopping the Minnesota Frost’s championship in the PWHL’s first two seasons. Twelve alumni skated in the league in 2025-26, representing five Atlantic Hockey America schools.
Janecke was the No. 3 overall selection in the 2026 PWHL Draft to the expansion franchise in Las Vegas, the highest draft pick yet for an AHA alum.