Northeast - 10 The Northeast Ten Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA ’ s Division II . Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont . Only Men ' s ice hockey is sponsored in the conference , which started for the 2003 - 04 season . The league members were all members of the ECAC Northeast and ECAC East through the 2008 - 09 season and had their own playoffs . As the conference is Division II ( NCAA ) they do not participate in the NCAA Division III Men ' s Hockey Championship . St . Anselm Hawks and St . Michael ' s Purple Knights played in NCAA Division III level New England Hockey Conference ( formerly ECAC East ) and were ineligible for their post season tournament or the national tournament as they play in Division II in all other sports . The members of the NEHC ( St . Anselm and St . Michael ' s ) also participated in the NE10 conference tournament at the end of the season while members of the New England Hockey Conference . The NEHC announced that it would be strictly a Division III league beginning with the 2017 - 18 season and as a result of that decision St . Anselm and St . Michael ' s were both out of the conference . They would become full members of the conference for men ' s ice hockey as on January 9 , 2017 the conference announced that the conference was expanding its ' regular season schedule to 18 games with the addition of the Post University Eagles to the conference as a scheduling partner to give each of the 6 full members of the league 18 regular season games ( 3 against each league opponent ) at the Division II level , Post University will not participate the conference tournaement . The release also stated that eligibility guidelines for junior hockey players was corrected by the NCAA to make it in line with D - I and D - III guidelines which were less strict than D - II . Conference Members that play Men ' s hockey in other Conferences . Three members play in other conferences for men ' s ice hockey as these schools are Division I programs for men ' s ice hockey : Women ' s Hockey playing schools . Four conference members sponsor women ' s varsity ice hockey and as the league does not sponsor the sport for women they play in other leagues : Up until the 2016 - 17 season , the three non - Division - I teams were members of what is now the New England Hockey Conference . That conference decided to go to a strictly Division - III membership as the NCAA was not including games against non - Division III opponents in considering at - large bids to the NCAA tournament . Those three teams ( plus Northeast - 10 scheduling partner Post University ) will become part of a new scheduling alliance that will create a six team " conference " that will begin play for the 2017 - 18 season . This new alliance will also include the Sacred Heart Pioneers ( presently a D - I Independent ) and the Holy Cross Crusaders ( presently a D - III team that is moving to D - I for 2017 - 18 ) . The teams will play each other four times and hold a tournament to determine a champion . No name was announced with the release of the alliance in January 2017 , or if this would be a one year arrangement or possibly a new conference . This may hinge on the Holy Cross team possibly joining Hockey East sometime in the future as the men ' s program has been rumored to be a replacement for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who are leaving the conference after the 2016 - 17 season . League Seasons . The league started to sponsor its own playoffs in 2004 ( while some of its members played in other conferences in the regular season . ( For 2003 - 04 to 2008 - 09 seasons see ECAC Northeast and ECAC East pages for those seasons , as members played in those conferences and the NE - 10 Conference held playoffs ) . From 2000 or earlier until the NE - 10 conference started sponsoring men ' s ice hockey for the 2004 - 05 season ; the ECAC held a Division II playoff involving the D - II members of ECAC East and ECAC Northeast The league schedule consisted of playing 1 time against each member season from 2003 - 04 to 2008 - 09 - Since 2009 - 10 ( when St . Anselm Hawks and St . Michael ' s Purple Knights stop playing regular season conference games ) the four teams playing the regular season met each other 3 times for a total of 9 conference games for each team . The conference schedule would be changed to an 18 game schedule for all teams beginning with the 2017 - 18 season .