Women ' s Division III Women ' s Division III is a set of schools and conferences that sponsor women ' s hockey and abide by the National Collegiate Athletic Association ' s rules and regulations for Division III ice hockey . Six of the seven conferences that sponsor Division III hockey have women ' s divisions : The one conference that does not match up with a men ' s league is the Colonial Hockey Conference which does have several of its male counterparts playing in the Commonwealth Coast Conference which is an all sports Division III league . Most of the remaining schools do not have conference ' s to match their male team ' s as there are ten Division II and III leagues for men . The other three leagues are all sport leagues and do not have enough teams offering women ' s ice hockey to make offering the sport practical . The only women ' s conferences that may be formed over the next few seasons is the State University of New York Athletic Conference ( SUNYAC ) as the ECAC West is losing all of its not SUNYAC members to the newly formed United Collegiate Hockey Conference and the Northeast - 10 conference whose members are being forced out of the New England Hockey Conference over issues of the Division II teams ' games counting towards consideration for bids to the NCAA tournament . The only conference that offers men ' s ice hockey that is not a reality for a women ' s conference forming is the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference which only has two members that have women ' s ice hockey . These seven conferences represent 61 of the 63 teams that compete at the Division III level in women ' s hockey . Four of those teams are from Division II and Division I schools that compete in Division III leagues to fill out their schedules , as there is no Division II NCAA championship in ice hockey . Such teams are ineligible for postseason play . The Future . New teams and leagues have already been announced for the 2017 - 18 Division III season as the United Collegiate Hockey Conference starts play and new ( and returning ) programs include the Aurora Spartans , King ' s College Monarchs , Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen , Northland Lumberjills , Trine Thunder and Wilkes University Colonels . The lone Division I school playing at the Division III level , Holy Cross Crusaders announced that the program will begin playing at the Division I level for the 2017 - 18 season in either the Atlantic Hockey Association , Hockey East or playing as a Division I Independent . Division III represents a commitment by member schools to place academic achievement ahead of athletic success . Athletic scholarships are not allowed . History . Women ' s Division III hockey started to develop with the 1997 - 98 season with the formation of the ECAC Alliance ( with 12 teams ) and the Midwest Women ' s Alliance ( with 16 teams ) . With the exception of the 12 team Division I ECAC women ' s conference and a lone independent Division I team ( Minnesota Golden Gophers ) this was everything available at the varsity NCAA level . The ECAC Alliance and the Midwest Women ' s Alliance was a mixture of what would become Division I and III schools . For 1998 - 99 the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference started play with 6 teams and the ECAC formed a strictly Division III league . The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association formed a women ' s division with five teams for the 2000 - 01 season The 2001 - 02 season saw the formation of the New England Small College Athletic Conference women ' s division and the ECAC West women ' s division . The NCAA began sponsoring a Division III Women ' s Ice hockey championship in 2002 after two championships were held under the American Women ' s Collegiate Hockey Association name . By the 2016 - 17 hockey season the NCAA had 36 Division I schools , 61 Division III schools and one team playing as a Division II Independent . To put this in perspective , a woman playing as a senior in 2016 - 17 was born around 1995 with there only being the ECAC hosting a women ' s hockey division and their being no national championship tournament at any level .