ECAC 2

ECAC 2 was an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's College Division. The league was created as a way to fairly divide the upper- and lower-class programs that had been members of ECAC Hockey. In 1984 the conference was split in two, creating ECAC East and ECAC West as completely independent leagues.
==History==
===Foundation===
In 1950 college ice hockey received its first official conference, the Tri State League, and while the conference possessed a minimal number of teams it routinely received one of the two eastern bids to the NCAA tournament. Concurrently, once seven western schools formed their own conference they were able to earn both western bids each year because there were no other colleges in competition for tournament berths. This situation left one eastern bid available for at least two dozen eastern schools. The arrangement came to a head in 1961 when both eastern bids were given to Tri State League teams and very soon thereafter ECAC Hockey was formed. Following the same pattern as the western schools, every available eastern college joined the league, including the three remaining members of the Tri State League, and the 28-team mega conference was born.
Due to the sheer number of universities in the conference none of the teams could guarantee playing each other so from the outset the conference standings were deemphasized and the eight teams that played in the conference tournament were selected by a committee based upon their perceived strength. This led to some schools like Williams, who finished 4th in the standings in 1962, not being invited to the tournament despite a 16–3–1 record against other ECAC schools because of their assumed weaker competition.
===Split===
The giant league remained in place for three seasons before being split in two. 15 teams that were willing to invest greater amounts of time, effort and money to their ice hockey programs remained in ECAC Hockey while the remaining 14 schools joined in a new league, ECAC 2. ECAC 2 was the first ice hockey conference formed for the NCAA College Division (which would later become Division III and Division II) and was virtually the only collection of schools in the country that played at the lower tier. After only seven years the conference had doubled in size and once again created a lower tier (ECAC 3) though only six schools chose to leave for the lesser division in 1971.
===Further Growth and Dissolution===
ECAC 2 remained the sole conference outside Division I for several years but started getting some competition in the 1970s. In that time, however, the conference continued to grow larger until it possessed over 30 members by 1975 and divided itself internally into two divisions (East and West) which would continue for another decade.
In 1978, five years after dividing the college division into two numerical divisions, the NCAA began the NCAA Division II Men's Ice Hockey Championship and the inaugural title was won by ECAC 2 member, Merrimack. ECAC 2 would win four more championships over the next five years but by the mid 1980s many of the league members wanted to reclassify the league as Division III due to the scholarship and funding requirements for Division II teams. In 1984 the conference was split in to ECAC East and ECAC West as separate Division III conferences. At the same time the NCAA dissolved the Division II tournament and instituted the Division III tournament which then caused the NAIA to end its sponsorship of ice hockey.
===Legacy===
Most of the 46 programs that played in the ECAC 2 are still going as of 2018, with many having jumped up to the Division I ranks. While several schools have won Division III national titles in the years since the conference ended, both Maine and Union have won Division I national titles.
===ECAC 2 Tournament===
The ECAC 2 played a conference tournament from 1967 through its final season in 1984. The tournament served as the de facto Division II National Championship until the NCAA instituted a national tournament in 1978. That year ECAC 2 effectively split its conference in two by having two division tournaments (East and West) with all games between the two divisions counting for the regular season.
==Member schools==
In its 20-year existence ECAC 2 had 45 individual schools as members. 
	Location 	Athletic nickname	Enrollment#	Colors	Founded	Joined	Left	Succeeding Conference 	Current Conference†
	Springfield, Massachusetts 	Yellow Jackets 	1,700 	 	1885 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	Atlantic Hockey
	Amherst, Massachusetts 	Lord Jeffs 	1,817 	 	1821 	1964 	1972	ECAC 3 	NESCAC
	Worcester, Massachusetts 	Greyhounds 	2,753 	 	1904 	1967 	1971	ECAC 3 	Northeast–10
	West Point, New York 	Cadets 	4,400 	 	1802 	1973 	1980	ECAC Hockey 	Atlantic Hockey
	Wellesley, Massachusetts 	Beavers 	1,800 	 	1919 	1968 	1984	ECAC East 	NEHC
	Boston, Massachusetts 	Warriors 	– 	 	1872 	1966 	1982	Merged with UMass Boston	Merged with UMass Boston
	Brunswick, Maine 	Polar Bears 	1,805 	 	1794 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	NESCAC
	Bridgewater, Massachusetts 	Bears 	9,628 	 	1840 	1970 	1981	Dropped Program 	Dropped Program
	Brockport, New York 	Golden Eagles 	8,275 	 	1867 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Smithfield, Rhode Island 	Bulldogs 	3,751 	 	1863 	1975 	1980	Dropped Program 	Dropped Program
	Buffalo, New York 	Bulls 	30,648 	 	1846 	1971 	1984	ECAC West 	Dropped Program
	Waterville, Maine 	Mules 	1,838 	 	1813 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	NESCAC
	Storrs, Connecticut 	Huskies 	32,027 	 	1881 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	Hockey East
	Cortland, New York 	Red Dragons 	7,234 	 	1868 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Elmira, New York 	Soaring Eagles 	1,170 	 	1855 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	UCHC
	Framingham, Massachusetts 	Rams 	6,156 	 	1839 	1979 	1982	ECAC 3 	MASCAC
	Geneseo, New York 	Knights 	5,585 	 	1871 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Clinton, New York 	Continentals 	1,864 	 	1793 	1964 	1984	ECAC West 	NESCAC
	Worcester, Massachusetts 	Crusaders 	2,897 	 	1843 	1967 	1984	ECAC East 	Atlantic Hockey
	Ithaca, New York 	Bombers 	6,969 	 	1892 	1967 	1976	Dropped Program 	Dropped Program
	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 	Mountain Hawks 	5,080 	 	1865 	1969 	1971	ECAC 3 	Dropped Program
	Orono, Maine 	Black Bears 	11,222 	 	1865 	1977 	1979	ECAC Hockey 	Hockey East
	Amherst, Massachusetts 	Minutemen 	27,269 	 	1863 	1964 	1979	Dropped Program 	Hockey East
	Dorchester, Massachusetts 	Beacons 	10,600 	 	1894 	1982 	1984	ECAC East 	NEHC
	Cambridge, Massachusetts 	Engineers 	4,512 	 	1861 	1964 	1971	ECAC 3 	Dropped Program
	Lowell, Massachusetts 	Chiefs 	18,316 	 	1894 	1968 	1983	ECAC Hockey 	Hockey East
	North Andover, Massachusetts	Warriors 	3,653 	 	1947 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	Hockey East
	Middlebury, Vermont 	Panthers 	2,507 	 	1800 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	NESCAC
	Henniker, New Hampshire 	Pilgrims 	1,460 	 	1946 	1971 	1984	ECAC East 	NEHC
	Durham, New Hampshire 	Wildcats 	14,761 	 	1866 	1964 	1966	ECAC Hockey 	Hockey East
	West Haven, Connecticut 	Chargers 	4,800 	 	1920 	1967 	1983	Dropped Program 	Dropped Program
	Dudley, Massachusetts 	Bison 	1,459 	 	1815 	1967 	1971	ECAC 3 	CCC
	North Adams, Massachusetts 	Mowhawks 	1,891 	 	1894 	1975 	1984	ECAC East 	Dropped Program
	Northfield, Vermont 	Cadets 	2,000 	 	1819 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	NEHC
	Oswego, New York 	Lakers 	8,909 	 	1861 	1967 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Plattsburgh, New York 	Cardinals 	6,358 	 	1889 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Potsdam, New York 	Bears 	4,325 	 	1816 	1976 	1984	ECAC West 	SUNYAC
	Henrietta, New York 	Tigers 	16,842 	 	1829 	1980 	1984	ECAC West 	Atlantic Hockey
	Goffstown, New Hampshire 	Hawks 	1,945 	 	1889 	1969 	1984	ECAC East 	Northeast–10
	Salem, Massachusetts 	Vikings 	10,125 	 	1854 	1967 	1984	ECAC East 	MASCAC
	Schenectady, New York 	Dutchmen 	2,200 	 	1795 	1975 	1984	ECAC West 	ECAC Hockey
	Burlington, Vermont 	Catamounts 	11,999 	 	1791 	1964 	1974	ECAC Hockey 	Hockey East
	Westfield, Massachusetts 	Owls 	5,166 	 	1874 	1978 	1984	ECAC East 	MASCAC
	Williamstown, Massachusetts 	Ephs 	2,124 	 	1793 	1964 	1984	ECAC East 	NESCAC
	Worcester, Massachusetts 	Lancers 	6,221 	 	1874 	1967 	1971	ECAC 3 	MASCAC
# enrollment in 2018† as of 2018
==Membership timeline==
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1985
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = 
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 id:men value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.8) legend:men
 
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PlotData=
 width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
 bar:1 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1966 text:[[[[University of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]] (1964–1966)
 bar:2 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1971 text:[[[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] (1964–1971)
 bar:3 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1972 text:[[[[Amherst College|Amherst]] (1964–1972)
 bar:4 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1974 text:[[[[University of Vermont|Vermont]] (1964–1974)
 bar:5 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1979 text:[[[[University of Massachusetts Amherst|Massachusetts]] (1964–1979)
 bar:6 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[American International College |American International]] (1964–1984)
 bar:7 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Bowdoin College|Bowdoin]] (1964–1984)
 bar:8 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Colby College|Colby]] (1964–1984)
 bar:9 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[University of Connecticut|Connecticut]] (1964–1984)
 bar:10 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Hamilton College|Hamilton]] (1964–1984)
 bar:11 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Merrimack College|Merrimack]] (1964–1984)
 bar:12 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Middlebury College|Middlebury]] (1964–1984)
 bar:13 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Norwich University|Norwich]] (1964–1984)
 bar:14 color:Full from:08/01/1964 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Williams College|Williams]] (1964–1984)
 bar:15 color:Full from:08/01/1966 till:05/01/1982 text:[[[[Boston State College|Boston State]] (1966–1982)
 bar:15 color:Full from:08/01/1982 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[University of Massachusetts Boston|UMass Boston]] (1982–1984)
 bar:16 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1971 text:[[[[Assumption College (Worcester)|Assumption]] (1967–1971)
 bar:17 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1971 text:[[[[Nichols College|Nichols]] (1967–1971)
 bar:18 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1971 text:[[[[Worcester State University|Worcester State]] (1967–1971)
 bar:19 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1976 text:[[[[Ithaca College|Ithaca]] (1967–1976)
 bar:20 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1983 text:[[[[University of New Haven|New Haven]] (1967–1983)
 bar:21 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[College of the Holy Cross|Holy Cross]] (1967–1984)
 bar:22 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York at Oswego|Oswego State]] (1967–1984)
 bar:23 color:Full from:08/01/1967 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Salem State University|Salem State]] (1967–1984)
 bar:24 color:Full from:08/01/1968 till:05/01/1975 text:[[[[University of Massachusetts Lowell|Lowell Tech]] (1968–1975)
 bar:24 color:Full from:08/01/1975 till:05/01/1983 text:[[[[University of Massachusetts Lowell|Lowell]] (1975–1983)
 bar:25 color:Full from:08/01/1968 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Babson College|Babson]] (1968–1984)
 bar:26 color:Full from:08/01/1969 till:05/01/1971 text:[[[[Lehigh University|Lehigh]] (1969–1971)
 bar:27 color:Full from:08/01/1969 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Saint Anselm College|Saint Anselm]] (1969–1984)
 bar:28 color:Full from:08/01/1970 till:05/01/1981 text:[[[[Bridgewater State University|Bridgewater State]] (1970–1981)
 bar:29 color:Full from:08/01/1971 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[University at Buffalo|Buffalo]] (1971–1984)
 bar:30 color:Full from:08/01/1971 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[New England College|New England]] (1971–1984)
 bar:31 color:Full from:08/01/1973 till:05/01/1980 text:[[[[United States Military Academy|Army]] (1973–1980)
 bar:32 color:Full from:08/01/1975 till:05/01/1980 text:[[[[Bryant College|Bryant]] (1975–1980)
 bar:33 color:Full from:08/01/1975 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts|North Adams State]] (1975–1984)
 bar:34 color:Full from:08/01/1975 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Union College|Union]] (1975–1984)
 bar:35 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York at Brockport|Brockport State]] (1976–1984)
 bar:36 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York College at Cortland|Cortland State]] (1976–1984)
 bar:37 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Elmira College|Elmira]] (1976–1984)
 bar:38 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York at Geneseo|Geneseo State]] (1976–1984)
 bar:39 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York at Plattsburgh|Plattsburgh State]] (1976–1984)
 bar:40 color:Full from:08/01/1976 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[State University of New York at Potsdam|Potsdam State]] (1976–1984)
 bar:41 color:Full from:08/01/1977 till:05/01/1979 text:[[[[University of Maine|Maine]] (1977–1979)
 bar:42 color:Full from:08/01/1978 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Westfield State University|Westfield State]] (1978–1984)
 bar:43 color:Full from:08/01/1979 till:05/01/1982 text:[[[[Framingham State University|Framingham State]] (1979–1982)
 bar:44 color:Full from:08/01/1980 till:05/01/1984 text:[[[[Rochester Institute of Technology|RIT]] (1980–1984)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1966
==See also==
* ECAC Hockey
* ECAC East
* ECAC West
* ECAC 3
==References==
Category:NCAA Division II conferences