NCAA Division I independent schools are teams that compete in NCAAice hockey but are not members of a conference. There are several current schools who, at one time or another, competed as Division I independents.
^Enrollment at the main Tempe campus. ASU has four physical campuses in the Phoenix area, plus a large online operation. The combined on-campus enrollment is 80,065, and the overall enrollment is 142,616.
^Combined entollment at LIU's Brooklyn and Post (Brookville) campuses. The hockey team is open to undergraduates at both campuses who meet NCAA eligibility requirements.
Alaska played infrequently as an independent program prior to 1985. It returned to independent status after the Great West Hockey Conference dissolved in 1988 and then joined the CCHA in 1995. The team was one of two final members of the men's division of the WCHA in 2021 and formally dissolved the men's side of the conference in 2021 (the WCHA remains in operation as a women-only league).[3]
Alaska-Anchorage first moved to D1 status in hockey in 1984, and played its first couple years as an independent before joining the newly founded GWHC alongside the Nanooks. After it dissolved, the Seawolves also played as an independent before joining the WCHA in 1994, around the same time Alaska joined the nearby CCHA. In 2020, the University of Alaska announced that UAA hockey would be cut after the 2020-21 season due to a reduction in state funding unless the program could raise 3 million dollars, and the program went on hiatus that year while its future was uncertain.[4] Ultimately, the program was saved, and it returned to play in the 2022-23 season as an independent, following the dissolution of the men's side of its former conference, the WCHA.[5]
The Sun Devils moved up from club hockey in the ACHA to full varsity status. Arizona State began playing a full Division I schedule in 2016–17.
The LIU Sharks launched their men's program for the 2020–21 season, a year after starting a women's ice hockey program.
In 2021–22, Lindenwood fielded two separate men's club teams, each playing at a different level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), which governs the sport at club level. On March 23, 2022, Lindenwood announced that it would launch a Division I men's varsity program starting in the 2022–23 season, while maintaining its ACHA program. This announcement came shortly after the school announced it was starting a transition from Division II to Division I in July 2022, joining the non-hockey Ohio Valley Conference.[7]
On April 5, 2022, Stonehill, then a member of the D-II Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10), announced it was joining the Northeast Conference (which also does not sponsor ice hockey) that July, starting its own transition to D-I. Before this announcement, Stonehill had been one of seven NE-10 members that played men's ice hockey under Division II regulations, despite the NCAA not sponsoring a championship event at that level. (All other D-II schools with varsity men's ice hockey play under D-I regulations.)[8]
No women's program has competed as an independent in the National Collegiate division of women's ice hockey, the de facto equivalent of Division I in that sport, since the 2018–19 season. The NCAA has never sponsored a Division II championship in the sport, although it does sponsor a Division III championship.
Five schools competed as independents in the 2018–19 season, all participating in the nascent New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), which had originally been established in 2017 as a scheduling alliance among all of the then-current National Collegiate independents. The NEWHA initially included six schools, but Holy Cross left after the inaugural 2017–18 NEWHA season to join Hockey East. The NEWHA officially organized as a conference in advance of the 2018–19 season,[10] but was not officially recognized by the NCAA as a Division I league until the 2019–20 season, by which time the newly launched LIU program had joined as the sixth member.[11]
The newest National Collegiate hockey school is Assumption, which joined the NEWHA for administrative purposes in 2022 but did not start conference play until launching its varsity team a year later.[12] Also, Robert Morris, which had dropped the sport after the 2020–21 season due to COVID-19 impacts, resumed play in 2023–24, returning to its previous conference of College Hockey America.[13]
Bemidji returned to Division I in 1999 as a charter member of College Hockey America, and moved to the WCHA for 2010–11. The Beavers were among the schools that revived the CCHA in 2021.
In September 2010, Penn State announced they would add men's and women's NCAA Division I hockey programs in 2012, competing in their first season as an independent.[43] In March 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced that Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State would leave the CCHA, and Minnesota and Wisconsin announced that they would leave the WCHA to form a Big Ten hockey conference to begin play in the 2013–14 season.[44]
After playing as a de facto Division III program from the varsity program's creation in 1999–2000, joined the NEWHA at its formation in 2017–18 before moving to Hockey East the following season.
The university competed as an independent for the 2011–12 season during the transition process of joining the NCAA from NAIA, during which, the team was reclassifying from ACHA Division I to NCAA Division I. Lindenwood placed an application in Fall 2011 and was accepted as a member of CHA starting in the 2012–13 season.[58]
Played inaugural women's hockey season of 2016–17 as a Division III independent ineligible for postseason play.[59] Joined the NEWHA at its formation in 2017 and left independent status upon NCAA recognition of the NEWHA.
The Chargers first competed as a Division I independent between stints in Division II. After winning 2 championships and finishing as runners-up twice more, UAH returned to Division I in 1998, spending one season as an independent before becoming a charter member of College Hockey America. Following the demise of the men's side of CHA, and being denied entry to the CCHA,[67] the Chargers were independent for three seasons (2010–11 to 2012–13)[68] until joining the Western Collegiate Hockey Association beginning in the 2013–14 season.[69] The team was temporarily suspended in 2021. The university currently plans to bring the program back when they secure placement in a Division I conference.
The program was suspended after 1910 when the Intercollegiate League collapsed. The team resurfaced in 1937 in the Penn-Ohio League but discontinued the program in 1940.
The program was suspended when the Intercollegiate League collapsed in 1910. The team restarted with the inception of the Penn-Ohio League in 1937 but was suspended after just two seasons.
St. Louis was a founding member of the CCHA and continued with the conference until the program was demoted to club status in 1979. They currently play as an unrecognized Division II team.