When the NCAA created Division III in 1973 ECAC 3 was placed at that level and remained there for the rest of its existence.

A year later the four member schools who were from Division II schools began playing in a separate tournament which allowed the other programs to play in an NCAA-sanctioned D-III conference tournament for the first time.

In 2009 the nine schools whose primary conference was either MASCAC or Northeast-10 left when those two leagues began sponsoring ice hockey.

All nine teams joined CCC as either full or associate members and the ECAC Northeast was dissolved.

† as of 2018 * Assumption, Franklin Pierce, Southern New Hampshire, and Stonehill are Division II schools; and were not allowed to participate in the ECAC Northeast playoffs after 1999, nor were they eligible for the Division III national tournament.