Established in 1991, the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association is a hockey-only college athletic conference whose members are East Coast schools.

The ECHA is currently composed of eight member institutions: George Mason, Villanova, Temple, William Paterson, The United States Naval Academy, Towson, Lehigh, and West Chester.

Previous members include Lebanon Valley College who ended ECHA competition with the 2012 season.

In the 2014/2015 season the University of Scranton folded their hockey program bringing the current number of members to 6.

In effort to maintain the conferences automatic bid to the National Championship Tournament, the ECHA welcomed Temple University beginning in 2015/2016.