The Intercollegiate Hockey League began as an agreement between Harvard, Princeton and Yale to play one another in best-of-three series.
As the Intercollegiate Hockey Association was collapsing, the three top college teams wanted to continue playing games against one another.
After Harvard left the IHA in 1911 they scheduled both Princeton and Yale multiple times the following season.
After Yale left the next year all three teams agreed to play two games against one another with a third used in case of a tie.
The league held together for five years before World War I caused both Princeton and Harvard to suspend their programs.