Colonial Hockey Conference

{{Short description|Defunct NCAA Division III athletic conference}}

{{for|the ACHA Division II (club-level) athletic conference|Colonial States College Hockey Conference}}

{{for|the minor professional league known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997|United Hockey League}}

{{Infobox sports league

| name = Colonial Hockey Conference

| logo = Colonial Hockey Conference logo.jpg

| logo_size = 125px

| founded = 2015

| folded = 2020
{{small|(absorbed by
Commonwealth Coast Conference)}}

| association = NCAA

| division = Division III

| teams = 4

| sports = Women's ice hockey

| region = Northeastern U.S.

| formerly = ECAC North Atlantic

| commissioner = Katie Boldvich

| website = http://colonialhockey.com

}}

The Colonial Hockey Conference (CHC) was an athletic conference that operated in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division III as an ice hockey-only conference and included only women's teams.

The formation of the conference was originally announced in late 2014 under the ECAC umbrella, with the conference to be known as the ECAC North Atlantic.{{cite news|url=http://www.uscho.com/2014/12/11/ecac-north-atlantic-to-start-in-womens-d-iii-ranks-in–2015-16/|title=ECAC North Atlantic to start in women's D-III ranks for 2015-16|website=USCHO|date=December 11, 2014|access-date=October 7, 2016}} The eight founding institutions all had either independent or newly formed women's hockey teams, so no teams had to switch conferences to join the ECAC-NA. In 2015, however, just before the conference's first season commenced, the members announced that the conference would be renamed the Colonial Hockey Conference, dropping the ECAC affiliation.{{cite news|url=http://www.d3hockey.com/releases/women/2015-16/151026-ECAC-North-Atlantic-Colonial-Hockey-Conference|title=ECAC NA to become Colonial Hockey Conference|website=D3Hockey.com|date=October 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105015222/https://www.d3hockey.com/releases/women/2015-16/151026-ECAC-North-Atlantic-Colonial-Hockey-Conference|archive-date=November 5, 2015|access-date=October 7, 2016}} The conference lasted until the 2019-20 season, when the Commonwealth Coast Conference, now known as the Conference of New England, took over operations.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uscho.com/2019/10/05/commonwealth-coast-conference-starting-womens-hockey-in-2020-21-will-assume-operation-of-colonial-hockey-conference/|title=Commonwealth Coast Conference starting women's hockey in 2020-21, will assume operation of Colonial Hockey Conference|first=USCHO|last=Staff|date=October 6, 2019}} At that time, all of the remaining members of the CHC were full members of the CCC.