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2025-2026 Little East

FloridaHomey said:
I realize it’s early, but any predictions for next year with Norwich Hockey and the Little East?
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Judging off this past season in the NEHC, should be relatively wide open.

Definitely curious to see who Norwich lands as their coach and how many players end up transferring out or in based off of that hire.

I would think on paper Norwich, Babson and Plymouth State are the tri-favorites.

Keene State is a bit of a wild card for me. I think they’ll be a top 4 team in this new league sooner rather than later.

What I am genuinely curious is if this league stays relevant when on paper the UCHC, SUNYAC, CCC and maybe even the NESCAC are all going to be superior eastern hockey conferences.
 
Is this league getting the automatic bid right away? I know they have to wait on the women's side, but I was wondering if they have to wait depending on the full-time members?
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Judging off this past season in the NEHC, should be relatively wide open.

Definitely curious to see who Norwich lands as their coach and how many players end up transferring out or in based off of that hire.

I would think on paper Norwich, Babson and Plymouth State are the tri-favorites.

Keene State is a bit of a wild card for me. I think they’ll be a top 4 team in this new league sooner rather than later.

What I am genuinely curious is if this league stays relevant when on paper the UCHC, SUNYAC, CCC and maybe even the NESCAC are all going to be superior eastern hockey conferences.
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I agree with the Norwich coaching curiosity. Also curious to see how Norwich handles their financial aid issue(s). I think their coaching vacancies/hirings will be heavily influenced by the University’s financial challenges… difficult times in Northfield… the beautiful Kreitzberg Arena is no longer the draw to Norwich.
 
The new LEC is going to be an open race and there’s a lot of story lines heading into next season.

Agree with Prez that it will likely be a 3-way race between Babson, Norwich and Plymouth. All three teams had off an year but are still competitive and strong programs. Have a feeling Norwich will come out swinging in year 1 but guess it depends how their coach search and recruiting sorts out. Hoping Plymouth puts in a strong showing but it’s also very dependent on recruiting for now.

My wildcard is NEC. They always seem to create issues and can play rough. As inconsistent as they are, any matchup with them can be close and will see a few scraps. They could either sit in 4th or be towards the bottom.

I’m also wondering how the other lower end NEHC programs will fit in. UMB, Castleton, and USM should benefit from being in a weaker conference overall. As someone from Plymouth I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these teams embarrass us at least once.
 
Also worth noting Keene gets conference play for the first time. Rivalry hockey with Plymouth will be fun to watch. That and the battle of Rt-9 with NEC just up the road.

And West Connecticut will field a program for the first time with Doug Friedman. He was the director of hockey operations at BU, and has been coaching in some form for almost 15 years. Club team ended up in 4th (of 7) making the playoffs in the ACHA’s MCHC conference, going 6-4-2 for their best club performance. Will take them a while to get up to speed but exciting to see another new program in New England.
 
FloridaHomey said:
I agree with the Norwich coaching curiosity. Also curious to see how Norwich handles their financial aid issue(s). I think their coaching vacancies/hirings will be heavily influenced by the University’s financial challenges… difficult times in Northfield… the beautiful Kreitzberg Arena is no longer the draw to Norwich.
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well I must have missed it, I guess The Cadets are looking for a new coach???
 
MilkUniversity said:
The new LEC is going to be an open race and there’s a lot of story lines heading into next season.

Agree with Prez that it will likely be a 3-way race between Babson, Norwich and Plymouth. All three teams had off an year but are still competitive and strong programs. Have a feeling Norwich will come out swinging in year 1 but guess it depends how their coach search and recruiting sorts out. Hoping Plymouth puts in a strong showing but it’s also very dependent on recruiting for now.

My wildcard is NEC. They always seem to create issues and can play rough. As inconsistent as they are, any matchup with them can be close and will see a few scraps. They could either sit in 4th or be towards the bottom.

I’m also wondering how the other lower end NEHC programs will fit in. UMB, Castleton, and USM should benefit from being in a weaker conference overall. As someone from Plymouth I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these teams embarrass us at least once.
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It's a good point on NEC. They are always a handful to play in their home rink and generally Tom Carroll gets the most out of every group he has. They were one of the hottest if not the hottest team other than Hobart in the second half of the league season. Never an easy out that's for sure. I'm always curious on the financial stability of NEC. I hear things constantly about that school trying to drive enrollment numbers through sports to keep the doors open. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
It's a good point on NEC. They are always a handful to play in their home rink and generally Tom Carroll gets the most out of every group he has. They were one of the hottest if not the hottest team other than Hobart in the second half of the league season. Never an easy out that's for sure. I'm always curious on the financial stability of NEC. I hear things constantly about that school trying to drive enrollment numbers through sports to keep the doors open. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.
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Historically NEC got the best of Plymouth but the tides have turned in recent years. Still whenever they play the refs are in for a long night trying to stop any fights.

I know they were on the brink maybe 15-20 years ago. They’ve held on since and know they put a heavy emphasis sports to make up for their enrollment. They’re trying to be austere financially but also restarted their football program while shutting their Manchester/NH Art Institute campus. Short term focusing on bringing in more student athletes might help but not sure how sustainable it will be long term. From a couple people I know, their coaches were telling some recruits if they go to NEC they’re not going for the academics so that was telling about where their priorities are.
 
Warning signs for Plymouth and Keene. NH State House looking to make a 30% cut to the University System of NH in the upcoming state budget. There’s been some talk about it over in the UNH thread.

House lawmakers advance 30% budget cut to University System of New Hampshire

Citing a tough budget environment, New Hampshire lawmakers gave initial approval Friday to a two-year, $50 million cut to the state university system.
www.wmur.com

Facilities wise for hockey PSU and Keene are in good spots. However my big worry down the road will be around recruiting. If more programs are going to be on the chopping block we’re losing incentive to bring in athletes and transfers. NH is already last in the country for funding for higher ed, so hopefully schools won’t be stuck in a deeper hole than before.
 
LEC announcing a 5 year deal with Flosports for streaming all games

Little East Conference on Instagram: "The LEC has secured a five-year media rights agreement with @flosports, and will begin broadcasting over 1,000 games on their @flocollege platform beginning in 2025-26. The internationally available FloCollege pl

221 likes, 5 comments - littleeastconf on April 3, 2025: "The LEC has secured a five-year media rights agreement with @flosports, and will begin broadcasting over 1,000 games on their @flocollege platform beginning in 2025-26. The internationally available FloCollege platform features a growing...
www.instagram.com

No better way to promote D3 hockey and college sports than by…. paywalling broke college students and blocking out casual fans
 
as a d1 lacrosse fan i can promise u its some of the worst quality streams u can find too. Syracuse faced delaware last year and it was a iphone on a dollar store tripod. the highlights legit made me nauceous. I promise you its not worth the 10$ a month subscription or 25$ PPV for a single event. Its probably cheaper to just go to the games now
 
Lord_Zubin said:
as a d1 lacrosse fan i can promise u its some of the worst quality streams u can find too. Syracuse faced delaware last year and it was a iphone on a dollar store tripod. the highlights legit made me nauceous. I promise you its not worth the 10$ a month subscription or 25$ PPV for a single event. Its probably cheaper to just go to the games now
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RIT fans go ape shit over how horrible FloSports is.
 
Lord_Zubin said:
as a d1 lacrosse fan i can promise u its some of the worst quality streams u can find too. Syracuse faced delaware last year and it was a iphone on a dollar store tripod. the highlights legit made me nauceous. I promise you its not worth the 10$ a month subscription or 25$ PPV for a single event. Its probably cheaper to just go to the games now
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Yeah I don’t know what the hell the LEC was thinking with this. At least for Plymouth we did a pretty decent job with streaming and have had a great crew of students and staff manning the streams. Very very few alums from any LEC college, areas near each school and students are going to pay for a subscription. It’s gonna hurt especially for any playoff match or NCAA tournament 1st/2nd round matchup.
 
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