Both men's and women's hoops for the Ivies have their tournament to determine an auto bid to the NCAAs so it stands to reason that hockey would benefit from separating from the ECAC. It would depend on how the Ivies want to fill out the remaining schedule of games from outside the league. Harvard's biggest hockey rival is Cornell for men's hockey, and Yale for women's hockey; we don't have a true rivalry with any of the ECAC schools. Since Hockey East was formed, it's been tough to compete with BC, BU, and Northeastern consistently so I could see a day when we stop playing them altogether.
The Dartmouth men's hoops team's recent NLRB ruling bears watching especially as it relates to the Ivy hockey programs. Both men and women hockey players have a chance to turn pro after college so it wouldn't be a stretch to see the day when the hockey players at the Ivies want some form of compensation for playing for their college. Harvard would fight it tooth and nail but given how many of our players have gone on to the NHL, they may have to come to some kind of agreement if they want the teams to compete in D-1.