Notice how hockey is concentrated in the upper right quadrant of the country. For those of you new to college hockey let me offer some details on the six division 1 conferences.
The Atlantic Hockey Association started play in 1997 when a group of former division 2 schools wanted to graduate to D1 hockey. The NCAA had announced that D2 hockey would be discontinued in 1998. They initially joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) before breaking away as a hockey only conference after the 2003 season.
The Big Ten Conference is just a baby, formed in 2013 after Penn State started a D1 Hockey program. This is in accordance with Big Ten bylaws that outline when six member schools contest a sport, they will compete under the Big Ten banner. Prior to this the other five hockey schools competed in the WCHA and the now-defunct CCHA. Starting in 2017-18 Notre Dame started competing as an Associate Member of the Big Ten conference.
The ECAC is one of the oldest conferences, formed in 1961. The conference is the most stable, as 10 charter schools are still in the conference. A block of teams split off in 1984 to form the Hockey East. Two other teams have joined the conference to create the current 12 team configuration.
Hockey East traces it's roots back to 1984 when 7 of the current teams created a new conference. Over time the conference grew to 12 teams before Notre Dame left in 2017 for the Big Ten, leaving the current 11 team configuration.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is a coalition of cast-offs from the CCHA and WCHA in the aftermath of Penn State starting a D1 hockey program and the formation of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. There are 8 charter membes of the conference. League play started in 2013.
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is the Granddaddy of them all. The conference was formed back in 1951 with seven schools including Michigan and Michigan State. Nine teams have moved into and out of the conference. Only Michigan Tech remains from the original members. 9 teams have joined and stuck to form the current 10 team configuration.
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