The league is coming off another record-breaking season, as the Hockey East Association boasts back-to-back-to-back NCAA National Champions for the first time in league history. The league has consistently remained the strongest Division I conference from top to bottom, encompassing 10 established Division-I hockey programs, entering its 27th season of play in 2010-2011. The Eagles of Boston College won their league-record ninth Hockey East Championship in March of 2010, which included nine straight victories to capture their fourth NCAA Championship in school history.

Hockey East has continued a steady rise to prominence since its founding charter on July 11, 1983, when the possibility of an apparent Ivy League departure threatened the ECAC. In response, the athletics directors from Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence unveiled a new Division I men's ice hockey conference. Together, Bill Flynn of Boston College, John Simpson of Boston University, Andy Mooradian of New Hampshire, Joe Zabilski of Northeastern and Lou Lamoriello of Providence launched Hockey East. Lamoriello assumed the role of the league's first commissioner.

Later that summer, the Board of Directors added the University of Maine and the University of Lowell (now UMass Lowell). Official conference competition of the seven-team league began with the 1984-85 season, and expansion brought the league to nine teams with the additions of Merrimack College (1989) and the University of Massachusetts (1993). The entry of the University of Vermont for the 2005-06 season brought the conference membership to 10 teams.

Since its inception, Hockey East has set new competitive standards for college hockey success, annually compiling an impressive collective winning percentage against non-conference opponents, including a record .705 during the 2002-03 season and a .669 win percentage during the 25th anniversary season of 2008-09. Over the last 18 years, Hockey East has cemented itself as the nation's elite college hockey league, having earned 28 of the 70 berths in the NCAA Frozen Four and boasting seven NCAA title winners: the University of Maine in 1993 and 1999, Boston University in 1995, Boston College in 2001 and 2008, Boston University in 2009 and the Eagles again most recently in 2010 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. Three of the four Frozen Four participants in 1999 came from the Hockey East ranks, and in 2007, both Boston College and the University of Maine made it to the semifinal round in St. Louis, after five squads (including Boston University, Massachusetts and New Hampshire) were selected for the 16- team NCAA field. Hockey East sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2010, marking six times in the last seven seasons that league teams have accomplished that feat.

Hockey East has proven to be an equally strong presence off the ice and in the classroom. League athletes continue to demonstrate their commitment to overall excellence, as the Hockey East All-Academic Team honored 79 student-athletes for outstanding academic achievement during the 2009-2010 academic year. Merrimack's Andrew Braithwaite earned a 4.0 GPA last season and was the recipient of Hockey East's "Top Scholar Athlete" distinction for the third straight season. The league also boasted seven "Distinguished Scholar-Athletes" who recorded a 4.0 GPA in every semester of their four year Hockey East career. Hockey East athletes also make a positive impact on many community service programs across the region, volunteering with youth hockey associations and community service organizations. Five Hockey East athletes have received the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award, two each from the men's league and three from the women's, and seven others have been finalists for the award. Northeastern's senior forward Missy Elumba was the recipient of the award in 2009, marking the league's fifth honoree in as many years.

UNH's Bobby Butler and Maine's Gustav Nyquist were named Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists and First-Team All-Americans, as the league has boasted five of the last six hat trick finalists in the last two years. The league boasted six All-Americans last year, which includes returnees Nyquist and Blake Kessel from UNH.

However, it is the quality of its individual players as leading athletes that most sets Hockey East apart from the rest. More than 47 Hockey East alums were regulars on NHL rosters in 2009-2010. Vermont alum Patrick Sharp won the 2010 Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in June.

In total, 46 active Hockey East players have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft. The league boasts 32 all-time first round picks, which includes BC's Kevin Hayes (CHI) and BU's Charlie Coyle (SJS), marking the seventh draft in which at least two Hockey East skaters were chosen in the first round. Boston College's 10-11 roster boasts a league-high 12 NHL draft picks, while cross-town rival Boston University has nine student-athletes selected. A total of 511 Hockey East student-athletes have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft in the 26-year history of the league, which included 10 draftees in the 2010 Entry Draft.

The reach of Hockey East continues to grow as new state-of-the-art facilities are constructed, increasing capacities and amenities for college hockey fans. And the fans have responded with over a million spectators came out to watch Hockey East teams during the 2009-10 season for the fifth consecutive season.