From Lehigh University
By Stephen Gross
For the first time in the program’s 85-year existence, according to coach Josh Hand, Lehigh’s Division 1 men’s club ice hockey team earned national recognition as well as an Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA) championship.
Finishing with a 22-7-3 record, the best in school history, Lehigh was at one point ranked 23rd by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), its first ever national ranking. And in its first ECHA conference playoffs since the 2019-20 season, Lehigh topped Villanova, 3-1, on Friday, regular season champ West Chester, 4-3, in overtime on Saturday and finally, William Patterson, 4-1, on Sunday to hoist the AJ Ruth Memorial Cup.
It’s the program’s first title since 1942, when Lehigh beat Penn, 3-2, winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Hockey League.
The Mountain Hawks joined the ECHA, a conference that also includes Temple, Navy, Towson and George Mason, in 1996.
Hand says going into the season he knew they had a strong first-year class to pair with a talented roster of returning players but predicting success is difficult because each season is so different. He’s confident that the team will continue to build on the created momentum.
“Next year is looking really good,” Hand says. “We will lose [to graduation] a significant number of impact players that have helped grow this program to the level of earning it national attention. The program’s success is a direct reflection of how hard they have worked. But we have a fantastic freshman class coming in as the result of the recruiting efforts of my assistant coaches, in particular, Matt Phillipes, who has been with the program for the last two years. Hopefully these new players pick up where our graduating players have left off and continue to find success.”
(Originally published at https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/from-nationally-ranked-to-echa-champion-lehigh-mens-hockey-reaches-new-heights)
