The conference used to be affiliated with the <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_College_Athletic_Conference" title="Eastern College Athletic Conference">Eastern College Athletic Conference</a>, a consortium of over 300 <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College" title="College">colleges</a> in the eastern <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>. This relationship ended in 2004; however the ECAC abbreviation was retained in the name of the hockey conferenc