Starting in the 2025-26 season, the Stony Brook hockey team will play in the Atlantic Coast Conference Hockey League (ACCHL).
According to a press release from Stony Brook Ice Hockey on Thursday, the Seawolves will leave the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) following this upcoming season, which will mark their 14th year in the league.
As it prepares for its last ride in the ESCHL, Stony Brook will look to add to its conference-record five championships, nine championship appearances and four regular-season championships.
“I have nothing but great things to say about the ESCHL,” head coach Chris Garofalo said in an interview with The Statesman. “The ESCHL has been good to us. We’ve had a lot of success there, we’ve won a lot of league championships. It’s unfortunate because the ESCHL will probably disband at the end of this year. Our goal for the last year is to be the last team to win the trophy.”
Despite their historical success, the Seawolves have struggled as of late. After missing out on the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) National Tournament for the first time in a decade in its 2022-23 campaign, Stony Brook endured its worst year in the program’s history last season, as it finished 7-17-4 overall and 5-5-2 in league play.
The change of scenery will not transpire without familiar faces, as the Seawolves will be a member of the ACCHL North alongside three current ESCHL counterparts: Delaware, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
As revealed in an ACCHL press release regarding the conference’s expansion into ACHA Division l hockey, the league’s other four-team division — the ACCHL South — will feature Alabama, Louisville, North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina.
Though all eight teams will be in the same league, Stony Brook and the other three squads in the ACCHL North will not play against members of the ACCHL South during the regular season to limit travel.
The playoff format is still undecided, as are bids to the national tournament. However, Garofalo told The Statesman that the playoffs will feature teams from both divisions and the league will not receive an automatic bid to the ACHA National Tournament in its inaugural season.
The ACCHL’s primary focus will be to gather hyper-competitive programs in one league, as teams must be ranked 40 or better in the national rankings to remain in the league. If a team fails to meet the threshold, it will be put on probation for a season with a second offense resulting in removal from the league.
After seeing the ACCHL’s willingness to create a league of like-minded teams with a common goal of winning, Garofalo — who made the decision to join the ACCHL in May — felt a move was necessary to reignite the program.
“We felt it was the right move for our team,” Garofalo said. “We felt that the [ACCHL] is going to continue to grow and give us an opportunity to play against very competitive programs week in and week out while keeping us in a geographical location that’s beneficial to our program.”
The league relocation comes in what has already been an eventful offseason for the Seawolves, as they have fostered in a myriad of changes during their “New Era” initiative that was revealed in June. Along with joining the ACCHL and recruiting a plethora of new players, Stony Brook announced that it will be redesigning its uniforms and offering new fan experiences at home games for this upcoming season.
“Stony Brook’s brand is not what we showed last year,” Garofalo said. “But we will get back to the way it was. These little things add up to big things and that’s why we’re doing all of this.”
The Seawolves will kick off their final ESCHL season and debut their new look on Oct. 4, when they host the New York University Violets at The Rinx.
