The American Hockey Coaches Association was formed in 1947 in Boston . The founding members coached college ice hockey but membership has grown to include coaches at every level of the sport from youth hockey to professional ice hockey , although the organization maintains a focus on the collegiate game.
6-519: Aside from its collaborative and community functions, the association also names several award winners each year, most significantly the college ice hockey All-Americans in both divisions and both genders. They also name the top coach in each of the divisions and genders: The organization also awards the Terry Flanagan Award , given to an assistant coach each year in recognition of the coach's entire career. This ice hockey article
12-560: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . List of Division I AHCA All-American Teams The Division I AHCA All-American Teams are an annual honor bestowed by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the college hockey players judged to be the top performers in their division. Each team is composed of at least one goaltender , two defensemen and three forwards on ice hockey programs . At least one all-star team has been named by
18-453: The eastern teams until an internal schism split the conference and Hockey East was formed in 1984–85 . Due in part to an influx of member teams to fill the rolls of the four major conferences as well as increased inter-conference competition for recognition, the AHCA began to name two teams for each region (first- and second-teams) which it has continued to do since 1983–84 . As of 2013–14
24-615: The first ten years two teams worth of players were voted on and usually assorted into a first- and second-team. In some years, however, no distinction was made and the players were all considered to have received first-team honors. The format was changed for the 1957–58 season , creating an All-American team for both the East and West regions. In the early years of this format the All-American teams were dominated by two conferences (the WCHA in
30-472: The since the start of NCAA tournament play in 1947–48 after the conclusion of either the regular season or the conference tournaments. Initially the All-American teams weren't named by ACHA. in the first ten years of the teams the players were selected by some combination of media members and team officials. In some years only players from teams that participated in the NCAA tournament were eligible. In each of
36-621: The west and the ECAC in the east) as there were only two major conferences competing in NCAA hockey (the WCHA began play in 1959–60 followed by the ECAC two years later). While the CCHA began play in 1971–72 it would only provide one player to the All-American teams until a conference realignment in 1981–82 when it became considered on par with the major conferences. The ECAC would continue to dominate
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