![\"Long](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/UBS-use-one.jpg\")
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Long Island University, the New York Islanders, and UBS Arena announced a new five-year partnership.<\/p>\n
Schneps Media Library<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200bLong Island University, the New York Islanders, and UBS Arena together announced a five-year partnership on Monday, April 6, aimed at elevating\u00a0the growth and exposure of hockey across Long Island and in the New York City region.<\/p>\n
The partnership includes the creation of the Empire State Holiday Invitational, an annual Division I men\u2019s hockey tournament hosted at UBS Arena, where LIU will serve as the host school and participate as one of the teams. The Sharks are the only Division I men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey program in the New York City area.<\/p>\n
The inaugural tournament will take place on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29, with additional information expected to be announced leading up to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis partnership reflects Long Island University\u2019s commitment to Division I Hockey and our belief in the continued growth of the sport in this region,\u201d Long Island University President Kimberly R. Cline said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Collegiate hockey does not have the same volume of teams as other sports. There are only 65 Division I men\u2019s hockey programs and 45 Division I women\u2019s hockey programs across the country. Basketball and football have hundreds of programs competing at the Division I level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
College hockey\u2019s playoffs are also on a much smaller scale. The NCAA Tournament for basketball features 68 teams, with rumors of expansion circulating each year. College hockey culminates in 16 teams competing in a tournament.<\/p>\n
LIU<\/a> has yet to reach the NCAA Tournament since joining the Division I ranks in 2020. The Sharks went 14-18-1 this past season after having their first 20-win season a year ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n The partnership also includes LIU serving as a supporting partner of the New York Islanders\u2019 Learn to Play program, which introduces thousands of children on Long Island to hockey each year.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with the New York Islanders and UBS Arena brings new energy and opportunity to Long Island while strengthening our connection to the community,\u201d Cline said.<\/p>\n IslesLab.com and the Isles Pro Shop, located at the Northwell Health Ice Center, the Islanders\u2019 practice facility and home ice of LIUHockey, will also have LIU Division I hockey merchandise available.\u00a0<\/p>\n LIU has permanent locker rooms, coaching offices, player lounges, and a fully branded Division I arena experience at the ice center located at Eisenhower Park.<\/p>\n Students at LIU will also be granted enhanced access to UBS Arena through the partnership, which will include behind-the-scenes tours, student ticket opportunities, and annual engagement with Islanders and UBS Arena executives through campus programming and experiential opportunities<\/p>\n \u201cBy hosting the Empire State Holiday Invitational and integrating LIU into our community programs, we\u2019re building a true pipeline for athletes and fans,\u201d Kelly Cheeseman, the president of business operations for the Islanders and UBS Arena, said. \u201cThis partnership strengthens our commitment to making Long Island a premier destination for men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey at every level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Island University, the New York Islanders, and UBS Arena announced a new five-year partnership. Schneps Media Library…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,62147,901,3328,159,5190,5189,4,62148,5415,5218],"class_list":{"0":"post-545853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-liiu","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-islanders","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkislanders","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-northwell-health","18":"tag-partnership","19":"tag-ubs-arena"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116364451812308883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"LIU](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/John-Gormley-Goal-_Anchorage_ffb1ea.jpg\")
LIU will participate in the new tournament each year. William A. Miecuna<\/p>\n