BURLINGTON, Vt. – The University of Vermont hockey program will join Hockey East for the 2005-2006 season, league officials said Thursday.

The move means UVM will leave the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and increase to 10 the number of teams in Hockey East, considered one of the most competitive Division I college hockey leagues in the country.

Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna said that whenever expansion was discussed in the league Vermont was always mentioned as a candidate.

“In casual conversation the one school that was always on peoples’ lips – because it made so much sense – was Vermont,” Bertagna said during a news conference in Burlington with UVM President Daniel Fogel and Athletic Director Robert Corran.

Hockey East athletic directors met Tuesday at league headquarters in Wakefield, Mass., to discuss inviting Vermont to join the league.

“I can say with all sincerity there wasn’t anything that remotely resembled a minus presented in our meetings and our deliberations,” Bertagna said. “It seemed a natural thing and a natural fit and we’re very excited about what the potential of this marriage holds.”

In both of this week’s major college hockey polls five of the top 20 teams are from Hockey East. In addition, 18 of 44 spots in the last 11 NCAA Frozen Fours have been taken by Hockey East teams. Those teams have won four national championships.

Fogel said the switch to Hockey East was part of a university-wide push for excellence in all areas.

“We at the University of Vermont are determined to rank among the best,” Fogel said at the news conference. “That is what Hockey East is.”

The Vermont men’s hockey team has played in the ECAC Division I since the 1974-1975 season. During that time it reached the Frozen Four once, at the end of the 1995-1996 season.

Hockey East was formed in 1983 by athletic directors from Boston College, Boston University, New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence. Before the start of the 1984-1985 season, when it began play, the league added Maine and the University of Lowell, now UMass Lowell.

The Women’s Hockey East Association was founded in 2001. It is made up of teams from Boston College, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence.

The UVM women’s hockey program went varsity in 2001.

Fogel and Corran both said Vermont would continue to keep ECAC teams on its schedule as non-league opponents.

“The ECAC recognizes the contributions the University of Vermont has made to the league over the past 30 years,” ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco said in a statement issued after UVM’s move was announced. “It is our understanding that Vermont’s decision was based solely on the strategic analysis for the betterment of the university.”

This year Vermont, under first year coach Kevin Sneddon, is 0-13-0 in the ECAC and 2-13-3 overall.

But on Thursday UVM officials weren’t looking at this year’s record. The decision to move to a tougher league is a long-term one. There are nonspecific plans to build a larger arena at UVM that would also be used for community events.

Playing in a more competitive league should make it easier for UVM officials to recruit higher quality players.

Bertagna said the addition of a new team to Hockey East would require the league to change its scheduling practices, which currently have each team playing the other league members three times.

Officials haven’t figured out how that would work. A committee is studying the issue.

“I’m really excited for what it will do for our program,” said Kate Hudspeth, a 20-year-old sophomore hockey player from Burlington.

“This year we struggled against Hockey East,” said Travis Russell, a freshman goaltender from Essex Junction. “We’ve got another year to recruit some players.”