The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

men's Division I hockey conference formed on July 9, 2011. The league began playing for the 2013–14 season, the same season that the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

began competition, as a combination of six previous members of the

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

and two of the CCHA. The league is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Josh Fenton has served as conference commissioner since July 1, 2013.

History

The men's college ice hockey landscape was shaken on March 21, 2011, when the

was announced it would sponsor the sport following Penn State having fielding a team, bringing the number of Big Ten members with teams to six. The

faced the loss of the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

and

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

in the future, whereas the CCHA faced the loss of the Michigan Wolverines, the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

, and

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

. Some of the remaining teams of the WCHA and CCHA began talks to form a league that would ensure their survival as financially strong and successful programs. On July 9, 2011, the athletic directors of the six founding schools,

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

, the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

, the

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 Academic major, majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a ...

, the

University of Nebraska Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

, and the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

, confirmed these reports by announcing the conference officially and giving the date for a press conference for further information on July 13, 2011. At the July 13, 2011 press conference, Brian Faison, athletic director of the

, and one of the main speakers said that the motivation for this conference was to put teams together that "have displayed a high level of competitiveness on the ice,

ave ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

an institutional commitment to compete at the highest level within Division I, provide a national platform for exposure, and have wonderful history and tradition within their institution and hockey programs." On September 22, 2011, St. Cloud State University and

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

accepted invitations to join the NCHC. On March 7, 2013, the NCHC unveiled the logo for the inaugural season. It features a shield design with the colors red, white, and blue. Inside the shield are eight stars, presumably representing the eight inaugural members, and a hockey stick on the bottom left.

Members

Champions

(*) = Both the 2020 NCHC and NCAA Tournaments were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Penrose Cup is a trophy that has been awarded to the NCHC's regular-season champion since the conference's beginning in 2013. The award is named in honor of Julie and Spencer Penrose who created the El Pomar Foundation that played a major role in the establishment of the NCHC.

NCHC Tournament champions

Conference arenas

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:650 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:2013 till:2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:

(2013–present) bar:2 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

(2013–present) bar:3 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

(2013–present) bar:4 color:Full from:2013 till:end text: Minnesota Duluth (2013–present) bar:5 color:Full from:2013 till:end text: Omaha (2013–present) bar:6 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

(2013–present) bar:7 color:Full from:2013 till:end text: St. Cloud State (2013–present) bar:8 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

(2013–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2013 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-left) text:^ #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Awards

At the conclusion of each regular season schedule the coaches of each NCHC team vote which players they choose to be on the three All-Conference Teams: first team, second team and rookie team. Additionally they vote to award the 10 individual trophies to an eligible player at the same time. The CCHA also awards Most Valuable Player in Tournament which is voted on at the conclusion of the conference tournament. All of the awards were created for the inaugural season ( 2013–14).

All-Conference Teams

Individual Awards

the award was known as the 'Defenseman of the Year Award' prior to 2017

References

External links

NCHC Hockey Homepage
{{NCAA Division I hockey conferences Ice hockey leagues in the United States Organizations established in 2011 Organizations based in Colorado Springs, Colorado College ice hockey conferences in the United States 2011 establishments in the United States Articles which contain graphical timelines

History

Members

Champions

NCHC Tournament champions

Conference arenas

Membership timeline

Awards

All-Conference Teams

Individual Awards

See also

References

External links