The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

men's Division I hockey conference. The league was formed on July 9, 2011 and 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, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

began competition, as a combination of six previous members of the WCHA and two of the CCHA. The league is headquartered in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

History

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

announced it would sponsor the sport following

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

having fielding a team, bringing the number of Big Ten members with teams to six. The WCHA faced the loss of the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

and

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

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

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

, 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 team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

, 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 tree, ...

. 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. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

, the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

, the

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the University of Minnesota System. UMD offers 17 bachelor's degrees in 87 majors, graduate programs in 24 different fields, a tw ...

, the

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

, and the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

, 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 is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

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 university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

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. On May 12, 2022, Heather Weems was named third commissioner of the NCHC. On July 5, 2023, a report came out that announced that

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

would join the conference beginning in the 2024–25 season. The NCHC officially announced Arizona State's entry later that day. On May 15, 2024 University of St. Thomas announced they would leave the CCHA to become the tenth member of the conference for the 2026-27 season. Arizona State University officially became a member of the NCHC on July 1, 2024.

Members

Future members

Championships, Frozen Fours, and NCAA Tournament Appearances

Conference Champions

(*) Both teams tied in total points resulting in co-champions.

Penrose Cup

The Penrose Cup trophy has been awarded to the NCHC's regular-season champion since the conference's inaugural season in 2013-14. The award honors 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

Future member in gray.

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:650 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:2013 till:2029 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 List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

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

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

(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 Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

(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 people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

(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 a region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Generally, it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake ...

(2013–present) bar:9 color:Full from:2024 till:end text: Arizona State (2024–) bar:10 color:Full from:2026 till:end text: St. Thomas (2026–) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:2015 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 'Defensive Defenseman of the Year' award was known as the 'Defenseman of the Year' award prior to 2017.

References

External links

NCHC Hockey Homepage
{{NCAA Division I hockey conferences 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

Future members

Championships, Frozen Fours, and NCAA Tournament Appearances

Conference Champions

Penrose Cup

NCHC Tournament Champions

Conference arenas

Membership timeline

Awards

All-Conference teams

Individual awards

See also

References

External links