National Collegiate Hockey Conference

Not to be confused with National Collegiate Hockey Association.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's Division I hockey conference for teams in the Midwestern United States. The league was formed on July 9, 2011 and began playing for the 2013–14 season, the same season that the Big Ten Conference 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.

National Collegiate Hockey Conference

Current season, competition or edition: 2024–25 NCHC season
Association	NCAA
Founded	2011 (began play in 2013)
Commissioner	Heather Weems
Sports fielded	Men's ice hockey
Division	Division I
No. of teams	9 (10 in 2026)
Headquarters	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Region	Midwestern United States Western United States
Official website	NCHCHockey.com
Locations

History

See also: 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment: Men's ice hockey

The men's college ice hockey landscape was shaken on March 21, 2011, when the Big Ten Conference 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 WCHA faced the loss of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers in the future, whereas the CCHA faced the loss of the Michigan Wolverines, the Michigan State Spartans, and Ohio State Buckeyes. 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, the University of Denver, Miami University, the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of Nebraska Omaha, and the University of North Dakota, 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 University of North Dakota, 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, [have] 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 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 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

Institution	Location	Founded	Former conference	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	NCAA championships	Women's conference	Primary conference
Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	1885	Independent	Public	79,232	Sun Devils		0	Independent (ACHA)	Big 12
Colorado College	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1874	WCHA	Private	1,950	Tigers		2	N/A	SCAC (D-III)
University of Denver	Denver, Colorado	1864	WCHA		11,842	Pioneers		10	N/A	Summit League
Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	1809	CCHA	Public	15,726	RedHawks		0	N/A	MAC
University of Minnesota Duluth	Duluth, Minnesota	1902	WCHA		10,500	Bulldogs		3	WCHA	Northern Sun (D-II)
University of Nebraska Omaha	Omaha, Nebraska	1908	WCHA		14,903	Mavericks		0	N/A	Summit League
University of North Dakota	Grand Forks, North Dakota	1883	WCHA		15,019	Fighting Hawks		8	N/A	Summit League
St. Cloud State University	St. Cloud, Minnesota	1869	WCHA		17,073	Huskies		0	WCHA	Northern Sun (D-II)
Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1903	CCHA		25,045	Broncos		0	N/A	MAC

Future members

Institution	Location	Founded	Join date	Current conference	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	NCAA championships	Women's conference	Primary conference
University of St. Thomas	Saint Paul, Minnesota	1885	2026	CCHA	Private/Catholic (diocesan)	9,878	Tommies		0	WCHA	Summit League

Colorado College

Denver

Miami

Minnesota– Duluth

Omaha

North Dakota

St. Cloud State

Western Michigan

Arizona State

St. Thomas

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Current (blue) and future (yellow) NCHC members

Champions

Season	Regular Season	NCHC Tournament	Best NCAA Finish
2013–14	St. Cloud State	Denver	Frozen Four (North Dakota)
2014–15	North Dakota	Miami	Frozen Four (North Dakota, Omaha)
2015–16	North Dakota	St. Cloud State	Champion (North Dakota)
2016–17	Denver	Minnesota Duluth	Champion (Denver)
2017–18	St. Cloud State	Denver	Champion (Minnesota Duluth)
2018–19	St. Cloud State	Minnesota Duluth	Champion (Minnesota Duluth)
2019–20	North Dakota	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020–21	North Dakota	North Dakota	Runner-Up (St. Cloud State)
2021–22	Denver / North Dakota	Minnesota Duluth	Champion (Denver)
2022–23	Denver	St. Cloud State	Regional Final (St. Cloud State)
2023–24	North Dakota	Denver	Champion (Denver)

Penrose Cup

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

Wins by School

Team	Wins	Years
North Dakota	6	2014–15, 2015–16, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2023–24
St. Cloud State	3	2013–14, 2017–18, 2018–19
Denver	3	2016–17, 2021–22, 2022–23

NCHC Tournament champions

Main article: List of NCHC Tournament champions

Conference arenas

The Ralph Engelstad Arena is one of the largest arenas in college hockey.

Future member in gray.

School	Hockey arena	Year opened	Capacity
Arizona State	Mullett Arena	2022	5,000
Colorado College	Ed Robson Arena	2021	3,407
Denver	Magness Arena	1999	6,026
Miami	Goggin Ice Center	2006	3,200
Minnesota Duluth	AMSOIL Arena	2010	6,732
North Dakota	Ralph Engelstad Arena	2001	11,640
Omaha	Baxter Arena	2015	7,898
St. Cloud State	Herb Brooks National Hockey Center	1989	5,763
St. Thomas	Lee and Penny Anderson Arena	2025	4,000
Western Michigan	Lawson Arena	1974	3,667

Membership timeline

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

Award	Inaugural year
First Team	2013–14
Second Team	2013–14
Rookie Team	2013–14
All-Tournament Team	2014

Individual awards

Award	Inaugural year
Player of the Year	2013–14
Rookie of the Year	2013–14
Goaltender of the Year	2013–14
Herb Brooks Coach of the Year	2013–14
Forward of the Year	2013–14
Defensive Forward of the Year	2013–14
Defensive Defenseman of the Year[1]	2013–14
Offensive Defenseman of the Year	2013–14
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	2013–14
Sportsmanship Award	2013–14
Frozen Faceoff MVP	2014

^ The 'Defensive Defenseman of the Year' award was known as the 'Defenseman of the Year' award prior to 2017.

See also

• Western Collegiate Hockey Association
• Central Collegiate Hockey Association
• Big Ten Conference
• Battle for the Gold Pan, a famous rivalry between Colorado's two NCHC schools

External links

• NCHC Hockey Homepage