National Collegiate Hockey Conference

National Collegiate Hockey Conference
National Collegiate Hockey Conference logo
Established	2011 (began play in 2013)
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I
Members	8
Sports fielded	Men's ice hockey
Region	Midwestern United States Western United States
Headquarters	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Commissioner	Josh Fenton
Website	NCHCHockey.com
Locations

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's division I hockey conference formed on July 9, 2011. The league, a combination of six previous members of the WCHA and two of the CCHA, began conference play for the 2013–2014 season, the same season that the Big Ten Conference began competition. The league is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Josh Fenton has served as conference commissioner since July 1, 2013.

History

See also: 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment: Men's ice hockey

When the Big Ten Hockey Conference was announced on March 21, 2011–Penn State having added a hockey team to bring the number of Big Ten members with men's hockey teams to six–the college hockey landscape was shaken. Some of the remaining teams of the soon to be diminished WCHA (facing the loss of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers in the future) and the CCHA (facing the loss of the Michigan Wolverines, the Michigan State Spartans, and Ohio State Buckeyes in the future) began talks to form a league that would ensure their survival as financially strong and successful programs.

These talks were first revealed by Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald on July 1, 2011, leading to speculation over what teams would be considered and what the impact of this league was on the rest of the college hockey landscape. 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.

Members

Institution	Location	Founded	Former conference	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	NCAA championships	Primary conference
Colorado College	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1874	WCHA	Private	1,950	Tigers	Gold & Black	2	SCAC (D-III)
University of Denver	Denver, Colorado	1864	WCHA	Private	11,842	Pioneers	Crimson & Gold	7	Summit League
Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	1809	CCHA	Public	15,726	RedHawks	Red & White	0	MAC
University of Minnesota Duluth	Duluth, Minnesota	1902	WCHA	Public	10,500	Bulldogs	Maroon & Gold	1	Northern Sun (D-II)
University of Nebraska Omaha	Omaha, Nebraska	1908	WCHA	Public	14,903	Mavericks	Crimson & Black	0	Summit League
University of North Dakota	Grand Forks, North Dakota	1883	WCHA	Public	15,250	Fighting Hawks	Kelly Green, Black, & White	8	Big Sky
St. Cloud State University	St. Cloud, Minnesota	1869	WCHA	Public	17,073	Huskies	Cardinal Red & Black	0	Northern Sun (D-II)
Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1903	CCHA	Public	25,045	Broncos	Brown & Gold	0	MAC

CC

DU

Miami

UMD

Omaha

UND

St. Cloud

WMU

National Collegiate Hockey Conference

Champions

Season	Regular season	Tournament
2013–14	St. Cloud State	Denver
2014–15	North Dakota	Miami
2015-16	North Dakota	St. Cloud State

Conference arenas

File:Ralph Engelstad Arena December 2010.JPG

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

School	Hockey arena	Year built	Capacity
Colorado College	Broadmoor World Arena	1998	7,750
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
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

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
Defenseman of the Year	2013–14
Offensive Defenseman of the Year	2013–14
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	2013–14
Sportsmanship Award	2013–14
NCHC Tournament MVP	2014

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