 | |
| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980 |
| Commissioner | G. Steven Larson (since 2013) |
| Sports fielded | |
| Division | Division III |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Headquarters | Duluth, Minnesota |
| Region | Midwestern United States |
| Official website | www |
| Locations | |
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The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference.
The conference was formally approved in 1980 as an association of six schools in Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, though the teams' schedules would not be standardized until the following season. This led to some teams playing an unequal number of games in the 1980–81 season. As such, the 1981–82 season is considered the first official season of play.[1]
In the summer of 2012, the five schools in the University of Wisconsin System announced that they would leave the conference to begin playing hockey in their all-sports conference, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.[2][3] The move would have left only two men's teams in the NCHA, leading St. Norbert and St. Scholastica to join the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA).[4] In April 2013, the NCHA and MCHA announced a merger, where the NCHA would absorb the MCHA's teams (of the MCHA's 10 schools, all 7 who also sponsored women's hockey played in the NCHA).[5] The men's and women's sides will retain separate administrative structures, as well as their automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.[6]
- ^ "A History of the NCHA". Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
- ^ Hodkiewicz, Weston (February 15, 2012). "Wisconsin state schools' move away from NCHA 'a shock to the system,' St. Norbert coach says". USCHO.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ Staff (April 24, 2012). "WIAC schools to leave NCHA after 2012-13 season". USCHO.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ Staff (June 20, 2012). "St. Norbert, St. Scholastica moving to MCHA for 2013-14 season". USCHO.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ Carito, Katie (April 24, 2013). "NCHA is reborn". USCHO.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ "MCHA Renamed NCHA | New Structure Approved". Press release. Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. April 22, 2013. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.