Established 1971 Association NCAA | Dissolved 2013 Division Division I | |
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Sports fielded Ice hockey (men's: yes; women's: no) Region Midwestern United States and Alaska | ||
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) was a college athletic conference that participated in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The majority of its members were located in the states of Michigan and Ohio, although it also had teams located in Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Nebraska over the course of its existence.
Contents
- Realignment and discontinuation
- Awards
- 1970s All Decade Team
- 1980s All Decade Team
- 1990s All Decade Team
- 2000 2013 All Decade Team
- References
The CCHA was disbanded after the 2012–13 season as the result of a conference realignment stemming from the Big Ten Conference (of which three CCHA schools; Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, were primary members) choosing to sponsor Division I ice hockey beginning in the 2013-14 season. The remaining CCHA members received invitations to other conferences, such as the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), Hockey East, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), which itself had been depleted by the Big Ten and NCHC. The conference's last ever game was the final of the 2013 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, where Notre Dame beat Michigan 3-1 to win the final Mason Cup championship.
Realignment and discontinuation
Pennsylvania State University announced on September 17, 2010 the transition of its men's and women's American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) programs to NCAA Division I status in 2012. Just over a month earlier, then-commissioner Tom Anastos publicly stated that the CCHA would strongly consider adding Penn State as the conference's 12th member. Instead, the league was left to deal with the imminent departures of Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State when the Big Ten Conference disclosed on March 21, 2011 its intention to establish a men's ice hockey circuit to begin play in the 2013–14 season, as the conference now had enough hockey teams to earn an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament for its champion. Joining the existing CCHA members will be the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin from the WCHA, as well as Penn State.
The next school slated to leave the CCHA in 2013 was Miami University which became a charter member of the NCHC on July 15, 2011. Western Michigan accepted an invitation to join the new league just over two months later on September 22.
The demise of the CCHA was further accelerated when five members decided to move to the WCHA following the 2012–13 campaign. Northern Michigan University, returning to the WCHA after leaving in 1997, was the first to make the announcement on July 20, followed by Alaska, Ferris State and Lake Superior State on August 26 and Bowling Green on October 4.
Notre Dame accepted an invitation to the Hockey East Association in a press conference on October 5, 2011.
Awards
At the conclusion of each regular season schedule the coaches of each CCHA team voted which players they choose to be on the three All-Conference Teams: first team, second team and rookie team. Additionally they vote to award up to 9 of the 12 individual trophies to an eligible player at the same time (depending upon the year). The CCHA also awards a Perani Cup, a Humanitarian Award, which are awarded rather than voted upon, and a Most Valuable Player in Tournament which is voted on at the conclusion of the conference tournament. None of the individual awards conferred by the CCHA have been given for the entire existence of the conference. Only the Tournament MVP was awarded in CCHA's inaugural season, but the award was discontinued thereafter until 1982.
1970s All-Decade Team
1970s All-Decade Team
1980s All-Decade Team
1980s All-Decade Team
1990s All-Decade Team
1990s All-Decade Team
2000-2013 All-Decade Team
2000-2013 All-Decade Team