Association NCAA Members 8 | Division Division I Sports fielded Men's ice hockey | |
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Established 2011 (began play in 2013) Region Midwestern United States
Western United States | ||
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's division I hockey conference formed on July 9, 2011. The league began playing for the 2013–2014 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. Josh Fenton has served as conference commissioner since July 1, 2013.
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History
The men's college ice hockey landscape was shaken on March 21, 2011 when the Big Ten Hockey Conference was announced, with Penn State having added a hockey team to bring the number of Big Ten members with men's hockey 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.
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.
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).