National Collegiate Hockey Conference

History

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

Future members

Championships, Frozen Fours, and NCAA Tournament Appearances

Conference Champions

(*) Both teams tied in total points resulting in co-champions.

Penrose Cup

The Penrose Cup trophy has been awarded to the NCHC's regular-season champion since the conference's inaugural season in 2013–14. The award honors Julie and Spencer Penrose, who created the El Pomar Foundation that played a major role in the establishment of the NCHC.

NCHC Tournament Champions

Main article: List of NCHC Tournament champions

Conference arenas

Future member in gray.

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:650 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:2013 till:2029 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 # to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20" Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Colorado College (2013–present)

bar:2 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Denver (2013–present)

bar:3 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Miami (2013–present)

bar:4 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Minnesota Duluth (2013–present)

bar:5 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Omaha (2013–present)

bar:6 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:North Dakota (2013–present)

bar:7 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:St. Cloud State (2013–present)

bar:8 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:Western Michigan (2013–present)

bar:9 color:Full from:2024 till:end text:Arizona State (2024–)

bar:10 color:Full from:2026 till:end text: St. Thomas (2026–)

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1. If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space.

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

Individual awards

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

References

References

1. "Conference".
2. "Big Ten Officially Announces Hockey Conference". College Hockey News.
3. "Collegiate Hockey Conference Joint Statement". [[North Dakota Fighting Sioux]].
4. "New National Collegiate Hockey Conference Announced With Six Top College Programs as Founding Members". [[PRnewswire]].
5. "St. Cloud State will join NCHC". Star Tribune.
6. "WMU To Join National Collegiate Hockey Conference". WMU.
7. (12 May 2022). "NCHC Names Heather Weems New Commissioner".
8. (5 July 2023). "Arizona State hockey program set to join National Collegiate Hockey Conference in 2024-25 season - PHNX".
9. (July 5, 2023). "Arizona State to Join NCHC Starting in 2024-2025 Season". National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
10. (May 15, 2024). "St. Thomas men's hockey to join the NCHC". St. Thomas Athletics.
11. (2024-07-01). "Arizona State Becomes Official Member of the NCHC Today".
12. (May 15, 2024). "St. Thomas men's hockey to join the NCHC". St. Thomas Athletics.
13. "Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup".
14. (2013-03-22). "NCHC announces All-Conference players, All-Rookie Team". Alaska Nanooks.