COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With a new member and a new scheduling model for next season, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) unveiled the 2024-2025 NCHC conference schedule on Tuesday.
 
For the first time in the 12-year history of the NCHC, the conference schedule consists of 108 regular-season contests, with all nine teams playing a 24-game NCHC slate. The conference regular-season calendar begins on Nov. 8 and concludes on Mar. 8, with the NCHC regular-season champion hoisting the Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup. The final NCHC Frozen Faceoff in Saint Paul, Minn. is set for Mar. 21-22, with all nine members making the NCHC Tournament.
 
While the official start date of the NCAA regular season is Saturday, Oct. 5, the first NCHC conference action in 2024-25 doesn’t take place until Friday, Nov. 8. Four series are slated for the opening weekend of NCHC play, including Arizona State’s first ever conference games, which take place Nov. 8-9 at Colorado College. The Sun Devils become an official member of the NCHC on July 1, 2024. The first weekend in the pursuit of the Penrose Cup also includes Miami at St. Cloud State, North Dakota at Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan at Omaha.
 
The following weekend features another four conference series, with ASU hosting Omaha for its first NCHC games at Mullett Arena. The defending national champion Denver Pioneers also open conference play Nov. 15-16 at rival North Dakota, in a battle of the 2024 Frozen Faceoff champion against the 2023-24 Penrose Cup champion, as well as the last two Penrose Cup winners.
 
Four more NCHC series are set for Nov. 22-23 and Dec. 6-7, while only two conference match-ups take place on Dec. 13-14, including the first battle for the Gold Pan. Denver is at CC on Dec. 13, while they both head to Magness Arena on Dec. 14. St. Cloud State is also at North Dakota that weekend to close out conference play in 2024.
 
The chase for the Penrose Cup resumes Jan. 10-11 with another four-series slate. Colorado College visits Omaha in a rematch of their three-game quarterfinal series in Colorado Springs this past season. It’s their only regular-season meetings in 2024-25. That weekend also features rivals St. Cloud State and UMD squaring off in Duluth, while Miami is at Denver and UND heads south to Arizona State.
 
Rivals Miami and Western Michigan tangle for the first time next season on Jan. 24-25 in Kalamazoo, while the following weekend is highlighted by a 2024 Frozen Faceoff championship game rematch between the Mavericks and Pioneers in Denver. The Jan. 31-Feb. 1 weekend marks the only scheduled meetings during the regular season between Omaha and DU.
 
Arizona State wraps up its first season of NCHC play on Feb. 28-Mar. 1 with two games at Omaha. The remaining eight NCHC teams close out conference action a weekend later on Mar. 7-8 against their historical travel partner, though the 2024-25 season will be the final year teams finish with their historical travel partner due to the NCHC now having an odd number of teams. On Mar. 7-8, Omaha is at North Dakota in their only series of the regular season, while Western Michigan is at Miami, Minnesota Duluth is at St. Cloud State, and DU and CC complete their Gold Pan series. On March 7, the Tigers and Pioneers will play in Denver, while the rivals close out the regular season at Robson Arena in Colorado Springs.
 
Following the regular season, the NCHC Tournament gets underway and for the first time will feature a play-in game between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. The Play-In Game will take place on Wednesday, March 12 at the site of the No. 1 seed, with the winner moving on to the NCHC Quarterfinals. The best-of-3 quarterfinal series then take place March 14-16, as usual, with the top four seeds hosting the bottom four seeds.
 
The four quarterfinal series winners advance to the 2025 NCHC Frozen Faceoff, which will be held at Xcel Energy Center, the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, in Saint Paul, Minn. for the final time. The two semifinals are set for Friday, March 21, with the Frozen Faceoff champion crowned on Saturday, March 22. Starting in 2026, the NCHC is moving its postseason tournament entirely to campus sites.
 
The NCHC’s new scheduling model follows a three-year rotation, beginning with the 2024-25 season, though teams will continue to play 12 home and 12 away conference games in the regular season. The new scheduling model and rotation consists of three, three-team pods based on geography with teams guaranteed to play home and away series against the other two teams in their pod every season (eight games). The three-team pods are: Arizona State, Colorado College and Denver; Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota and St. Cloud State; and Miami, Omaha and Western Michigan.
 
The remaining 16 conference games will be played against the six ‘non-pod’ teams, with four opponents only being played in one series (eight games), home or away, and two ‘non-pod’ opponents being played in both home and away series (eight games). The ‘non-pod’ teams that are played either once (home or away) or twice (home and away) in a series will rotate over three seasons.
 
The Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup is awarded to the NCHC regular-season champions, won by North Dakota last season. Only three teams have captured the Penrose Cup in NCHC history (Denver, North Dakota and St. Cloud State). The winner of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff receives the Frozen Faceoff Trophy and the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, won by Denver in 2024.

All dates listed for the 2024-25 NCHC schedule are subject to change and times are still to be announced. The non-conference portion of the 2024-25 schedule will be added once all NCHC teams announce their own non-conference schedules.
 
KEY DATES IN 2024-2025

• Saturday, Oct. 5 – NCAA Official Start Date
• Friday, Nov. 8 – First NCHC conference games/First ASU NCHC game
• Friday, Nov. 15 – First ASU NCHC home game (vs. Omaha)
• Saturday, Dec. 14 – Final NCHC conference games in 2024
• Friday, Jan. 10 – NCHC conference play resumes in 2025
• Saturday, March 1 – ASU finishes NCHC regular season
• Saturday, March 8 – NCHC regular season concludes
• Wednesday, March 12 – NCHC Play-In Game (No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed)
• Friday- Sunday, March 14-16 – NCHC Quarterfinals
• Friday, March 21 – NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals
• Saturday, March 22 – NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship
• March 27-30 – NCAA Regionals
• Thursday, April 10 – Frozen Four Semifinals
• Saturday, April 12 – National Championship