CONFERENCE BIO

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference enters a new era in 2024-25. While this will be the NCHC’s 12th season of competition overall, it will be the first with nine members. After maintaining the same eight members from its first season of play in 2013, Arizona State University marks the Conference’s first foray into expansion. The Sun Devils were officially added to the NCHC on July 1, 2024.

The NCHC’s membership now includes Colorado College, the University of Denver, Miami University, the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University, Western Michigan University, along with Arizona State. The Conference will expand again in 2026-27, moving to 10 teams with the addition of the University of St. Thomas.

Since its founding in 2011, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has established itself as one of the premier collegiate hockey conferences in the country. The NCHC is home to six of the last eight NCAA Men’s Division I National Champions, including reigning National Champion Denver. North Dakota captured the Conference’s first title in 2016, followed by Denver in 2017 and Minnesota Duluth in 2018 and 2019. In doing so, the NCHC became the first conference with four straight National Champions (2016-19) since the WCHA from 2002-06. The Pioneers also won national championships in 2022 and most recently in 2024 to earn their 10th National Championship, the most in college hockey history.

Long before the NCHC saw national champions being crowned, however, the building blocks had to be put in place. The conference was founded in the summer of 2011 when six institutions bonded together to form a collection of some of the most notable college hockey programs in the nation. Just a few months later, the conference grew to eight teams and established the foundation for this prestigious group of institutions. Built on the principles of excellence both on and off the ice, the NCHC is committed to fostering an environment of integrity, sportsmanship and competition.

The motivation for forming this new conference came as the landscape of college hockey began to change. When Penn State University announced it was starting a college hockey program in the spring of 2011, the Big 10 hockey conference was created. The seismic shift sent ripples throughout the college hockey world and left many institutions searching for stability. On July 13, 2011, the leaders from six 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, announced the decision to start their own conference beginning in the 2013-14 academic year. On Sept. 22, 2011, St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University accepted invitations and the NCHC grew to eight teams, where it stood until this season. Arizona State University was unanimously accepted into the NCHC by the Board of Directors on July 5, 2023, while the University of St. Thomas was officially announced as the NCHC’s 10th member on May 15, 2024.

Over its first 11 seasons, the NCHC has had tremendous success on the ice. Along with six national champions, the conference has seen 14 teams earn a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, the most by any conference during that time (2014-24), and 39 teams make the NCAA Tournament in those seasons. During its National Championship run, NCHC teams held the No. 1 spot in the USCHO.com Poll in 60 of 72 weeks from 2016-19.

The NCHC had a record-setting year in the conference's second season of competition (2014-15), as six of eight NCHC teams made the 2015 NCAA Tournament, setting a record for percentage of teams from one conference (75 percent) to make the NCAA field.

In the history of college hockey, NCHC schools have combined to win 23 NCAA championships. Only three programs have won more than six NCAA men’s hockey titles and two of them (Denver with 10 and North Dakota with eight) reside in the NCHC.

Individually, the NCHC achieved another first in 2017 when Denver defenseman Will Butcher won the Hobey Baker Award, becoming the first NCHC student-athlete to claim college hockey’s top honor. Minnesota Duluth defenseman Scott Perunovich became the NCHC's second Hobey Baker winner in 2020. North Dakota's Zane McIntyre was the first NCHC netminder to capture the Mike Richter Award as the nation's top goaltender, doing so in 2015, while Denver goalie Tanner Jaillet won the award in 2017. Perunovich also took home the Tim Taylor Award in 2018, making him the first NCHC player to nab National Rookie of the Year honors. A total of 62 NCHC student-athletes have garnered AHCA All-America honors in the NCHC's first 11 seasons, while more than 100 NCHC alumni have since gone on to skate in the NHL, including five hoisting the Stanley Cup.

The infrastructure of the conference began to materialize in August 2011, as Colorado Springs, the birthplace of the NCAA Hockey Championships, was selected as the home of the NCHC’s headquarters. Jim Scherr, the former CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, was named the conference’s first commissioner in January of 2012.

Later that January, the NCHC and CBS Sports Network inked a multi-year agreement to nationally televise several conference games per season, including the NCHC Tournament semifinals and championship games. CBS Sports Network continues to be the conference's national television partner. In June 2012, the NCHC announced that Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. would be the inaugural home of the conference's championship.

In July 2013, Scherr left the NCHC but the conference didn’t miss a beat, as Josh Fenton, former senior associate athletic director at Miami University, was named the conference’s second commissioner. Fenton played an integral role in the formation of the new conference, making a seamless transition to his new role.

The NCHC officially dropped the puck on Oct. 18, 2013 as Miami hosted North Dakota and Colorado College hosted Minnesota Duluth in the first ever conference games, both of which were nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

In November of 2013, with the help of fan suggestions and a fan vote, the NCHC’s championship was renamed the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. St. Cloud State became the inaugural NCHC regular-season champions, capturing the Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup – the NCHC’s regular-season trophy - on the final night of the 2013-14 regular season. Denver then went on to claim the inaugural NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, defeating Miami in the championship game on March 22, 2014 at Target Center.

The final Frozen Faceoff at Target Center took place in 2017. That summer, the NCHC Board of Directors made the decision to relocate the conference’s championship weekend across the river to Saint Paul, Minn. In September of 2017, the NCHC signed a new agreement with Xcel Energy Center, home to the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, also making Xcel Energy Center the new home of the NCHC’s championship weekend. The NCHC held its first Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center in 2018, and will hold its final one there in 2025.

On Dec. 19, 2023, the NCHC announced it would be moving its postseason tournament entirely to campus sites starting in 2026. Beginning in March of 2026, the NCHC Playoffs will see each game of the tournament hosted by the higher seed, including the semifinals and championship game, and will take place over three weeks.

In September of 2014, the NCHC announced the launch of NCHC.tv, the conference's fully integrated digital network - a first for a NCAA single-sport conference. NCHC.tv allows fans to watch games online from all nine member schools anywhere in the world throughout each season, with NCHC.tv mobile apps and OTT apps added for the 2017-18 campaign. 

The NCHC saw another change in leadership in the summer of 2022, as former St. Cloud State athletic director Heather Weems became the conference's third Commissioner. She replaced Fenton, who departed for the same role with the Summit League after nine years. Under Weems' watch, the NCHC has grown and expanded, adding Arizona State and St. Thomas, while a new conference tournament format on campus sites will debut with the 2026 postseason. 

With its membership spread across four time zones and seven states, the NCHC truly is the NATIONAL Collegiate Hockey Conference. Not only does the NCHC provide excitement on the ice, but the conference includes some of the most breath-taking scenery in the country. From the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the countless lakes of Minnesota and the shores of Lake Michigan, and now the deserts of Arizona, there is so much to see within the NCHC.

Now in its second decade, the NCHC is poised to remain the premier college hockey conference, building on its rich tradition of excellence, while expanding and growing to make it even better.