Западная хоккейная ассоциация студенческих команд (WCHA)

College athletic conference in the Midwestern United States

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a men only league, adding women's competition in the 1999–2000 season. It operated men's and women's leagues through the 2020–21 season; during this period, the men's WCHA expanded to include teams far removed from its traditional Midwestern base, with members in Alabama, Alaska, and Colorado at different times. WCHA member teams won a record 38 men's NCAA hockey championships, most recently in 2011 by the Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs. A WCHA team also finished as the national runner up a total of 28 times. WCHA teams also won the first 13 NCAA women's titles, which were first awarded in 2001.

The league was founded in 1951 as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (MCHL), then was known as the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL) until 1958. The WIHL disbanded in 1958 after Minnesota and the three Michigan schools withdrew in protest of Colorado College, Denver and North Dakota recruiting overage Canadians. While this didn't violate NCAA rules, the four "M" schools felt it violated the spirit of intercollegiate athletics. The men's regular season conference champion was awarded the MacNaughton Cup, while the league's tournament champion winning the WCHA Final Five took home the Broadmoor Trophy.

On March 22, 2011, Minnesota and Wisconsin announced that their men's teams planned to leave the league in order to form a hockey Big Ten Conference in 2013–14, along with Penn State, which would start a varsity hockey program in 2012–13, and Central Collegiate Hockey Association members Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State. In response to the creation of the Big Ten men's hockey conference, Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota, Nebraska Omaha, Minnesota Duluth, and St. Cloud State left the WCHA to join Miami University and Western Michigan of the CCHA to create the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Facing membership at 4 teams for the 2013–14 season, the WCHA conference added one of its former members, Northern Michigan of the CCHA, on July 15, 2011. On August 25, 2011, the WCHA announced that it had invited the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, and Lake Superior State to join beginning in the 2013–14 season. On August 26, 2011, Alaska Fairbanks, Ferris State, and Lake Superior State accepted their invitations and joined Northern Michigan in the WCHA in 2013. After much deliberation, on October 4, 2011, Bowling Green decided to join the WCHA as well in 2013. On January 17, 2013, the WCHA admitted Alabama–Huntsville to the league, effective in the 2013–14 season. This realignment activity only affected the men's side of the WCHA. Even after Penn State took the ice with both men's and women's teams, the Big Ten still had only four members with varsity women's hockey (Michigan and Michigan State field only men's teams). This meant that the women's side of the WCHA remained intact for the immediate future.

The next change in the conference membership came shortly after the 2016–17 season, when North Dakota announced that it would drop women's hockey. During the 2019 offseason, the future of the men's side of the WCHA fell into serious doubt when its seven Midwestern members—Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, and Northern Michigan—notified the WCHA that they would leave the league after the 2020–21 season, potentially forming a new men's hockey conference. In February 2020, these seven schools announced they would form a new CCHA. At the time the seven Midwestern members announced their plans to leave, the two Alaska teams were facing a crisis following the veto by state governor Mike Dunleavy of over $100 million in funding for the University of Alaska system, a move that was seen as potentially ending intercollegiate athletics entirely at both the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses. The cuts led the UA system to start the process of consolidating the three campus system into a single accredited institution (though retaining the existing campuses), with the system president telling local media that a single accreditation would likely lead to the Anchorage and Fairbanks athletic programs being combined into a single program. While both campuses continued to sponsor men's ice hockey in the 2019–20 season, the future of at least one of the teams beyond that point was then seen as uncertain at best. Later developments saw many of the budget cuts pulled back, as well as a temporary halt to work on a single UA system accreditation; this led the UA system to announce that athletics at both campuses would continue as is through the 2020–21 school year. In November 2019, Alabama–Huntsville submitted a withdrawal letter to the WCHA, stating that it also planned to leave after the 2020–21 season. At the time, UAH was discussing potential future options with the two Alaska campuses. However, UAH subsequently dropped hockey effective immediately on May 22, 2020, due to the financial impacts from the COVID 19 pandemic on its athletic department. On May 29, 2020, UAH President Darren Dawson announced that men's hockey would return for the 2020–21 season after more than $750,000 in private contributions were made in the week prior. This reprieve proved temporary, as the school and its hockey supporters agreed that the continuation of the sport beyond 2020–21 would be contingent on finding a new conference home; when no conference move materialized, the hockey program was dropped again (although UAH officially called it a "suspension"). In August 2020, Alaska Anchorage announced that it would drop hockey after the 2020–21 season. The University of Alaska Board of Regents offered the hockey team a chance at reinstatement in September if they could raise 2 seasons worth of expenses, approximately $3 million, by February 2021. The fundraising was divided into 2 parts: $1.5 million in cash, and the remainder in firm pledges. As of December 2020, the team had begun fundraising for the needed money. The men's WCHA would fold after the 2020–21 season, The Summit League offered the Tommies a D I home, and backed the school's bid to directly transition from D III.

Institution Location Founded Joined Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Colors NCAA men'sChampionship Primary conference Currentconference Huntsville, Alabama 1950 2013 Public 9,736 Chargers 0 Gulf South (D II) Anchorage, Alaska 1977 1993 15,819 Seawolves 0 Great Northwest (D II) Independent Fairbanks, Alaska 1917 2013 7,744 Nanooks 0 Great Northwest (D II) Independent Bemidji, Minnesota 1919 2010 (men) 5,198 Beavers 0 Northern Sun (D II) CCHA Bowling Green, Ohio 1910 2013 17,357 Falcons 1 MAC CCHA Big Rapids, Michigan 1884 2013 13,798 Bulldogs 0 GLIAC (D II) CCHA Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 1946 2013 1,963 Lakers 3 GLIAC (D II) CCHA Houghton, Michigan 1885 1951–19811984 7,319 Huskies 3 GLIAC (D II) CCHA Mankato, Minnesota 1867 1999 14,712 Mavericks 0 Northern Sun (D II) CCHA Northern Michigan University Marquette, Michigan 1899 1984–19972013 7,612 Wildcats 1 GLIAC (D II) CCHA

Institution City State Joined Left NCAA championships Subsequentconference Currentconference Colorado College Colorado Springs Colorado 1951 2013 2 (1) NCHCDenver Denver Colorado 1951 2013 10 (7) NCHC Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan 1951 1981 9 (5) CCHA Big Ten Michigan State East Lansing Michigan 1951 1981 3 (1) CCHA Big Ten Minnesota Minneapolis & St. Paul Minnesota 1951 2013 5 (5) Big Ten Minnesota Duluth Duluth Minnesota 1966 2013 3 (1) NCHC Nebraska Omaha Omaha Nebraska 2010 2013 0 (0) NCHC North Dakota Grand Forks North Dakota 1951 2013 8 (7) NCHC Notre Dame Notre Dame Indiana 1971 1981 0 (0) CCHA Big Ten St. Cloud State Minnesota 1990 2013 0 (0) NCHC Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin 1969 2013 6 (6) Big Ten

Institution City State Joined Left NCAA championships Note North Dakota Grand Forks North Dakota 2004 2017 0 (0) North Dakota terminated its women's ice hockey program.

School Arena Capacity Bemidji State Sanford Center 4,700 Minnesota Ridder Arena 3,400 Minnesota–Duluth AMSOIL Arena 6,764 Minnesota State Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center 5,280 Ohio State The Ohio State University Ice Rink 1,415 St. Cloud State Herb Brooks National Hockey Center 5,763 St. Thomas St. Thomas Ice Arena 1,000 Wisconsin LaBahn Arena 2,273

At the conclusion of each regular season schedule the coaches of each WCHA team vote which players they choose to be on the two to four All Conference teams: first team and second team with a rookie team added in 1990–91 and a third team added in 1995–96. Additionally they vote to award up to 5 individual trophies to an eligible player at the same time. The WCHA also awards a Most Valuable Player in Tournament, which is voted on at the conclusion of the conference tournament. Only the Coach of the Year award has been bestowed in each year of the WCHA's existence, making it the oldest continually awarded conference award in Division I ice hockey.