NCHC

When the Big Ten Hockey Conference was announced on March 21, 2011-Penn State having added a hockey team to bring the number of Big Ten members with men's hockey teams to six-the college hockey landscape was shaken. Some of the remaining teams of the soon to be diminished WCHA (facing the loss of the Minnesota Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers in the future) and the CCHA (facing the loss of the Michigan Wolverines, the Michigan State Spartans, and Ohio State Buckeyes in the future) 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

• http://www.nchchockey.com/