Northern Collegiate Hockey Association
The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association is a college athletic conference which operates in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference.
The conference was founded in 1980 as a loose association of six schools in Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. The league was formalized the next year.
In the summer of 2012, the five schools in the University of Wisconsin System announced that they would leave the conference to begin playing hockey in their all-sports conference, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The move would have left only two men's teams in the NCHA, leading St. Norbert and St. Scholastica to join the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association. In April 2013, the NCHA and MCHA announced a merger, where the NCHA would absorb the MCHA's teams. The men's and women's sides will retain separate administrative structures, as well as their automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Members
Current
| School | Location | Nickname | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Year Joined | Primary Conference |
| Adrian College | Adrian, Michigan | Bulldogs | 1859 | Private | 1,400 | Men: 2013 Women: 2009 | Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
| Aurora University | Aurora, Illinois | Spartans | 1893 | Private | 4,400 | Men: 2015 Women: 2017 | Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference |
| Concordia University Wisconsin | Mequon, Wisconsin | Falcons | 1880 | Private/Lutheran | 1,600 | Men: 2013 Women: 2007 | Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference |
| Finlandia University | Hancock, Michigan | Lions | 1896 | Private/Lutheran | 550 | Men: 2013 Women: 2003 | American Collegiate Athletic Association |
| Lake Forest College | Lake Forest, Illinois | Foresters | 1857 | Private | 1,417 | Men: 1992–2009, 2013 Women: 2000 | Midwest Conference |
| Lawrence University | Appleton, Wisconsin | Vikings | 1847 | Private | 1,469 | Men: 2013 | Midwest Conference |
| Marian University | Fond du Lac, Wisconsin | Sabres | 1936 | Private/Catholic | 1,411 | Men: 2013 Women: 2009 | Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference |
| Milwaukee School of Engineering | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Raiders | 1903 | Private | 2,300 | Men: 2013 | Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference |
| De Pere, Wisconsin | Green Knights | 1898 | Private/Catholic | 2,015 | Men: 1994 Women: 2010 | Midwest Conference | |
| Duluth, Minnesota | Saints | 1912 | Private/Catholic | 3,309 | Men: 1983–1991, 1994 Women: 2010 | Upper Midwest Athletic Conference | |
| Trine University | Angola, Indiana | Thunder | 1884 | Private | 2,000 | Men: 2017 Women: 2017 | Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
Former
Membership timeline
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/1980 till:07/31/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:men value:rgb legend:men
id:women value:rgb legend:women
id:both value:rgb legend:both
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/1987 text:St. Cloud State
bar:2 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/1992 text:Mankato State
bar:3 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/1999 text:Bemidji State
bar:4 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/2000 text:UW–Eau Claire
bar:4 color:both from:07/01/2000 till:07/01/2013
bar:5 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/2013 text:UW–River Falls
bar:5 color:both from:07/01/2000 till:07/01/2013
bar:6 color:men from:07/01/1980 till:07/01/2013 text:UW–Superior
bar:6 color:both from:07/01/2000 till:07/01/2013
bar:7 color:men from:07/01/1983 till:07/01/1991 text:St. Scholastica
bar:7 color:men from:07/01/1994 till:07/01/2010
bar:7 color:both from:07/01/2010 till:end
bar:8 color:men from:07/01/1986 till:07/01/2013 text:UW–Stevens Point
bar:8 color:both from:07/01/2000 till:07/01/2013
bar:9 color:men from:07/01/1992 till:07/01/2000 text:Lake Forest
bar:9 color:both from:07/01/2000 till:07/01/2009
bar:9 color:women from:07/01/2009 till:07/01/2013
bar:9 color:both from:07/01/2013 till:end
bar:10 color:men from:07/01/1994 till:07/01/2010 text:St. Norbert
bar:10 color:both from:07/01/2010 till:end
bar:11 color:men from:07/01/1996 till:07/01/2013 text:UW–Stout
bar:12 color:women from:07/01/2003 till:07/01/2013 text:Finlandia
bar:12 color:both from:07/01/2013 till:end
bar:13 color:women from:07/01/2007 till:07/01/2013 text:Concordia Wisconsin
bar:13 color:both from:07/01/2013 till:end
bar:14 color:women from:07/01/2009 till:07/01/2013 text:Adrian
bar:14 color:both from:07/01/2013 till:end
bar:15 color:women from:07/01/2009 till:07/01/2013 text:Marian
bar:15 color:both from:07/01/2013 till:end
bar:16 color:men from:07/01/2013 till:end shift: text:Lawrence
bar:17 color:men from:07/01/2013 till:end shift: text:Milwaukee Engineering
bar:18 color:men from:07/01/2013 till:07/01/2019 shift: text:Northland
bar:18 color:both from:07/01/2016 till:07/01/2019
bar:19 color:men from:07/01/2015 till:end shift: text:Aurora
bar:19 color:both from:07/01/2017 till:end
bar:20 color:both from:07/01/2017 till:end shift: text:Trine
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1981
Legend = orientation:vertical left:55 top:150