MIAC, NCHA and WIAC represent Midwest at Division 3 level

Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Midwesthockey.info

Earlier, we looked at how the Midwest is represented at the Division 1 NCAA level. This piece looks at the three conferences in both Men’s and Women’s Division 3 hockey.

Men’s NCAA Division 3 – MIAC/NCHA/WIAC

The NCAA has 10 Division 2 or 3 Conferences, mostly on the eastern side of the nation, but there are three big ones in the Midwest.

The Minnesota Interscholastic Athletic Conference (MIAC) has eight schools, all in Minnesota while the National Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) has 10 teams with Midwest homes in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAC) includes six teams, all in Wisconsin.

In the MIAC Conference are the Augsburg University Auggies; Bethel University Royals; Concordia College Cobbers; Gustavus Adolphus College Golden Gusties; Hamline University Pipers; St. Mary’s University Cardinals; St. Olaf College Oles and College of St. Scholastica Saints.

Advancing to NCAA Division 1 this season is the St. Thomas Tommies who led all teams in the conference with 33 conference titles in the league’s history. The Gusties now lead the way with 14 titles. This past season was a shortened one with no conference champion for the first time since 1928. The most recent champions are the Johnnies, in 2019-20.

The NCHA includes five Wisconsin-based teams – the Concordia University Falcons from Mequon; the Lawrence University Vikings from Appleton, the Marian University Sabres from Fond du Lac, the Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders from Milwaukee, and St. Norbert College Green Knights from Green Bay. There are also two each from Michigan – The Adrian College Bulldogs and Finlandia University Lions from Hancock; Illinois – the Aurora College Spartans and Lake Forest College Foresters along with the Trine University Thunder from Angola, Indiana.

Adrian captured the conference’s last championship ending a string of three straight titles for St. Norbert. Going back to 2008, the Bulldogs have claimed eight titles, Green Knights four and MSOE has one.

St. Norbert won the NCAA Division 3 championship five times since 2008.

The WIAC includes the UW-River Falls Falcons; UW-Eau Claire Blugolds; UW-Stevens Point Pointers; UW-Superior Yellowjackets; UW-Stout Blue Devils and Northland College Lumberjacks.

The Yellowjackets captured the WIAC Conference Championship in 2020-21 with a win against the Blugolds and the previous season it was the Blugolds with a 4-2 doubling of the Pointers.

Women’s NCAA Division 3 – MIAC/NCHA/WIAC

The NCAA Women’s Divisions are similar to the men’s. There are 10 schools in the MIAC Conference with a few differences, the exact same nine schools in the NCHA and five schools will participate in the WIAC.

The MIAC Women’s Conference includes the same eight teams as the Men with the addition of the College of St. Benedict Bennies and the St. Catharine University Wildcats.

The Auggies have taken 16 MIAC titles dating back to 1999 and including the most recent one in 2019-20, Augsburg and St. Mary’s with two each and Bethel with one. St. Thomas who left the conference after last season have also captured a half dozen Women’s Conference crowns.

The NCHA had no champion in 2020-21 meaning Adrian enters this season looking for a sixth straight conference title. Before that Lake Forest won a pair.

Of the 20 titles presented, Adrian has claimed a half dozen with current NCHA schools accounting for three others. St. Norbert claimed the NCHA crown in 2012-13.

The UW-River Falls enter the season looking to defend the most recent WIAC Championship, claimed in a shortened 2020-21 campaign and there was no winner in 2019-20 with COVID restrictions causing the championship to be cancelled.

The Blugolds captured the 2018-19 O’Brien Cup as playoff champions, and they also captured the previous season’s title in double overtime against the Falcons avenging an overtime loss against the same Falcons team the previous season.