Midwest well represented in NCAA Division 1 hockey leagues

Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Midwesthockey.info

College hockey is a new project for Midwesthockey.info beginning this season.

In the past, the scope was just too big to include another mountain of Men’s and Women’s teams from NCAA Division 1 and Division 3 and considering ACHA College Club teams was just out of the question.

With the new stronger focus this season, it seemed a good time to give it a try. Following is a list an overview of the Midwest Footprint at the top level of College Hockey

Men’s NCAA Division 1 – Big10, NCHC, CCHA

Three of the NCAA’s seven conferences including Midwest-based team the newest is an all-Midwest Division.

The relatively new Big10 Conference includes six teams from the association that until recently played in different groups along with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish which is independent in football.

Six of the seven are in the Midwest States, the Penn State Nittany Lions the lone non-Midwest based team.

Other teams are the Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Gophers, and the Wisconsin Badgers.

Big10 teams will begin play on Oct. 2 and conference games will run from Oct. 29 to Feb. 26 followed by Big 10 and NCAA tournaments

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an eight-team group with six based in the Midwest States.

Those teams include the North Dakota Fighting Hawks; Miami Red Hawks; St. Cloud State Huskies; Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs; Omaha Mavericks and Western Michigan Broncos along with the University of Denver Pioneers and Colorado College Tigers.

NCHC will also begin play on Oct. 2 with conference games stretching from Nov. 5 to March 5 followed by NCHC playoffs and NCAA tournament play.

The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) was reborn this summer as eight teams left the former WCHA to start the all-Midwest-based division which includes four Michigan-based teams, three more from Minnesota and Bowling Green State University Falcons as the lone Ohio squad.

Representing Michigan are the Ferris State University Bulldogs; Lake Superior State University Lakers; Michigan Technological University Huskies and the Northern Michigan University Wildcats. The three Minnesota reps are: the Bemidji State University Beavers; Minnesota State University Mavericks and University of St. Thomas Tommies.

Teams will head straight into regular season play, including some conference matches on Oct. 2 and the regular season will wrap up Feb. 26, followed by league playoffs and the NCAA Championship tournament.

Women’s NCAA Division 1 – WCHA/CHA

There are nine Midwest-based hockey teams playing Division 1 hockey this season. All but one of them are in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

The all-Midwest-based conference includes a half dozen Minnesota squads – the Bemidji State University Beavers; Minnesota State University Mavericks; Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs; St. Cloud State Huskies; University of Minnesota Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies. Also in the Conference are the University of Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes.

The WCHA conference will begin play with both non-conference and conference games on Sept. 24 and wrap up regular season play on Feb. 19. Following that will be WCHA playoffs and the NCAA tournament.

The other Midwest based team is the Lindenwood Lady Lions from St. Charles, Missouri, playing in the five-team College Hockey America Conference.

Also included are the Mercyhurst Lakers and Penn State Nittany Lions from Pennsylvania along with the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers and Syracuse Orange from New York State.

CHA play will begin Sept. 19 with a conference match and the schedule will wrap up on Feb. 19. CHA Tournament play will run March 4-6 followed by the NCAA tournament.