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Western Collegiate Hockey Association
College athletic conference in the Midwestern United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
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Formerly | Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (1951–53) Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (1953–58) |
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Association | NCAA |
Founded | 1951 |
Commissioner | Vacant[1] |
Sports fielded |
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Division | Division I |
No. of teams | 8 |
Headquarters | Bloomington, Minnesota |
Region | Midwestern United States |
Official website | http://www.wcha.com |
Locations | |
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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.[2] The men's side of the league officially disbanded after seven members left to form the revived Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA); the WCHA remains in operation as a women-only league.[3]
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.[4] WCHA teams also won the first 13 NCAA women's titles, which were first awarded in 2001.[5]