Western Collegiate Hockey League


The Western Collegiate Hockey League is a Division 1 collegiate ice hockey league in the ACHA, which is the highest non-varsity Club Level for college hockey. The ACHL is made up of ten teams from the Western United States.

History

In 2012, the WCHL was created and played its' first season in the ACHA in 2013-14 with six founding member teams. Arizona, Arizona State, Central Oklahoma, and Oklahoma joined the league after competing as ACHA D-1 Independent programs. Those four teams, joined Colorado and Colorado State, who made the transition to from ACHA D-2 to ACHA D-1.
In the WCHL's first two years of competition, they won back-to-back ACHA D-1 National Championships, which is now hosted at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
In 2013-2014, Arizona State defeated Robert Morris for the 2013-2014 ACHA D-1 National Championship.
And in 2014-2015, Central Oklahoma defeated Stony Brook for the 2014-2015 ACHA D-1 National Championship.
During the 2014 season, Arizona State announced their departure from the WCHL D-1 Club Level and established a formal NCAA D-1 ice hockey program for the 2015-16 season. This move left the WCHL with five members until the league announced the additions of Arkansas who created a new ACHA D-1 hockey club after years of success at the ACHA D-3 level, and Missouri State who moved up from the ACHA D-2 level on January 12, 2015.
Not to be confused, Arizona State's NCAA D-1 team is the only Independent men's hockey team in the country, but ASU also maintains both ACHA Club Level teams with our WCHL D-1 Sun Devils, and the PAC-8 D-2 Sun Devils, respectively.
In 2017, Central Oklahoma won their 2nd ACHA D-1 National Championship after defeating Ohio University.
Subsequently, Arkansas left the WCHL after the 2018-2019 season, and no longer has a D-1 hockey club.

Expansion

In September 2019, the WCHL expanded from seven to ten teams with the addition of University of Utah, UNLV, and Grand Canyon University for the 2020-2021 season.

Format

With ten member schools in the conference, beginning in the 2020-2021 season, the WCHL is now divided into two geographic divisions for conference play. Each WCHL team will play a home-and-home series against every conference member within its division, as well as one home series and one road series against conference members from the opposite division, for a total of 20 WCHL conference games per season.

Potential Expansion Candidates

The West Division: BYU Hockey, if they're willing to part ways with the Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League and elevate to D-1 competition. And Utah State University, if Grand Canyon decides to dropped down to D-2 competition.
The East Division: The University of Northern Colorado who are the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Champs of the Big Mountain Hockey Conference at the ACHA D-2 level.

Conference Divisions

Current Teams

SchoolLocationFoundedAffiliationEnrollmentNicknameNCAA ConferenceColors
University of ArizonaTucson, AZ1885Public38,057WildcatsPac 12
Arizona State UniversityTempe, AZ1885Public69,317Sun DevilsPac 12
University of Central OklahomaEdmond, OK1890Public17,101BronchosMIAA
University of ColoradoBoulder, CO1876Public29,884BuffaloesPAC 12
Colorado State UniversityFort Collins, CO1870Public24,875RamsMountain West
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenix, AZ1949Public20,500AntelopesWAC
Missouri State UniversitySpringfield, MO1905Public22,385BearsMVC
University of Nevada-Las VegasLas Vegas, NV1957Public30,704RebelsMountain West
University of OklahomaNorman, OK1890Public29,721SoonersBig XII
University of UtahSalt Lake City, UT1850Public33,058UtesPac 12

Conference Arenas

ACHL Conference Champions

YearACHL ChampionRunner Up
2013-2014Arizona StateOklahoma
2014-2015Arizona StateCentral Oklahoma
2015-2016Central OklahomaColorado
2016-2017Central OklahomaArizona State
2017-2018Central OklahomaColorado
2018-2019ArizonaCentral Oklahoma
2019-2020* Arizona* Arizona State

ACHA D-1 National Champions

YearACHA National Champion
2013-2014Arizona State
2014-2015Central Oklahoma
2016-2017Central Oklahoma