# Western Collegiate Hockey League

The Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) is a Division 1 collegiate ice hockey league in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (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 was hosted at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
In 2013–14, Arizona State defeated Robert Morris for the 2013–14 ACHA D-1 National Championship. And in 2014–15, Central Oklahoma defeated Stony Brook for the 2014–15 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 2018–19 season, and (currently) 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 2020–21 season.

## Format

With ten member schools in the conference, beginning in the 2020–21 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 champions of the Big Mountain Hockey Conference at the ACHA D-2 level.

## Conference divisions

| The West | The East |
| Arizona | Colorado |
| Arizona State | Colorado State |
| Grand Canyon | Missouri State |
| UNLV | Oklahoma |
| Utah | Central Oklahoma |

## Current Teams

| School | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Nickname | NCAA Conference |
| University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | 1885 | Public | 38,057 | Wildcats | Big 12 (D-I) |
| Arizona State University | Tempe, AZ | 1885 | Public | 69,317 | Sun Devils | Big 12 (D-I) |
| University of Central Oklahoma | Edmond, OK | 1890 | Public | 17,101 | Bronchos | MIAA (D-II) |
| University of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 1876 | Public | 29,884 | Buffaloes | Big 12 (D-I) |
| Colorado State University | Fort Collins, CO | 1870 | Public | 24,875 | Rams | Mountain West (D-I) |
| Grand Canyon University | Phoenix, AZ | 1949 | Private For-Profit (Non-denominational) | 20,500 | Antelopes | WAC (D-I) |
| Missouri State University | Springfield, MO | 1905 | Public | 22,385 | Bears | MVC (D-I) |
| University of Nevada-Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV | 1957 | Public | 30,704 | Rebels | Mountain West (D-I) |
| University of Oklahoma | Norman, OK | 1890 | Public | 29,721 | Sooners | SEC (D-I) |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | 1850 | Public | 33,058 | Utes | Big 12 (D-I) |

## Conference Arenas

| School | Hockey Arena | Capacity |
| Arizona | Tucson Convention Center | 6,791 |
| Arizona State | New Multi-Purpose Arena (2022) | 5,000 |
| Central Oklahoma | Arctic Edge Ice Arena | 700 |
| Colorado | CU Student Rec Center | 700 |
| Colorado State | Edora Pool Ice Center (EPIC) | 700 |
| Grand Canyon | AZ Ice Arcadia | 200 |
| Missouri State | Jordan Valley Ice Park | 700 |
| Oklahoma | Artic Edge Ice Arena | 700 |
| UNLV | City National Arena; Henderson Event Center, (2022) | 600; 6,000 |
| Utah | Salt Lake City Sports Complex | 2,500 |