The trigger for the demise of the original CCHA was a large donation by energy billionaire Terry Pegula to his alma mater of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). This donation funded the startup expenses for varsity men's and women's hockey teams at the university, plus a new arena for both teams. Once Penn State's teams took the ice in 2012–13, it gave the Big Ten Conference the six schools it needed to begin sponsoring men's ice hockey. Among these six were three of the CCHA's most important members in Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State. The Big Ten announced in 2011 that it would start a men's hockey league in 2013–14, and the three Big Ten members announced they would leave the CCHA at that time.
Soon after the Big Ten announcement, a group of six schools—five from the WCHA plus CCHA member Miami (Ohio)—formed the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), which began play in 2013–14. Within a few months, all of the other CCHA schools said they would also leave, with Western Michigan joining the NCHC, Notre Dame joining Hockey East, and the rest joining the WCHA.
Throughout its history, the original CCHA only sponsored men's ice hockey—only one of its 11 final members had a varsity women's hockey team, namely Ohio State. The champion was automatically invited to the NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament.
The CCHA members in its final season of 2012–13 were:
In June 2019, seven of the 10 men's members of the WCHA, all Midwestern schools, announced that they would leave that league at the end of the 2020–21 season. By this time, the men's WCHA featured these schools, plus Alabama–Huntsville, Alaska, and Alaska–Anchorage. Their announcement stated that they were considering forming a new, more geographically compact league. On February 18, 2020 these seven schools announced they would begin competing in a new CCHA in 2021–22.
On July 30, 2020, St. Thomas, a Twin Cities school that will begin a move from NCAA Division III to Division I in July 2021 by joining the Summit League (which does not sponsor hockey), was announced as the eighth member of the new CCHA.
College Hockey America
College Hockey America (CHA) is a group of American colleges and universities who play NCAA Division I women's ice hockey against one another every season. It was founded in 1999 as a men's hockey conference, with women's teams joining in 2002. The men's side of CHA folded after the 2009–10 season. As of the current 2013–14 season, CHA has six members, which is the minimum needed to earn an automatic place in the NCAA women's tournament. However, because three of these schools only joined in July 2012, CHA will not get an automatic tournament place until at least the 2014–15 season.
CHA has close ties with Atlantic Hockey, a men's hockey-only conference. Although the conferences do not share offices, they have the same commissioner, and three current CHA members are also in Atlantic Hockey.
Of the current members, Mercyhurst, RIT, and Robert Morris have varsity men's teams in Atlantic Hockey. Penn State has a men's varsity team that plays in the school's all-sports conference, the Big Ten. Syracuse has a men's team, but it plays at club level, outside the NCAA structure.
ECAC Hockey
ECAC Hockey is a group of colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States who play NCAA Division I hockey against one another every season.. It is the only NCAA Division I hockey conference whose members all have varsity men's and women's teams. The league's champions are automatically invited to the NCAA Division I men's and women's hockey tournaments.
Another unique feature of the conference is its unofficial relationship with another conference, the Ivy League. Six of the Ivy league's eight schools have both men's and women's hockey teams; all six are members of ECAC Hockey. Although the Ivy League does not officially sponsor hockey, it still has a conference hockey champion—it uses the results of its members in ECAC Hockey to determine a winner.
During the major hockey conference realignment of 2011 and 2012 triggered by the decision of the Big Ten Conference to start a men's hockey league in 2013, the ECAC was the only Division I men's hockey conference that neither gained nor lost a member.
Current members are:
Hockey East
Hockey East is a group of American colleges and universities who play NCAA Division I hockey against one another every season. Before the Notre Dame men's hockey team (in Indiana) joined in 2013, all of the members were in New England. The champions are automatically invited to the NCAA Division I men's and women's hockey tournaments.
In all, 12 schools are members of Hockey East. Seven of these have men's and women's teams that both play in the conference. Four do not have a women's team playing at the NCAA level, although one of these four will move its women's club team to the NCAA level in 2015. One school has its women's team only in Hockey East, with its men's team in another conference.
The current members are listed below. Unless otherwise noted, these schools have both men's and women's teams in the conference.
In July 2014, Connecticut, now a member only for women's hockey, will move its men's team into Hockey East. One year later, Merrimack, a member in men's hockey only, will upgrade its women's team from club to full varsity status and move that team into the conference.
Mezquita de Córdoba
The Mezquita (Spanish for "mosque") of Cordoba is a Roman Catholic cathedral. It used to be a mosque situated in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. At first the site had been used for a temple, then a Christian cathedral. Under the rule of Islam, it was built as the second-largest mosque in the world. It is perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad dynasty of Cordoba. It changed into mosque in Middle Ages. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was changed back into a church, and some of the Islamic columns and arcs were replaced by a basilica in early Baroque style. Today it houses the main church of the diocese of Cordoba in Spain.
Chris Parks
Christopher J. "Chris" Parks (born 4 October 1973), better known by his ring name Abyss, is an American professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Abyss first appeared in Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2004, being brought in as a bodyguard to the stable Special K. Abyss appeared only once, however, due to TNA pulling all of their contracted talent from ROH.
Abyss returned in the summer of 2005, this time as a member of Prince Nana's heel stable The Embassy as they feuded with Generation Next. The feud between the Embassy and Generation Next lasted through the rest of 2005 with several matches and brawls taking place between both teams. The feud culminated in a Steel Cage Warfare match at December's "Steel Cage Warfare" where Abyss teamed with Alex Shelley, Jimmy Rave and Prince Nana to take on Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans and Matt Sydal. Abyss was eliminated by Jack Evans after a moonsault. In the end, Generation Next won the match and the war.
In January 2006, Abyss teamed with fellow Embassy members Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley to compete in the Trios Tournament. The Embassy won the tournament, which meant that all three of its winning members earned world title shots. However, Abyss left ROH before he could use the privilege.
Before Chris Parks was known as "Abyss", he was on TNA's first show as "Justice". He took part in the Gauntlet For The Gold match to determine a new NWA World Heavyweight Championship|NWA World Heavyweight Champion but lost the match.