College Hockey America

College Hockey America is a college athletic conference with teams ranging geographically from New York to Alabama and Minnesota. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. When the NCAA no longer sanctioned Division II hockey, this conference formed among schools who had played at that level and chose to compete at the Division I level.

Member schools

There are seven member schools in all; the men's division has four members, while the women's division has five:

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined	Men's championships	Women's championships	Primary Conference
University of Alabama in Huntsville	Huntsville, Alabama	Chargers	1950	Public	7,410	1999	2007	N/A	Gulf South (D-II)
Bemidji State University	Bemidji, Minnesota	Beavers	1919	Public	5,000	1999	2005, 2006	Plays in WCHA	Northern Sun (D-II)
Mercyhurst College	Erie, Pennsylvania	Lakers	1926	Private/Catholic	4,106	1999	Plays in Atlantic Hockey	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008	PSAC (D-II)
Niagara University	Lewiston, New York	Purple Eagles	1856	Private/Catholic	3,746	1999	2000, 2004, 2008	0	MAAC
Robert Morris University	Moon Township, Pennsylvania	Colonials	1921	Private/Non-sectarian	5,000	2004	0	0	NEC
Syracuse University	Syracuse, New York	Orange	1870	Private/Non-sectarian	19,082	2008	N/A	0	Big East
Wayne State University	Detroit, Michigan	Warriors	1868	Public	33,000	1999	Dropped in 2008	0	GLIAC (D-II)

Former

• Wayne State University (men's program dropped), 1999-2008
• Men's Championships: 2001, 2002, 2003
• United States Air Force Academy (Atlantic Hockey) 1999-2006
• University of Findlay (dropped program), 1999-2004
• United States Military Academy (Atlantic Hockey), 1999-2003

Future of the CHA

With the United States Air Force Academy leaving the conference after the 2005-06 season to join Atlantic Hockey, the conference is in danger of losing its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament since eligible conferences must have at least six schools. Further, there is a distinct possibility that CHA will be forced to disband. CHA can maintain its automatic tournament bid for up to two seasons as a five-team conference, but must forfeit their automatic bid after finding a sixth team for as many years as they take this exception.

Wayne State dropped its men's program after the 2007-2008 season.

It has been reported that NCAA Director of Championships Tom Jacobs is pushing legislation that would amend NCAA by-law 31.3.4.4 to allow the Championship Committee for sports that are sponsored by less than 25 percent of a division's membership to develop its own guidelines for dispersing automatic bids. Such legislation would allow CHA to maintain its automatic bid, without penalty, with only five member schools.

In January 2008, Bemidji State and the men's Western Collegiate Hockey Association announced a scheduling agreement officially beginning for the 2010-2011 season. This move looks to be the first step towards Bemidji's men's team joining its women's team in the WCHA sometime in the future.

On 6 March 2008, College Hockey America announced that Syracuse University will be joining the women's division for the 2008-09 season with a brand-new varsity program.

CHA championship games

For the first time in conference history, the 2006 men's and women's tournaments were held at the same site: The Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit, Michigan. The 2007 men's conference tournament was held in Des Moines, Iowa while the women's tournament was played at the Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh.

The 2008 CHA men's and women's tournament will be held at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, New York. The women's tournament will be held March 7-8 and the men's tournament on March 14-16.

Men's

• 2000 Niagara def. Alabama-Huntsville 3-2 (Huntsville, AL)
• 2001 Wayne State def. Alabama-Huntsville 4-1 (Huntsville, AL)
• 2002 Wayne State def. Alabama-Huntsville 5-4 (ot) (Lewiston, NY)
• 2003 Wayne State def. Bemidji State 3-2 (Kearney, NE)
• 2004 Niagara def. Bemidji State 4-3 (ot) (Kearney, NE)
• 2005 Bemidji State def. Alabama-Huntsville 3-0 (Grand Rapids, MN)
• 2006 Bemidji State def. Niagara 4-2 (Detroit, MI)
• 2007 Alabama-Hunsville def. Robert Morris 5-4 (ot) ( Des Moines, IA)
• 2008 Niagara def. Bemidji State 3-2 (Lewiston, NY)

Postseason Men's Hockey History

NCAA Tournament

Year	CHA Rep.	Opponent	Result
2000	Niagara	New Hampshire	W 4-1
	Niagara	North Dakota	L 4-1
2003	Wayne State	Colorado College	L 4-2
2004	Niagara	Boston College	L 5-2
2005	Bemidji State	Denver	L 4-3 (ot)
2006	Bemidji State	Wisconsin	L 4-0
2007	Alabama-Huntsville	Notre Dame	L 3-2 (2ot)
2008	Niagara	Michigan	L 5-1

Women's

• 2003 Mercyhurst def. Findlay 1-0 (Detroit, MI)
• 2004 Mercyhurst def. Niagara 3-1 (Lewiston, NY)
• 2005 Mercyhurst def. Niagara 4-1 (Erie, PA)
• 2006 Mercyhurst def. Niagara 6-2 (Detroit, MI)
• 2007 Mercyhurst def. Wayne State 4-1 (Pittsburgh, PA)
• 2008 Mercyhurst def. Wayne State 2-1 (OT) (Lewiston, NY)

Postseason Women's Hockey History

NCAA Tournament

Year	CHA Rep.	Opponent	Result
2002	Niagara	Minnesota-Duluth	L 3-2
	Niagara	Minnesota	T 2-2 (frozen four consolation)
2005	Mercyhurst	Harvard	L 5-4 (3ot)
2006	Mercyhurst	Wisconsin	L 2-1 (2ot)
2007	Mercyhurst	Minnesota-Duluth	L 3-2 (ot)
2008	Mercyhurst	Minnesota-Duluth	L 5-4

Conference arenas

School	Hockey Arena	Capacity
Alabama-Huntsville	Von Braun Center	6,800
Bemidji State	John S. Glas Field House	2,358
Mercyhurst	Mercyhurst Ice Center	1,500
Niagara	Dwyer Arena	2,000
Robert Morris	Island Sports Center	1,100
Syracuse	Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion	renovations pending
Wayne State	City Sports Center	500

Notes

External links

• Official CHA Conference Site