The Western Collegiate Hockey Association is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates as a women's ice hockey conference in the NCAA's National Collegiate division, the de facto equivalent of Division I in that sport. Founded in 1951 as a men's ice hockey conference, it added a women's division in 1999, and continued to operate men's and women's divisions through the 2020–21 hockey season. After that season, the WCHA disbanded its men's division after seven of its 10 men's members left the conference to reestablish the Central Collegiate Hockey Association; the WCHA remained in operation as a women-only league. Each team plays 28 league games, each team playing four games against every other, two home games and two road games.
The women's WCHA tournament seeds all 8 teams, and conducts a standard 8-team tournament at a single site over 4 days. The winner receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. WCHA teams won the first 13 NCAA Tournament championships from its inception in 2001.[1]
| Season | Regular season champion[2] | Tournament champion | NCAA national champion | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | —[3] | Bemidji State, Minnesota, Minnesota–Duluth, Minnesota State, Ohio State, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin begin conference play | |
| 2000–01 | Minnesota | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | NCAA begins awarding a national championship for women's ice hockey | |
| 2001–02 | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota–Duluth | ||
| 2002–03 | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | ||
| 2003–04 | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | ||
| 2004–05 | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | North Dakota begins conference play | |
| 2005–06 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2006–07 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2007–08 | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | WCHA championships later vacated due to ineligible player | |
| 2008–09 | Minnesota | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2009–10 | Minnesota &<br />Minnesota–Duluth[4] | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota–Duluth | Minnesota and Minnesota–Duluth were named regular season conference co-champions after finishing tied for first. Minnesota–Duluth got the top seed for the conference tournament. | |
| 2010–11 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2011–12 | Wisconsin | Minnesota | Minnesota | ||
| 2012–13 | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Undefeated season for Minnesota | |
| 2013–14 | Minnesota | Minnesota | — | ||
| 2014–15 | Minnesota | Wisconsin | Minnesota | ||
| 2015–16 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Minnesota | ||
| 2016–17 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | — | Last season for North Dakota | |
| 2017–18 | Wisconsin | Minnesota | — | ||
| 2018–19 | Minnesota | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2019–20 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | — | NCAA championship tournament canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |
| 2020–21 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | ||
| 2021–22 | Minnesota | Ohio State | Ohio State | St. Thomas began conference play | |
| 2022–23 | Ohio State | Minnesota | Wisconsin | ||
| 2023–24 | Ohio State | Wisconsin | Ohio State |
| School | Regular season championships | Tournament championships | NCAA national championships | Last regular season championship | Last tournament championship | Last NCAA national championship | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Bemidji State | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
| scope=row | Minnesota | 11 | 8 | 6 | 2022 | 2023 | 2016 | |
| scope=row | Minnesota–Duluth | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2010 | 2010 | 2010 | |
| scope=row | Minnesota State | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
| scope=row | North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
| scope=row | Ohio State | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2024 | 2022 | 2024 | |
| scope=row | St. Cloud State | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
| scope=row | St. Thomas | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
| scope=row | Wisconsin | 9 | 10 | 7 | 2021 | 2024 | 2023 |