COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The National Collegiate Hockey Conference has invited St. Cloud State and Western Michigan to join the new Division I men’s hockey conference when it starts play in 2013-14.
St. Cloud State is a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Michigan is in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
They would join founding members Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota in the NCHC.
The league, which was born in response to the Big Ten’s fledgling hockey league taking Minnesota and Wisconsin from the WCHA, is conducting a national search for its first commissioner.