Central States Collegiate Hockey League

Central States Collegiate Hockey League
ConferenceAmerican Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA)
Founded1970
Ceased2024
CommissionerBrian Moran
Sports fielded
DivisionDivision I
No. of teams2
HeadquartersUnion Lake, Michigan
RegionMidwest and Great Lakes
Official websitehttp://www.cschl.com/
Locations
Location of teams in {{{title}}}

The Central States Collegiate Hockey League (CSCHL) was a Division I ACHA level hockey-college athletic conference. The CSCHL was one of the top ranked ACHA leagues. In its final state, it contained two member teams in the Midwestern United States.

Format

League teams played a 20-game league schedule, plus additional regular season games against non-league opponents. Following the regular season, the league held a Championship Tournament. The CSCHL Regular Season champion team was then awarded an automatic bid to the annual ACHA Men's Division I National Tournament.

History

The league began in 1970 with Chicago State University, Illinois State University and Iowa State University as founding members.[1] The following season the league expanded to 24 teams in 3 divisions making the CSCHL the premier ice hockey conference in the midwest. Joining the CSCHL included Bradley University, Drake University, Illinois Benedictine University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Lewis University, Northeastern Illinois University, and Western Illinois University. The University of Illinois joined shortly after in 1974.

The league saw great expansion in the early 1990s when the University of Michigan-Dearborn joined after operating as an NAIA varsity program.[1] Ohio University followed in 1993 and Kent State University joined in 1994 after the university dropped NCAA hockey.[1] Following the 2003 season, UW-Whitewater departed & dropped down to play ACHA D2. In 2004, Robert Morris University-Illinois joined the league, followed by Lindenwood University in 2006. After the 2008 season, Saint Louis University departed to play at the ACHA Division II level. At the conclusion of the 2009–2010 season, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan–Dearborn, and Western Michigan University left to join the new Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League.[2] The CSCHL added Indiana University, who joins the league for the 2010–2011 season, after transitioning from ACHA II.[3] Kent State departed for the GLCHL at the conclusion of the 2011–12 season.

Indiana University rejoined the Great Midwest Hockey League (GMHL) in the 2014–15 season to once again compete at the Division II level.[4] During the 2019–20 season, Robert Morris Illinois merged with erstwhile non-hockey Roosevelt University.[5] The hockey program was retained through the merger process of the universities and athletics departments and has played under the Roosevelt Lakers program beginning in the 2020-21 season.[6] After the 2021–22 season, Lindenwood moved up its men's hockey team to NCAA Division I status and therefore left both the league and the ACHA.[7]

Iowa State and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign left for Midwest College Hockey following the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.[8] Following the announcement, the conference folded.

Current members

School Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Team nickname Colors Primary conference
Ohio University Athens, OH 1804 Public 27,367 Bobcats     Mid-American (D-I)
Maryville University St.Louis, MO 1872 Private 9,959 Saints     GLVC (D-II)

Membership timeline

Maryville UniversityRoosevelt UniversityIndiana University (Bloomington)Lindenwood UniversityRobert Morris University (Illinois)University at BuffaloSaint Louis UniversityWestern Michigan UniversityKent State UniversityUniversity of ToledoOhio UniversityPurdue UniversityUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity Michigan, DearbornEastern Michigan UniversityUniversity of Wisconsin–WhitewaterUniversity of Notre DameUniversity of Alabama in HuntsvilleNorthwestern UniversityMarquette UniversitySt. Norbert CollegeUniversity of MissouriUniversity of IllinoisIowa State UniversityIllinois State UniversityChicago State University

Former teams

Conference arenas

School Hockey Arena Capacity
Ohio Ossian C. Bird Arena 2,000
Maryville Maryville University Hockey Center 2,000

References

  1. ^ a b c "League History". CSCHL. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "All-Michigan GLCHL League To Debut in 2010–2011". ACHA. November 13, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  3. ^ "Indiana University Admitted into CSCHL". ACHA. November 13, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  4. ^ "Indiana University Ice Hockey: About". Indiana University Ice Hockey. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  5. ^ "Roosevelt University Gets Approval to Integrate Robert Morris Illinois". Roosevelt University. March 9, 2020.
  6. ^ "Men's Hockey Is Coming to Roosevelt University This Fall". Roosevelt Lakers. April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  7. ^ "Lindenwood men's ice hockey moving to Division I". Lindenlink.com. February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  8. ^ "University of Illinois to Join Midwest College Hockey in 2024". 12 October 2023.