• 22 National Championships
• 10 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Winners
• 132 All-Americans
• 222 Olympians

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the top league in all of women's collegiate hockey, proudly celebrated its 26th season of competition in 2024-25. 

Founded in 1999, the WCHA has been at the forefront of growing and raising the profile of women's hockey nationwide as the league continues to churn out national champions, Patty Kazmaier winners, Olympians and professional players. The league consists of eight premier institutions that offer the best in both educational and athletic environments.

The league welcomed its sixth Minnesota-based member with the University of St. Thomas (Tommies) joining for the 2021-22 campaign, rounding out the eight-team membership of Bemidji State (Beavers), University of Minnesota (Gophers), University of Minnesota Duluth (Bulldogs), Minnesota State University (Mavericks), The Ohio State University (Buckeyes), St. Cloud State University (Huskies), and University of Wisconsin (Badgers).

No women's hockey conference can top the impressive list of national accomplishments of the WCHA. Since 1998, member teams have earned a record 22 NCAA and AWCHA national championships while finishing as the national runner-up 11 times. Since the inception of the NCAA women's ice hockey championship in 2001, the WCHA has won 21 titles, landed at least one team in every Frozen Four and iced two or more teams in 19 Frozen Fours.

The league has also produced 10 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winners as well an additional 29 student-athletes who were among the Top-3 finalists for the award.

111 WCHA student-athletes have made 222 appearances in the Olympic Games, with 30 earning Gold medals, since women's ice hockey made its first appearance in the Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Since 2002, every team to medal at the Olympics has had at least one player with WCHA ties on its roster.



At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, 48 players with ties to the WCHA competed, including 12 current student-athletes, four signed future players, and former players. The group included nine gold medal winners in Ashton Bell, Jocelyn Larocque, Emma Maltais, Natalie Spooner, Emily Clark, Blayre Turnbull, Ann-Renee Desbiens, Kristen Campbell, and Sarah Nurse of Team Canada.

The silver medal-winning Team USA featured 15 WCHA stars in Abbey Murphy, Grace Zumwinkle, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Amanda Kessel, Kelly Pannek, Megan Bozek, Lee Stecklein, Maddie Rooney, Jincy Dunne, Caroline Harvey, Alex Cavallini, Brianna Decker, Hilary Knight, and Abby Roque. The squad was led by six WCHA staff members. 

Bronze medalist Finland boasted a roster that included six WCHA players in Nelli Laitinen, Eveliina Makinen, Michelle Karvinen, Susanna Tapani, Minttu Tuominen, and Jenniina Nylund.

WCHA players also made history in Beijing as Team USA’s Abby Roque became the first indigenous woman to medal in women’s ice hockey in Olympic history, while Canada’s Sarah Nurse became the first black woman to be an ice hockey Olympian, the first to win a gold medal, and set the single-tournament Olympic record for points (18) and assists (13).

WCHA players have been recognized as All-Americans 132 times in league history, including three-time selections Hannah Brandt, Natalie Darwitz, Brianna Decker, Jincy Dunne, Hilary Knight, Monique Lamoureux, Annie Pankowski, Noora Räty, Maria Rooth, Lee Stecklein, Daryl Watts, and Krissy Wendell. When it comes to coaching, WCHA teams and players have benefited from the expertise of some of the best minds in the game. Current bench bosses Mark Johnson (Wisconsin) and Brad Frost (Minnesota) are the nation's winningest active coaches and their respective career winning percentages rank among the top five in NCAA history. 

WCHA coaches have won 12 of the 27 AHCA Women's Division I National Coach of the Year awards presented since the honor's inception in 1998.

The WCHA provides fans the opportunity to watch league action throughout the season. Every game hosted by WCHA member institutions, along with the WCHA Final Faceoff, is streamed live and on demand exclusively on B1G+. In addition, numerous games throughout the WCHA season are featured regionally on FOX9+ and nationally on the Big Ten Network.

With eight high-quality institutions producing leaders and champions on and off the ice and playing in front of the sport's best fans, this much is certain: The WCHA - as it has for a quarter century - will remain elite on the ice, while growing the game by providing an exemplary student-athlete and fan experience.