Men, women, and other teams all make up the NCAA hockey league. With 58 member schools in six conferences, NCAA hockey is one of the most popular college sports in the United States. The six conferences are Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, ECACHL, Hockey East, and WCHA. These teams span from western Alaska to southern Alabama.The MIAC was founded in 1920 and since then, member schools have been playing ice hockey and establishing consistent lower-level college hockey competitions.
USA Hockey awards the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award annually to the best female hockey player in Division I. NCAA hockey also includes more than 70 schools that compete at the Division III level, which offers high-level hockey but no athletic scholarships.The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is the body that sanctions ice hockey outside the NCAA or clubs in the United States. In Canada, college hockey refers to community college and small university ice hockey, which currently consists of a university conference, the Alberta University Athletic Conference (ACAC), and a club league, the British Columbia Inter-University Hockey League (BCIHL).
