History
The CHA was founded as a men's-only league in the 1999–2000 season. The conference was formed by seven teams, three of which were Division I independent teams, other three moving up from Division II, after the NCAA stopped sanctioning Division II hockey in 1998, and one new varsity program (Wayne State).
The newly formed women's division of the CHA began play in the 2002–03 season with four teams. Findlay, Mercyhurst and Wayne State were former Great Lakes Women’s Hockey Association members, while Niagara played previously in the ECAC.
The CHA Women's Division managed to remain at four teams between 2002–2008; although teams continued to come and go. In 2004, Findlay dropped its women's hockey program and was replaced by Quinnipiac University for one season. In 2005, the Bobcats removed its women's team and moved to another conference (ECAC). They were replaced by the Colonials women's ice hockey team of Robert Morris University. In 2008-09, Syracuse University started up its women's hockey program and joined the conference; bringing the total number of teams in the CHA Women's Division up to five.
Bad news for the CHA Men's Division as it completely folded after the 2009–2010 season; leaving the CHA as a women's only conference. The fate of the four remaining CHA men's teams was as follows: Niagara and Robert Morris moved to Atlantic Hockey; Bemidji State joined the WCHA; and Alabama-Huntsville continued play as an Independent.
The 2011-12 academic year and season brought many changes to the CHA; first when Wayne State abruptly ended their women's hockey program, dropping conference membership to only four teams again for the 2011–12 season. In July 2011, Penn State, which is upgrading men's and women's hockey from club to NCAA Division I status for 2012, submitted an application and was later accepted for admission to the CHA for the 2012–13 season. Later in 2011, the conference announced that Lindenwood University will officially join the CHA for the 2012–2013 season. Lindenwood, currently in the process of transitioning its athletic programs from the NAIA to NCAA, had already been slated to play ten games against CHA opponents in the its first season of NCAA competition as an independent program for the 2011–12 season. On March 19, 2012, Niagara announces it was dropping its women's ice hockey program effective immediately; as a result, the Rochester Institute of Technology was allowed to immediately join the CHA upon their move from D-III to D-I for the 2012-13 season. In sum, the CHA will continue as a women's-only conference for the 2012-13 season with a total six teams consisting of Mercyhurst (original member from 2002); Robert Morris (joined 2005); Syracuse (joined 2008) and new members Penn State, Lindenwood and RIT.
Read more about this topic: College Hockey America
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