History of College Hockey America
The College Hockey America conference was formed in 1999 with Air Force, Army, Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State, Findlay and Niagara as charter members, all of which started play in 1999, and Wayne State (also a charter member) which began conference play in 2000. Army left for the MAAC in the fall of 2000, leaving the conference with six members. The 2002-03 season was the first in which the conference played for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, eventually awarded to CHA Tournament champions Wayne State. After the following season, Findlay discontinued hockey, necessitating the addition of Robert Morris in 2004 to maintain that automatic NCAA bid. That reprieve was short-lived, as Air Force announced their move to Atlantic Hockey effective the 2006-07 season, putting the automatic bid, and the conference's existence, in jeopardy once again. The situation was exacerbated when Wayne State stopped playing varsity hockey in 2008, leaving the conference with only four teams.