According to the PAC-8 charter, each season starts on October 1 of each year.
Along with the required conference schedule, teams schedule non-conference games against ACHA opponents for regional and national ranking consideration.
For the 2018-19 season, each team must play twelve conference games. At the end of the season the top four teams from the north and south divisions qualify for the playoffs.
In game play, the ACHA follows the NCAA Rulebook for ice hockey. For interconference games, the PAC-8 mostly follows the same rules for game times and structure. A notable difference is in cases of a tie game after regulation and a 5-minute sudden-death overtime period. If a winner is not determined in overtime, then a 5 man shoot-out will occur. During the Conference Championship tournament, overtime format is 20 minute sudden-death periods until a winner is determined.
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination tournaments where only one team or players can advance to the next round or win the tournament and replays are not allowed.
The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegiate ice hockey. The ACHA currently has three men's and two women's divisions and includes approximately 450 teams from across the United States and Canada. Most ACHA teams offer few athletic scholarships and typically receive far less university funding. The ACHA offers an opportunity for college hockey programs that struggle with large budgets and Title IX issues, as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) financial structure.
The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) is an "incorporated not-for-profit corporation" which operates a national collegiate inline hockey league consisting of five divisions of competition. Headquartered in Torrance, California, the NCRHA is the national governing body of college inline hockey. The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships is held annually to determine the national champions at the end of each season.
College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
J20 Nationell is a junior ice hockey league composed of 20 teams in Sweden. Previously known as the J20 SuperElit, it is the highest-level junior ice hockey league in Sweden. The teams are divided in two groups, or divisions, Norra (North) and Södra (South), and are usually associated with a professional team in either the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) or HockeyAllsvenskan in order to develop talented youth for the professional teams. The winning team of the J20 Nationell playoffs is awarded the Anton Cup.
The Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League (TSCHL) is an ACHA Division II level ice hockey league. ACHA Division II level consists of players with previous Jr. A, AAA or Midget Major experience, along with high caliber high school experience. The level can range from varsity high school up to NCAA Division III skills, depending on the programs.
The Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) is a non-NCAA collegiate ice hockey league in the mid-atlantic and southeast regions of the United States. The Mission of the ACC Hockey League is to provide student-athletes an option to compete in organized intercollegiate ice hockey without the high expenses of NCAA level hockey.
The Western Collegiate Club Hockey Association (WCCHA) is a conference of men's club ice hockey teams from the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) competing at the Division II level. The participating teams come from colleges and universities in the Upper Midwest, including North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Teams in the WCCHA are primarily student-run sports clubs with limited University funding, requiring significant player dues and fundraising for team operation.
The Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (GLCHL) is an American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division I level ice hockey league. The GLCHL is made up of nine schools, including one in Indiana, one in Illinois, and seven in Michigan.
The Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey team represents Lindenwood University located in St. Charles, Missouri. The Lady Lions currently participate in the NCAA Division I competition as a member of College Hockey America (CHA). The team played with no conference affiliation as an Independent program for its first season of NCAA competition. During the 2011–12 season, Lindenwood was accepted into College Hockey America (CHA) beginning in the 2012–2013 season. Prior to 2011 the university was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), because the organization does not sponsor women's ice hockey, the program competed in the American Collegiate Hockey Association at the ACHA DI level.
The Colonial States College Hockey Conference (CSCHC) is a non-varsity club college ice hockey league based in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The conference is part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 and is made up of teams from colleges and universities based in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The Arizona State Sun Devils men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents Arizona State University. It plays its home games at Mullett Arena in Tempe.
The Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club represents Penn State University (PSU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA). Since the team's establishment in 2012, it has been very successful, including a pair of ACHA second-place finishes at the Division 2 level in 2012–13 and 2013–14 and an appearance at the ACHA Division 1 national championship tournament to close the 2014–15 season. PSU is one of just three teams to appear in consecutive ACHA Division 2 championship games, joining the University of Minnesota-Duluth (2007–08) and Rainy River Community College (2008–11).
The University of Michigan Women's Ice Hockey team represents the University of Michigan (U-M) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA). The team was founded in 1994 and has been consistently strong throughout its existence, winning a pair of CCWHA playoff titles and qualifying for 13 of the 18 ACHA National Tournaments held for women's teams, a number that ranks third all-time behind Massachusetts and Michigan State.
The UMass Minutemen women's ice hockey team represents the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL). The Minutemen are one of the ACHA's premier programs, having qualified for 16 of the 20 ACHA National Tournaments held for women's teams, a number second to Michigan State for the all-time lead. Additionally, UMass has won four ECWHL playoff titles and has been the home of two Zoë M. Harris Award winners, one of five ACHA D1 programs to produce multiple recipients of the honor.
The Lindenwood–Belleville Lynx women's ice hockey team represented Lindenwood University – Belleville in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH), following a successful stint in the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League (WWCHL). The team was founded for the 2014–15 season, as part of a rapid expansion of LU–B's athletic department, and quickly became one of the ACHA's top programs. The Lynx claimed three regular season conference championships and one playoff title, and qualified for five ACHA National Tournaments, highlighted by a second-place finish in 2019.
The Roosevelt Lakers women's ice hockey team represents Roosevelt University (RU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA), following the absorption of Robert Morris University Illinois (RMU) and several of RMU's athletic teams, including women's ice hockey, that was finalized in 2020.
The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began in October 2018 and ended with the Frozen Four in April 2019. This was the 72nd season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held, and United States college ice hockey's 125th year overall.
Minot State Beavers women's ice hockey represents Minot State University (MSU) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH). MSU was one of the founding members of the ACHA's second women's division in 2006–07, but has seen its greatest successes within the last few years. The Beavers qualified for the ACHA National Tournament for the first time in 2017 and made it to the semifinals, and followed that up with back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019. Minot then jumped to Division 1, and was one of the founding members of WMCH with Liberty University, Lindenwood University–Belleville, the University of Minnesota, McKendree University, and Midland University.
The 2021 NCHC Tournament was the eighth tournament in league history. Typically the tournament is scheduled across two separate weekends in mid-march with quarterfinal games hosted on campus locations, while the final four games are played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. However, on February 8, 2021, NCHC announced that the tournament would be played entirely in Grand Forks. By winning the tournament, North Dakota earned NCHC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
