It is our expansion philosophy that teams seeking to join the NCHL must be a regional, competitive, and economical fit with the current membership. This will help us live our motto of being "A Premier ACHA Division 2 Conference." Any team seeking to join the NCHL should first work to schedule current teams so you can demonstrate your competitiveness. Interested teams should be located in Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Northeastern Iowa, Eastern Minnesota, or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
If you feel the time is right to submit an application for membership, here is what you should include (at a minimum) in your application documents:
- Short statement on why you want to join the NCHL
- Record the last 3 years (including highest/final ACHA ranking, if applicable)
- Record against conference teams
- Distance from your rink to each conference team
- Short statement on the structure (funding, coaching, etc.) of the team
All applications need to be submitted to the Conference Commissioner (nchlcommish@gmail.com) by December 1st of the year prior to desired membership (e.g., Dec. 1, 2015 for 2016-2017 season membership). Since the NCHL is a member-run conference, all applications will be presented to member teams for a vote. Any team receiving the required 75% vote will be welcomed into full-membership for the following season. All applicants will get notified of the decision by December 31st to ensure enough time to schedule.
