Colorado Springs, Colorado – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) has finalized a 10-team playoff model that the conference will use beginning in 2027, when the University of St. Thomas will begin NCHC play. The conference announced in May that St. Thomas will join the NCHC as the 10th team, beginning with the 2026-27 season.
If St. Thomas becomes an official member for the 2026-27 school year, all 10 teams will compete in the NCHC Tournament. The NCHC Playoffs will be played on campus over a three-week period, beginning with the 2026 NCHC Tournament.
Beginning in 2027, the top five seeds will host the bottom five seeds (1st vs. 10th, 2nd vs. 9th, etc.) in a best-of-three matchup in the first round of the NCHC playoffs (March 5-7, 2027). The following weekend, the remaining five teams will be reseeded and play three games together. The two remaining lowest seeds (currently the 4th and 5th seeds) will play a best-of-one quarterfinal matchup on Friday night (March 12, 2027) at the venue of the 1st seed. The following night (Saturday, March 13, 2027), both NCHC semifinals will be played, with the 1st seed hosting the quarterfinal winner and the 2nd seed hosting the 3rd seed.
The NCHC Championship Game will be played on a Friday or Saturday night of the following weekend (March 19th or 20th, 2027) between the highest remaining seeded team and the winner of the other semifinal. The winner of the NCHC Tournament will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCHC also finalized a 10-team schedule model beginning in 2026-27. The conference will return to a “travel partnership” format, with each member guaranteed to play four games (two home and two away) with their travel partner per regular season. The second two-game series between the travel partners will always take place on the final weekend of the regular season and will rotate locations each year. The travel partners have been identified as Colorado College and University of Denver, University of Miami and Western Michigan University, University of Minnesota Duluth and University of North Dakota, University of Nebraska-Omaha and Arizona State University, and St. Cloud State University and University of St. Thomas.
After St. Thomas joins in 2026-27, the NCHC Conference schedule will still consist of 24 games in pursuit of the Penrose Cup. Each member will play every other member school in at least one two-game series per season. In addition to the team's traveling partner, each school will rotate against two other member schools in both a home series and an away series (four games) per season.
Along with finalizing the 10-team playoff model, the NCHC also adjusted the nine-team playoff format beginning with the upcoming postseason in 2025. Although it had originally announced all nine teams would compete in the NCHC Tournament with the addition of Arizona State, the conference will now advance only the top eight teams to the NCHC Playoffs in both 2025 and 2026. After further consultation with its membership, it was determined that the logistics of having a play-in game between the eighth seed vs. the ninth seed before the quarterfinals would be too complicated to travel and would place additional strain on student-athletes and staff at a critical time in the season.
The 2025 NCHC Tournament will begin with a best-of-three quarterfinal series March 14-16, with the top four seeds hosting the bottom four seeds as in years past. The 2025 NCHC postseason will also feature the final conference championship game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, with the final neutral-site NCHC Frozen Faceoff scheduled for March 21-22.
Beginning in 2026, the NCHC will move the playoffs entirely to campus sites, as first announced last December. As in 2025, only eight teams will qualify for the 2026 NCHC Tournament, but the playoffs will take place over three weeks instead of two. The first weekend (March 6-8, 2026) will consist of a best-of-three quarterfinal series between the top four seeds and the bottom four seeds. The teams will then be reseeded, and the top of the two remaining seeds will host the winners of the other two quarterfinals in a best-of-one semifinal the following Saturday (March 14, 2026). The championship game will then be played the following Friday or Saturday (March 20 or 21, 2026) for the highest remaining seed.
Media rights and coverage for the NCHC tournament and championships beyond 2026 will be announced at a later date. The 2025 NCHC quarterfinals will be available on NCHC.tv and the final Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center will be broadcast exclusively on CBS Sports Network.
The 2024-25 season, the first with a nine-team NCHC, will kick off with all nine teams in action on Saturday, October 5. Four teams will play non-conference games and the remaining five will host exhibition games. The full 2024-25 schedule can be found here.
NCHC Playoff Model Overview
- 2025 – Eight teams qualify for a two-week neutral-venue championship
- 2026 – 8 teams qualify, 3 weeks, all on campus
- 2027 – Ten teams will qualify and the tournament will be held over three weeks, all on campus.
