The NCHC has finalized the 10-team playoff model the conference will use starting in 2027 when St. Thomas begins NCHC play.
The conference announced back in May that the Tommies will join the NCHC as its 10th team beginning with the 2026-27 season.
All 10 teams will make the NCHC tournament when St. Thomas becomes an official member for the 2026-27 campaign. The NCHC playoffs will take place over three weekends entirely on campus sites, which will first begin with the 2026 NCHC tournament.
Starting in 2027 and beyond, the top five seeds will host the bottom five seeds (No. 1 vs. No. 10, No. 2 vs. No. 9, etc.) in the first round of the NCHC playoffs in a best-of-three series (March 5-7, 2027). The following weekend, the five remaining teams will be re-seeded and three games will take place. The two lowest remaining seeds (now seeds No. 4 and No. 5) will play a single-game quarterfinal on a Friday night (March 12, 2027) at the site of the No. 1 seed. The next night (Saturday, March 13, 2027), both NCHC semifinals will take place with the No. 1 seed hosting the winner of the quarterfinal game and the No. 2 seed welcoming the No. 3 seed.
The NCHC championship game will then take place the next weekend on either Friday or Saturday night (March 19 or 20, 2027), with the highest remaining seed hosting the other semifinal winner. The winner of the NCHC tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The NCHC has also finalized its 10-team scheduling model, which will start in 2026-27. The conference will revert back to “travel partners,” with each member guaranteed to play four games (two home/two away) against their travel partner each regular season. The second two-game series between travel partners will always be on the final weekend of the regular season, alternating locations annually. Travel partners have been identified as follows: Colorado College and Denver, Miami and Western Michigan, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota, Omaha and Arizona State, and St. Cloud State and St. Thomas.
The NCHC conference schedule will continue to consist of 24 games in the pursuit of the Penrose Cup when St. Thomas joins in 2026-27. Each member will play all other member schools in at least one two-game series each season. In addition to a team’s travel partner, each institution will face two other members in both home and away series (four games) each season on a rotating basis.
Along with finalizing its 10-team playoff model, the NCHC has also adjusted its nine-team playoff format starting with the upcoming 2025 postseason. After initially announcing all nine teams would make the NCHC tournament with the addition of Arizona State, the conference will now only advance the top eight teams to the NCHC playoffs in both 2025 and 2026. Following further discussion with membership, the logistics of playing the No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed play-in game prior to the quarterfinals was determined to be too complicated with travel and put additional strain on student-athletes and staff at a critical time in the season.
The 2025 NCHC tournament will start with best-of-three quarterfinal series from March 14-16, with the top four seeds hosting the bottom four seeds, like in years past. The 2025 NCHC postseason will also be the conference’s last crowning a champion at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., with the final neutral-site NCHC Frozen Faceoff set for March 21-22.
Starting in 2026, the NCHC will move its playoffs entirely to campus sites, as first announced back in December. Like in 2025, only eight teams will make the 2026 NCHC tournament. However, the playoffs will stretch over three weeks, rather than two. The first weekend (March 6-8, 2026) will consist of best-of-three quarterfinal series between the top four seeds and the bottom four seeds. Teams are then re-seeded with the next Saturday (March 14, 2026) featuring both single-game semifinals as the two highest remaining seeds host the other two quarterfinal winners. The championship game will then be the following Friday or Saturday (March 20 or 21, 2026) at the highest remaining seed.
