Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League

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.

Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League

Conference	ACHA
Founded	2010
Sports fielded	Men's College ice hockey
Division	Division I
No. of teams	9
Region	Great Lakes
Most recent champion(s)	Northwood (1st title) (2024–25)
Most titles	Adrian Bulldogs (8 titles)
Official website	Official website

History

The league was announced in late 2009 and began play in the Fall of 2010 with six member teams, all located within the state of Michigan.^[1] Eastern Michigan, Michigan-Dearborn and Western Michigan all joined the league after competing as members of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League. Oakland and Adrian College previously competed as ACHA Division 1 Independents. Davenport joined after making the transition from ACHA Division 2 to Division 1.^[1] In 2012, Kent State announced they would move from the CSCHL to the league beginning in the 2012-13 season. Indiana Tech and Rochester College joined the league in the 2015-16 season. Before the 2017-18 season Indiana Tech left to join the newly formed NAIA Division. Calvin College moved up from ACHA Division 3 to fill the spot left by Indiana Tech. In 2019, Rochester and Michigan-Dearborn left the conference after the NAIA Division consolidated into the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), the all-sport conference for both RU and UMD.^[2] In recent years, though, the league has been able to supplement its membership with programs making the transition from ACHA D2 to D1, adding Grand Valley State for the 2020-2021 season,^[3] and Purdue University Northwest for the 2022-2023 season.^[4]

Adrian College has won the most regular season and playoff titles with seven regular season and five playoff titles.

Format

The conference plays a 16-game league schedule, two games against each team—home team alternates each season. In addition team schedules will include other ACHA Division I opponents. The GLCHL holds a league championship tournament at the end of the regular season in February.^[5]

Member schools

Current members

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Primary conference
Northwood University	Midland, Michigan	1959	Nonsectarian	1,344	Timberwolves	2024	?	Great Midwest (G-MAC)[a]
Oakland University	Rochester, Michigan	1957	Public	20,519	Golden Grizzlies	2010	?	Horizon[b]
Saginaw Valley State University	University Center, Michigan	1963	Public	7,523	Cardinals	2024	?	Great Lakes (GLIAC)[a]
University of Toledo	Toledo, Ohio	1872	Public	18,319	Rockets	2024	?	Mid-American (MAC)[b]
Western Michigan University[c]	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1903	Public	19,887	Broncos	2010	?	Mid-American (MAC)[b]

Notes

1. Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
2. Currently an NCAA Division I athletic conference.
3. Western Michigan has NCAA Division I hockey competing in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).

Former members

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
Adrian College[a][b]	Adrian, Michigan	1859	United Methodist	1,671	Bulldogs	2010	2024	Michigan (MIAA)[c]
Calvin University[a]	Grand Rapids, Michigan	1876	Christian Reformed	3,746	Knights	2017	2024	Michigan (MIAA)[c]
Davenport University[a]	Grand Rapids, Michigan	1866	Nonsectarian	5,384	Panthers	2010	2024	Great Lakes (GLIAC)[d]
Eastern Michigan University	Ypsilanti, Michigan	1849	Public	16,294	Eagles	2010	2024	Mid-American (MAC)[e]
Grand Valley State University[a]	Allendale, Michigan	1960	Public	24,406	Lakers	2020	2024	Great Lakes (GLIAC)[d]
Indiana Institute of Technology	Fort Wayne, Indiana	1930	Nonsectarian	7,000	Warriors	2015	2017	Wolverine–Hoosier (WHAC)[f]
Kent State University	Kent, Ohio	1910	Public	26,822	Golden Flashes	2012	2020	Mid-American (MAC)[e]
University of Michigan–Dearborn	Dearborn, Michigan	1959	Public	9,500	Wolverines	2010	2019	Wolverine–Hoosier (WHAC)[f]
Purdue University Northwest[a][6]	Hammond, Indiana	2016	Public	9,363	Pride	2022	2024	Great Lakes (GLIAC)[d]
Rochester College[a][g]	Rochester Hills, Michigan	1959	Churches of Christ	1,100	Warriors	2015	2019	Wolverine–Hoosier (WHAC)[f]
Roosevelt University	Chicago, Illinois	1945	Nonsectarian	3,725	Lakers	2022	2024	Great Lakes (GLIAC)[d]

Notes

1. Member school left the GLCHL to form the Great Lakes Six Hockey Conference (GL6), beginning the 2024–25 school year.
2. Adrian has NCAA Division III hockey competing in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).
3. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
4. Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
5. Currently an NCAA Division I athletic conference.
6. Currently an NAIA athletic conference.
7. Formerly known as Rochester College until 2019, then later known as Rochester University until 2024.

Conference arenas

School	Hockey Arena	Capacity
Adrian	Arrington Ice Arena	500
Calvin	Eagles Ice Center
Davenport	Patterson Ice Center	1,200
Eastern Michigan	Ann Arbor Ice Cube	1,000
Grand Valley State	Griff's Georgetown
Oakland	Onyx Rochester Ice Arena	750
Purdue Northwest	Kube Sports Complex
Roosevelt	Edge Ice Arena	3,000
Western Michigan	Wings West Arena	1,000

Past champions

	Regular season	Tournament	Tournament site
2011	Adrian College[7]	Oakland[8]	The Peak Ice Arena, Romulus, Michigan
2012	Oakland[9]	Adrian College[10]	Arrington Ice Arena, Adrian, Michigan
2013	Adrian College	Davenport	Patterson Ice Center, Grand Rapids, MI
2014	Adrian College	Adrian College	ONYX Ice Arena, Rochester, MI
2015	Adrian College	Adrian College	The Rink, Battle Creek, MI
2016	Davenport	University of Michigan-Dearborn	University of Michigan-Dearborn Fieldhouse, Dearborn, MI
2017	Adrian College	University of Michigan-Dearborn	KSU Ice Arena, Kent, OH
2018	Adrian College	Adrian College	Ann Arbor Ice Cube, Ann Arbor, MI
2019	Adrian College	Adrian College	Arrington Ice Arena, Adrian, MI
2020	Adrian College	Adrian College	Patterson Ice Center, Grand Rapids, MI
2021	Adrian College	Adrian College	Griff's Georgetown, Grand Rapids, MI
2022	Adrian College	Grand Valley State	Griff's Georgetown, Grand Rapids, MI
2023	Adrian College	Adrian College	Eagles Ice Center, Grand Rapids, MI
2024	Adrian College	Purdue Northwest	Farmington Hills Ice Arena, Oakland, MI
2025	Northwood University	Northwood University	Midland Civic Arena, Midland, MI

National tournament results

• 2011: #2 Davenport won the 2011 ACHA Men's DI National Championship defeating #1 Lindenwood 3-2 in overtime; #4 Adrian defeated 4-5 in 2ot by #5 Delaware in Quarter-final Round; #11 Oakland defeated 2-6 by #3 Ohio in Quarter-final Round.^[11]
• 2018: #2 ranked Adrian College won the ACHA Men's Div. I National Championship against #5 Illinois, defeating them 8-1.