The Northwest Central Hockey League is a former high school hockey conference with its membership concentrated in western Wisconsin. Founded in 1991 and disbanded in 2010, the conference and most of its member schools were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1991-1996
The Northwest Central Hockey League was founded in 1991 by five high school hockey programs along the Interstate 90 corridor in northwestern and west central Wisconsin: Altoona, Black River Falls, McDonell Central Catholic, Somerset and Tomah. All five programs belonged to conferences that did not sponsor the sport, and Tomah maintained a dual affiliation with the Wisconsin-Minnesota Hockey League for its first season in the conference. Spooner joined the league for its second season, bringing the membership roster to six schools. This was short-lived, as McDonell Central Catholic was voted out of the conference after a winless season caused by repeated player shortages, despite co-operative agreements with Chippewa Falls and Regis in Eau Claire. On the opposite end of the spectrum, was Somerset, who had been champions in each of the league's first four seasons, left the NCHL in 1995. They were replaced by four programs further to the south: La Crescent, the La Crosse co-operative between Central and Logan, Onalaska, and Viroqua.
1996-2010
The shift of NCHL membership to the south, along with ongoing issues with their home rink created challenges for Spooner, the conference's northernmost member. One of those problems was solved in 1996 when their rink was reopened, and the other by leaving the conference to compete as an independent with schools that were in closer proximity. Sparta, which had started their hockey program in 1997, joined the NCHL the next year to increase its roster size to eight members. It would stay at that number for the rest of the conference's existence, and the only other change to its roster came in 2002, when Altoona left to join the Middle Border Conference's initial hockey lineup. The new co-operative between Aquinas and Holmen, known as the Avalanche, took their place for the final years of the NCHL's run. For the conference's last three years, it was renamed the West Central Hockey Conference to reflect the change of its geographic footprint. In 2010, the league dissolved when the Mississippi Valley Conference began hockey sponsorship and five of WCHC's members (Avalanche Hockey, La Crosse, Onalaska, Sparta and Tomah) formed the MVC's inaugural hockey roster.
Conference membership history
Final members School/ProgramLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftPrimary ConferenceAvalanche HockeyLa Crosse, WIPrivate/PublicAvalanche 20022010Mississippi ValleyBlack River FallsBlack River Falls, WIPublicTigers 19912010CouleeLa CrescentLa Crescent, MNPublicLancers 19952010Hiawatha Valley (MSHSL)La CrosseLa Crosse, WIPublicRed Rangers 19952010Mississippi ValleyOnalaskaOnalaska, WIPublicHilltoppers 19952010Mississippi ValleySpartaSparta, WIPublicSpartans 19982010Mississippi ValleyTomahTomah, WIPublicIndians 19912010Mississippi ValleyViroquaViroqua, WIPublicBlackhawks 19952010Coulee
Former members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftPrimary ConferenceAltoonaAltoona, WIPublicRailroaders 19912002CloverbeltMcDonell Central CatholicChippewa Falls, WIPrivate (Catholic)Macks 19911994Central Wisconsin CatholicSomersetSomerset, WIPublicSpartans 19911995Dunn-St. CroixSpoonerSpooner, WIPublicRails 19921996Heart O'North
Notes
Membership timeline
List of conference champions SchoolQuantityYearsTomah71998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007Onalaska61996, 1997, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010Somerset41992, 1993, 1994, 1995Sparta22003, 2004Altoona0Avalanche Hockey0Black River Falls0La Crescent0La Crosse0McDonell Central Catholic0Spooner0Viroqua0 References