OMAHA, Neb. – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced today that it has finalized plans for the 2020-21 season. The 26-game conference schedule will be played in two parts beginning with all eight teams converging on Omaha to compete in a 10-game pod at Baxter Arena.
The three-week event will feature 10 games per team (40 games total) beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 1 and running for three weeks.
"Our staff, led by
Mike Kemp, did an outstanding job putting together the bid for the pod, and we're looking forward to putting that plan in motion," said
Trev Alberts, Vice Chancellor for Athletics. "We have a great partner in the University of Nebraska Medical Center who will help us take all of the necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and staff. We know it will be a busy three weeks, but our staff is very excited to make this a marquee event for the NCHC and college hockey."
"This was quite a group effort by the staff at Baxter Arena and the athletic department to prepare this bid," said Kemp, Senior Associate Athletic Director. "We haven't hosted many events in the last six months, and we're all looking forward to getting back to what we do best.
"I'd also like to thank Mark Rath at the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau and the many local businesses who will be a part of hosting our member teams, staff and officials."
With the focus being on the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, staff, and officials, the Conference has intentionally attempted to limit team travel. Because of this, NCHC teams have been divided into two divisions based on geography for 2020-21 scheduling purposes: East and West. The East Division consists of Miami, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The West Division consists of Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota and Omaha. Teams will play each of their divisional opponents six times (18 games total) and each cross-division opponent twice (8 games total), with all cross-division games taking place in the Pod to alleviate travel. The second portion of the season will then take place January through March, with all divisional foes playing each other at home and on the road.
"Our players are excited to finally have a date on the calendar that they can circle," said Omaha head coach
Mike Gabinet. "Like all NCHC teams, we've been working very hard to get ready for the start of the season without knowing when that start was. With a well thought out plan now in place, we're just excited to welcome the other seven teams to Omaha and get our season underway.
"Omaha is such a great city, and I know that the businesses in Aksarben Village will do a great job supporting the pod and make it an outstanding experience for all NCHC teams."
Following the conclusion of play in the pod, teams will resume a more traditional schedule in the new year. Following the holiday break, all eight teams will resume play the first weekend in January with weekend series through the conclusion of the scheduled regular season on March 5-6. Teams will play 16 games during the second part of the season, all against divisional foes, with eight games at home and eight games on the road. In addition, teams will have multiple and consistent bye weekends during the travel portion of the season to allow for flexibility in the schedule.
"Throughout the past eight months we have learned to adjust and think creatively about how we live our personal and professional lives," NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton said. "I'm proud of our membership for their entrepreneurial spirit to build a concept grounded in health and safety that we believe gives a group of deserving student-athletes the best opportunity to conduct a successful season."
The complete conference schedule along with the NCHC's Return to Play protocol and overall COVID-19 testing plans, will be released in the coming weeks. At this time, no changes are planned for the 2021 NCHC Tournament. Any decision on possible non-conference games will be made at a later date.
