The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) was one of the Big Four conferences in NCAA Men's Division I. The league existed from 1971 to 2013. The league was forced out of existence with the NCAA Division I men's hockey realignment of the 2010's. The formation of the Big Ten Conference in hockey caused the league to lose three members. The formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference had the league lose two more franchises. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association was decimated even worse being down to four teams after losses to the same two new conferences. The WCHA offered membership to the remaining membership of the CCHA in order to keep the conference with enough teams to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship. All but Notre Dame accepted t