The WCHA is the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Established in 1951, the WCHA is a Division I conference of the NCAA comprised of these ten teams, listed in order of their current standings in the conference: Ferris State University, Bemidji State, Bowling Green, University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Northern Michigan and University of Alabama Huntsville.

A realignment of the conferences occurred during this past offseason, and with that, the WCHA lost some faces but gained some new ones. Eight of the 12 teams left for different conferences. New to the WCHA this season are Alabama Huntsville, Alaska Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan. NMU is the only team in the conference to rejoin after departing from the conference in 1997.

Teams that left after last season are Colorado College, University of Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Nebraska Omaha, University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin. All of these teams have either gone to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference or the Big Ten Conference. Other past WCHA members include U of M, MSU and Notre Dame, all of which Tech has played already this season.

Of Michigan Tech’s 36-game season, 28 of them are WCHA conference games. Currently, the team has a split record at 2-2 and is tied for fifth place, along with four other teams in the WCHA.

The fact that half of the teams are tied for one place in the whole conference says
a lot, especially when the teams above them aren’t ahead by a landslide. This league is very competitive and very well matched. There is no series a team can go into knowing they have the edge, at least at this point in the season. If any, however, it would be Alabama Huntsville who is 0-6 in the conference and 0-10 in their regular season. They have let in a total of 50 goals, 24 of which are goals from conference teams.

In the WCHA, Ferris State is definitely a team to look out for as they are undefeated in conference play and have lost only two games this season. They have an outstanding goal differential and have always been known to have a premium hockey program. Their top three point leaders have a combined 40 points whereas Bemidji State, who is in second place, has 29 points in their top three combined.

So, where does Michigan Tech stand in all of this? Aside from being tied for fifth
place, the team is doing well. By no means has the season been a breeze, and there can be no guarantees made about anything. But the team is still in a transitional phase since Coach Pearson took this team under his guidance two years ago.

Coach Pearson has absolutely turned this team around, considering that the Huskies
used to be a punching bag for the rest of the WCHA, and the team is still going through a turnaround. Consistency remains an issue at some points, but if the team can pull it all together, there will definitely be some championships to come Tech’s way.

Sparks of greatness have shown themselves numerous times throughout the season for the Huskies, and it’s frustrating to watch them struggle for cohesiveness at times. If they can reach the potential that everyone knows they have, they will be an extremely dangerous team for all that come their way.

For all things WCHA, from statistics, schedules, standings, apparel, etc., go to (WCHA.com) and follow them on Twitter at @wchahockey.