Founded in 1951 as a men's hockey league, the WCHA added a women's division in the 1999–2000 season. The league would expand far beyond its traditional Midwestern base, adding teams in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, and Indiana at different times. The WCHA shut down its men's division after the 2020–21 season when seven of its 10 members left to start a new Central Collegiate Hockey Association.