For the 1980-81 season the program joined the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA), in which Bemidji State is a charter member.

The Beavers won their third straight NCHA regular season championship in 1983-84 and qualified for the NCAA tournament.

[10] The 3-0 shutout win gave the Beavers their first berth in the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Tournament in program history.

[11] Bemidji beat Niagara 4-2 to win the 2006 CHA Championship and advance to the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament for the second year in a row.

[2][14] The team picked up the first NCAA Division I tournament win in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament with a 5-1 upset over Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey, a #1 seed and ranked 2nd in the national rankings.

The CHA had lost many of the original member to programs at Findlay and Wayne State folding and other teams transferring to other college hockey conferences.

In a first step the university signed a scheduling agreement against WCHA schools, many within a few hours drive to Bemidji, Minnesota.

With the news of the Bemidji Regional Events Center BSU applied to join the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in early 2009.

[23] The Beavers opened WCHA play in the new Bemidji Regional Events Center on October 15, 2010 against North Dakota in a 2-5 loss.

[24] Bemidji ended the regular season with a conference record of 8-15-5 as the 10th seed entering the 2011 WCHA Tournament.

[25] The series sweep sent Bemidji to its first ever WCHA Final Five and upset Minnesota–Duluth 3-2 in overtime,[26] before losing to Denver 2-6 in the semifinal game.

They compiled 64 conference points, 10 more than runner-up Michigan Tech, and won the school's first coveted MacNaughton Cup.

These seven schools announced in early 2020 that they would reestablish the CCHA, and added an eighth member before starting play in the revived league in 2021.

First Team All-CCHA Second Team all-CCHA CCHA All-Rookie Team [35] GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average Minimum 1500 minutes Statistics current through the start of the 2021-22 season.