The first official game occurred just over a month later with Michigan Tech winning the inaugural meeting.

Michigan Tech played its first ice hockey game in 1920 and had the Upper Peninsula to itself for nearly 50 years.

[2] Northern Michigan played its first game in 1976 and swiftly rose to prominence in the CCHA.

At the start of the 1979–80 season, the two programs, who were separated by less than 100 miles (160 km), played their first games against one another.

After three years, both schools left the CCHA and joined the WCHA, remaining conference rivals until the late 1990s.