For the first year the NCHA tournament format was a Two-game, total goal series for both rounds.
Two seasons later the tournament was expanded again, this time to 8 teams, before returning to a 6-team championship the following year.
In 1997 Bemidji State was no longer eligible to participate in any Division III tournament but remained in the NCHA for three more seasons.
When Lake Forest left the conference in 2009 the tournament shifted to a 7-team format but was restored to an 8-team arrangement after membership was reshuffled in 2013.
Two years later the tournament was returned to an 8-team format, however, the teams would play both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds within their divisions leaving the championship as the only interdivisional game.