The league has a large footprint spreading across the western United States, featuring members in Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

Among the ten members the conference has hosted, both Minnesota (2013) and Wisconsin (2002 and 2004) won ACHA national championships prior to joining the WWCHL, while Colorado and Colorado State also have lengthy histories pre-dating the conference's creation.

The rest of the league roster, however, consists of newer programs, largely in emerging hockey locales.

Arizona State started its program in 2016–17[1] while Grand Canyon and the University of Utah did so in 2017–18 and 2019–20, respectively.

Since 2011, the American Collegiate Hockey Association has supplied players for the United States team at the World University Games women's hockey tournament, held biennially and as part of the multi-sport event for college and university student-athletes.