The PAC-8 Hockey Conference which formed in 1996, involves the same schools as in  the traditional Pacific 10 Conference. Teams in the PAC-8 include: Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Univ of Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington State, and Univ. of Washington. The other two schools that would complete the Pac-10 conference are the Univ. of Arizona, and Oregon State. Arizona, however, belongs to the ACHA Division I, while Oregon State despite some recent efforts does not yet field a team.

The ACHA holds a National Championships each year in the first week of March. The ACHA is divided into four regional areas: the West, Mideast, Southeastern, and Northeastern. Throughout the season each region conducts their won regional rankings via ranking committees, ranking the top 10 teams in that region. There are approximately 4-5 rankings periods for each season,  with the final rankings being announced after each teams last ACHA  game the first weekend of February. The top four teams ranked in each region advance to the ACHA National tournament to determine a national champion. The tournament is held at a host school (determined the year before), where the host school receives an automatic bid.

The PAC-8 also holds its own tournament (Past Pac-8 tournaments) to determine a champion. At the end of the season the top-4 teams in the conference receive a bid to participate in a tournament hosted by one of the 8 teams in the league (based on the Pac-8 standings formula. click here). The host receives an automatic bid. Using a tournament format, there are two semifinal games with the winners advancing to the championships game and the losers playing for third. At this time the winner of the Pac-8 does not receive an automatic bid to the ACHA National Championships. However, usually one to two Pac-8 teams qualify.