Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna announced this afternoon in South Bend, Ind., that Notre Dame will join the conference as its 11th team for the 2013-2014 season.

Notre Dame joined the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for two seasons in 1981, then rejoined the CCHA in 1993.

The Irish chose Hockey East over the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which will begin play in the fall of 2013, and the option of becoming an independent program.

“It’s going to allow our program to become even more national than in the past,” Notre Dame Coach Jeff Jackson said. “The ability to play more nonconference games as Hockey East moves to a smaller nonconference schedule, it’s going to allow us to maintain relationships and have opportunities to play teams in the Midwest, while we create rivalries.”

NBC Sports and Versus also announced that the network will broadcast Notre Dame and Hockey East games, beginning in the fall of 2013.