Image from Grand Folks Herald

As has been expected for some time now, the collection of hockey schools from the WCHA and CCHA have formed the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Members include North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota-Duluth, Miami (OH).

Not included a this time are Notre Dame and Western Michigan. Notre Dame is likely weighing it’s options which could include lobbying Hockey East for membership. Air Force is another school that has not been approached at this time. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility that if Notre Dame opts to permanently pass on the NCHC, that Air Force could become a realistic target to increase the membership to 7 members.

The current status seems to be that (5) WCHA members would join with Notre Dame and Miami (OH) to form a 7 team conference. Western Michigan is also in the mix as the likely 8th school to be included.
From WCHA:
Minnesota-Duluth
North Dakota
Denver
Colorado College
Nebraska-Omaha

From CCHA:
Miami University
Notre Dame

Possibly from CCHA:
Western Michigan

The rationale of forming the new conference would be to compete at a higher level, to match the newly formed Big Ten conferences sponsorship of the spot. Competing at the level of Hockey East is also a goal.

Things get interesting though when you look at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is in an interesting spot. They would benefit from being in this new conference, opposed to remaining in the current CCHA.

But the school will still lobby to join Hockey East. Granted, it’s not like it’s Big East hockey, but Notre Dame would likely get many similar benefits in Hockey East: large catholic fan base of the current Hockey East schools, even better recruiting access to the northeast for hockey.

If Notre Dame were out of the new conference mix, then Western michigan fills the #7 spot and perhaps they look elsewhere for a #8.

“There’s talk that a resolution on a new Super League could come in July or by Labor Day. The current 12-team WCHA already has schedules for the next two seasons.”

There had been rumors that a current Hockey East school was in the mix as well. However, that seems more unlikely given the geographic footprint of this new conference which would range from Colorado, to Nebraska, north to North Dakota, east to Minnesota, into Michigan and south into Indiana and Ohio. It would make less sense for any Hockey East school to leave their current conference as all members are in the New England region.

It appears that Penn St. is set to upgrade it’s club hockey team to a full Division 1 program. It might not be the most groundbreaking news for college sports fans, but the implications are quite big. In sponsoring hockey, there will now be (6) Big Ten schools sponsoring hockey: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan St., Ohio St., and now Penn St. The NCAA requires a conference to have (6) members and with Penn St., 6 is enough. If the Big Ten opts to launch a hockey league, they will immediately have another product to showcase on it’s Big Ten Network.

Previous plans to put the (5) hockey schools in a Big Ten sponsored conference were scrapped as many of the schools did not with the end their affiliations. That might no longer be the case with the NCAA playoff bid intact at 6 schools and the increased revenue through the Big Ten network.

And if the Big Ten sponsors hockey, the remaining conferences would find themselves in a tough spot with membership losses.

Michigan, Michigan St., and Ohio St. are all in the CCHA, so their departure would leave the conference at 8 members. Minnesota and Wisconsin are in the WCHA, currently a 12 member conference.

But despite support for the endeavor from multiple schools, including the University of Wisconsin, the concept failed to extend beyond the exploratory stage.

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“We have had sound conversations and negotiations with both leagues,” Alberts said. “We’re happy with what the CCHA has done for us. We realize the WCHA can provide some things the CCHA can’t. The Big Ten might start (sponsoring) hockey. How does that affect us? How do we position ourselves? We can’t think short-term, we have to think long-term.”

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It appears that D-1 hockey realignment is following a grand plan (in the wake of the CHA disintegration).

Hockey East Association stays at 10 teams (no change)

ECAC Hockey League stays at 12 teams (no change)

Atlantic Hockey Association absorbs Niagara and Robert Morris to go to 12 (approved 1/27)

WCHA (currently 10 teams) opened up for expansion to 12 -
(likely to admit Bemidji State + one other applicant (likely a team transferring from CCHA))

CCHA (currently 12 teams), assuming they lose a team to WCHA expansion, has application from U Alabama-Huntsville to replace team #12.

This will shove all 58 D-1 hockey teams into 5 conferences.

The question is “who wants to move to the WCHA, and who will WCHA accept along with Bemidji State ?”

WCHA has made overtures to:
Nebraska-Omaha (CCHA) – they seem happy where they are, and
Northern Michigan U (CCHA) – former WCHA member – geographically they are a rival of WCHA’s Michigan Tech in the U.P.

Other obvious possibilities: Alaska – Fairbanks (CCHA) and Air Force (AHA).

First, Air Force… they are the only team in AHA west of Pennsylvania. They seem to be a good competitive fit in AHA with Army, and the fact that the AHA has set a lower limit on scholarship players. Air Force fits geographically with the WCHA (Denver and Colorado College are in WCHA), however, Air Force would be at a competitive disadvantage, not being able to recruit foreigners or Canadiens. If they were to move to WCHA with Bemidji State, I suppose that would open a slot in AHA for UA-Huntsville, although UAH would then have to agree to trim schollies from 18 to 12, as Niagara and Robert Morris will have to.

Second, Alaska-Fairbanks… WCHA seems to want to avoid Fairbanks, even though this would offer the obvious pairing with WCHA member Alaska-Anchorage. I would think in a 12-team league, they could go to a 22-game schedule, and play everyone home-and-away. One trip to Alaska could hit both locations over the course of a single weekend (1 trip to Alaska), so the travel thing doesn’t seem that different than visiting just UAA. Fairbanks is quite a bit smaller than Anchorage, and BITTERLY cold during the winter. Anchorage is on the Pacific Ocean, and not nearly so “arctic”… If others could expound upon why UAF is so unattractive to the WCHA, I’d appreciate hearing about it….