Division I College hockey is effectively another world with regards to college athletic conference and rivalries. No all-sports conference sponsors hockey. Until recently, lacrosse conferences didn't align well with all-sports conferences, either. But with the Big East sponsoring men's lacrosse beginning in 2010, lacrosse experienced a major realignment.

One of the issues ongoing with college hockey is the disbanding of the CHA, which was basically a collection of schools that moved up from DII hockey when DII championship play was withdrawn due to low numbers.

The CHA consisted of:

Bemidji State
Alabama-Huntsville
Niagara
Robert Morris
Air Force (moved to Atlantic Hockey)
Findlay (dropped hockey)
Wayne State (MI) (dropped hockey when the CCHA turned down it's membership - Wayne State still offers women's hockey)

Niagara and Robert Morris have now both been accepted into Atlantic Hockey conference.

The city of Bemidji and the state of Minnesota have financed a new arena, largely for Bemidji State hockey. Bemidji has applied to the WCHA, but the WCHA is at 10 teams and wants and attractive 12th team before accepting Bemidji. Nebraska-Omaha appears to be the 12 th team (they play in the CCHA - their new AD, former Nebraska linebacker Trev Alberts is hoping to gear up UNO so that they sell out the Qwest Center for games). British Columbia had been rumored, but their timeline to join the NCAA keeps getting pushed back.

Alabama-Hunstville also badly needs a conference affiliation: they play in the Von Braun Center and attract really decent crowds. The CCHA probably will add them if UNO moves to the WCHA. Some CCHA programs are in financial trouble: namely Bowling Green, which formerly was a national powerhouse but their leadership has neglected their facilities and their programs by and large for pursuing IA football notoriety.

Current Hockey Conferences

Hockey East
Boston University
Northeastern
New Hampshire
Vermont
Mass-Lowell
Boston College
Umass
Maine
Merrimack
Providence

ECAC

Yale
Cornell
Princeton
St Lawrence
Dartmouth
Harvard
Quinnipiac
Union
Clarkson
Colgate
Rensselaer (RPI)
Brown


Atlantic Hockey

Air Force
RIT
Mercyhurst
Bentley
Canisius
Army
Holy Cross
Sacred Heart
Connecticut
American International


Central Collegiate Hockey Association

Notre Dame
Michigan
Miami
Alaska
Ohio St
N Michigan
W Michigan
Nebraska Omaha
Ferris State
Lake Superior State
Michigan St
Bowling Green

Western Collegiate Hockey Association

North Dakota
Denver
Colorado College
Wisconsin
Minnesota
St Cloud St
Minn-Duluth
MSU-Mankato
Alaska Anchorage
Michigan Tech

Another major undercurrent is the hockey world is rumors of what the Big Ten’s Delany will do with hockey to expand it’s presence on the Big Ten Cable Network. Syracuse just started women’s hockey this year and some have speculated Syracuse may jump into the men’s ice hockey arena.

Penn State has had a feasibility study done for an on-campus hockey arena. If Penn State adds hockey, as is rumored, a Big Ten Hockey conference would change the face of college hockey:

Michigan
Mich St
Ohio St
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Penn State ?
Northwestern ? / Illinois ?

A Big East hockey conference would also be interesting:

Notre Dame
Providence
UConn (men's program is currently run like at a DIII level)
Syracuse (rumored)
Boston College (I know, I know)
DePaul (has made inquiries)
Marquette (would make sense)
Pitt (also makes sense)
Rutgers (stretch)

A MAC conference that should have been:

Bowling Green (former national champ)
W Michigan
Miami (in Frozen Four, is now a power program)
Ohio (dropped hockey)
Kent (dropped hockey)
C Michigan (should have hockey)
N Illinois (should have hockey)
Buffalo (should definitely have hockey)

An Ivy League - Ivy schools are actually competitive (breakup ECAC hockey):

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Cornell
Dartmouth
Brown
Penn (add hockey back)
Columbia (add college hockey in NYC)

In the meantime, Minnesota St-Moorhead is looking at adding DI hockey: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/236482/group/home/,

While British Columbia still debates NCAA DII membership and eventual DI hockey and volleyball.

Other schools that should have DI hockey:

St Louis (dropped it in the 80's)
UMSL
UMKC
Wichita State
Iowa State (power program at club level with good crowds)
Wisc-Green Bay
Wisc-Milwaukee (if Marquette doesn't add it)
Ill-Chicago
Wright State
Cleveland State
Wayne St (dropped it because the CCHA wouldn't add them)
Grand Valley St
Binghamton
Albany
Stony Brook
Navy
Liberty (actually had plans for DI hockey)
Kennesaw St (had plans to add DI hockey when they moved up)
Florida Gulf Coast (seriously considered DI hockey)
Rhode Island
Colorado
Colorado St
Utah (Olympic ice arena nearby)
Nevada
N Arizona (formerly had DI hockey, played in SkyDome)
Arizona St (had
U Mary (DII in Bismarck, ND)
Minot St (NAIA in Minot, ND, probably moving to DII)
Montana St-Billings (DII )
Montana
Montana St
Boise St
Washington
E Washington (differentiates it from Gonzaga and has on-campus arena)

locking this up since we already have a busy college hockey thread entitled "College Hockey Realignment".

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