More on the NCAA rule changes.

Recently the NCAA released a statement from the Ice Hockey committee; in this press release there was a few of the proposed changes to the NCAA tourney selection criteria. This is to be voted on in the fall by the cabinet. As of right now nothing is set in stone or has become "the rules" as of yet? However, I can't remember the last time proposed changes like this were dismissed en mass? So I would suppose there is a good chance of these proposed changes will become part of the 2008-2009 rule book. Here is one of the proposed changes that has prompted a little discussion in the past weeks.

The committee also recommended to the cabinet that all six hockey conferences – College Hockey America, Atlantic Hockey, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East Association, Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Collegiate Hockey Association – receive automatic bids to the championship. College Hockey America does not meet standards for an automatic bid, since it falls below minimum sports-sponsorship requirements with four teams, but the committee decided that for the good of the sport and the championship, it would continue to provide automatic qualification to the winner of College Hockey America’s postseason tournament. The decision will be reviewed by the cabinet in the fall.

I think that is a good idea to let the CHA keep it's auto bid because until one of the established division one hockey conferences steps up and proposes a positive solution to this problem, at the current time no one has a clue what to do with the CHA teams. No one has come up with a viable idea as of yet. I think the NCAA should and will allow the CHA to continue to operate as a division one hockey conference until a solution is reached on what to do with the four teams left in this division. Millsy hits the main points of this topic in his post on USCHO.COM

But, without the auto bid, what other carrots do these teams have to dangle in front of a recruit? Recruiting in the CHA is already a challenge, and without the auto bid to dangle out there, it will get that much harder. Without the higher level recruits, it will be next to impossible to knock off teams in the "Big Four".

What is frustrating is that everyone knows what the problem is, but no one outside of the CHA wants to help with a solution. They all just bury their heads in the sand hoping someone else will take care of the problem. Eventually, this problem will go away, but it won't be a positive for college hockey.
Millsy

There are a few solutions to this problem, not all of them are positive. First off; the NCAA could come out and say hey if you don't help these teams out and find a home for them in existing conferences the NCAA could start pulling at large bids to the NCAA tourney, watch people move then. (not really positive)

The NCAA could also just out right deny the CHA from being allowed to keep its auto bid and the league would die a quick painful death. (not positive)

A league could stand up and find a way to accommodate these four teams or come up with a scheduling alliance, or just allow them to join their league. (best option)

I hope in the future we won't still be talking about this issue. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Anyone want to start the Bemidji to the WCHA argument again?