Looking back.

On November 8, 2008 DU hockey beat writer Mike Chambers wrote this article and caused a fire storm with the blog post below. Looking forward, as of this date Mr. Chambers is probably smiling and looking pretty good. The AHA has accepted Robert Morris and Niagara to be in their league. The WCHA is in the process of recruiting UNO to be their twelfth member to go along with BSU. Moving east, the team from the University of Alabama-Huntsville has applied for membership in the CCHA. When UNO and or UAF leave the CCHA for the WCHA UAH will be a natural choice to become the twelfth team of the CCHA, hence saving two teams from certain death.

I have seen some people that aren’t happy with the realignment process don’t like the idea of the WCHA becoming a twelve team league. The status quo will not help college hockey. The alternative to the twelve team league is to say the hell with UAH and BSU let these two teams wither and die on the vine, this option is unacceptable. If college hockey allowed that to happen what college or university would want to start a division one hockey program in the future?

Currently There are 58 teams in Division one hockey; if the NCAA lost two to three more teams, there is a very good chance the NCAA would pull the 2-4 at large bids from the NCAA tourney, that too is unacceptable and the decrease in bids would hit the have not the most. This is not a road I would like to see the NCAA hockey tourney go down.

Seriously, reducing 2-4 at large bids could definitely affect a team close to one of us, but oh yeah we got to play Minnesota, Wisconsin and or North Dakota. So I ask WCHA fans what you would rather have a chance to see the Gophers, Badger, Sioux or a better chance for your team to make the NCAA tourney. I am going to take the NCAA tourney option. Most of us that have followed college hockey know that in a one and done tourney anything can happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re a one seed or a sixteen seed; just ask Michigan and Notre Dame.

College hockey conference realignment
Mike Chambers ----- Conference expansion is on its way, folks. Because of the looming demise of College Hockey America, don’t be surprised if the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Atlantic Hockey Association go from 10 to 12 teams, with Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha joining the WCHA and Robert Morris and Niagara going to the AHA.

This isn’t just opinon. In true blog form, I can’t divulge my sources at this time because things are too political — which is why this issue won’t make the paper right now — but this is what is being discussed by conference commissioners. And it makes sense.

CHA currently has Robert Morris, Alabama-Huntsville, Niagara and Bemidji State. It’s a joke, because the four-team conference gets an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament for its playoff champion, and judging from history, teams in other conferences with far better numbers in the Pairwise Rankings get left out. That’s going to change.

Robert Morris and Niagara have applied for entrance to the AHA. If they are accepted, the AHA will go from 10 to 12 teams.

What we need next — and this is the big one — is for Nebraska-Omaha to apply to the WCHA, and get accepted along with Bemidji State, which previously applied and is a terrific fit. UNO, which currently plays in the CCHA, will be replaced by Alabama-Huntsville.

UNO is a natural fit for the WCHA, with strong state rivalries with Colorado and Minnesota. Alabama-Huntsville isn’t a fit for anyone, but … if UAH goes to the CCHA, we would have five conferences with a near equal amount of teams.