Mavs' WCHA move looks even better now

The Mavericks hockey blogger has a really good point, the Mavericks move to the WCHA is looking much better now. In case there is a Big Ten Hockey Conference, it's pretty obvious that the WCHA is a much better conference minus Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Minnesota, than the CCHA is minus Ohio State University, Michigan State University and Michigan.

Mavericks Today -- Penn State announced on Friday that it would be joining the Division I hockey ranks in 2012-13. Many people now believe it's just a matter of time before the Big Ten forms its own hockey conference, snagging Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State from the CCHA; Minnesota and Wisconsin from the WCHA; and combining those five programs with the Nittany Lions. Big Ten hockey -- long the stuff of rumors -- appears to be an inevitable reality, and it might come into existence by 2014.

But UNO can take comfort in the fact that it still will be aligned with schools such as North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota-Duluth, Colorado College and Denver. A 10-team WCHA, minus Minnesota and Wisconsin, would still be a viable, vital conference. Not as good as the 12-team monster UNO fans will enjoy watching for the next couple of years, but good nonetheless.

The introduction of Big Ten hockey, however, potentially could destroy the CCHA. So it's a good thing that UNO got out when it did.

I'm of the opinion that college hockey would have a much brighter future, at least for the next two decades, if Penn State simply joined the CCHA and stayed there for awhile. This sport is a unique beast in the realm of NCAA athletics, and those at the highest levels need to think about the greater good before they act in the interest of six brand-name schools. This is not a situation equivalent to the conference craziness involving college football, because hockey is only played in select pockets of the country, and it isn't a strong enough entity on the national radar that it can make such seismic changes without considering the plight of smaller schools. Let Penn State build its foundation as a Division I program. Let a decade pass, and see what the ripple effects will be of the Nittany Lions' decision.