Will Penn State Add Division I Hockey?

According to Mike Eidelbes and Jess Myers Penn State is going to announce possibly this week that Penn State’s plans to launch a men’s Division I hockey program. The first word out of my mouth is yawn! Seriously, I am sick and tired about hearing about the potential of having a Big Ten Hockey Conference and how it's going to ruin the rest of college hockey but become a six team utopia in the same breath.

We heard for years from chest thumping Big Ten fans that if there ever was a Big Ten Hockey Conference the Big Ten is going to dominate the at-large bids for the NCAA tourney and dominate the college hockey world. Don’t forget this is the same league that has this awesome television channel but didn’t take the time to even broadcast the pretty match ups on the BTN. So before you get your knickers in a bunch, WCHA self proclaimed powerhouse Minnesota has had a hard time even qualifying for home ice for the WCHA playoffs let alone making the NCAA tourney, they have missed it the last two season.

In a move that will significantly alter the college hockey landscape, the formal announcement of Penn State’s plans to launch of a men’s hockey program is imminent, sources tell Inside College Hockey.

Multiple sources in college and junior hockey, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the plan; one source told INCH that the university will make a formal announcement this Friday. A Penn State spokesperson late last week declined to comment on the matter.

With an enrollment of approximately 45,000 students at its State College campus, including nearly 39,000 undergraduates, Penn State would become the second-largest institution in the United States to offer Division I men’s college hockey—only Ohio State, with more than 52,000 students at its Columbus campus, is bigger. The Nittany Lions would become the 59th Division I men’s hockey program.

“It is great for the sport,” WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said, while stopping short of confirming the plans. “A program of that stature to potentially add a Division I men’s hockey program is an exciting thing for the sport.”

While a university with the name recognition of Penn State adding a varsity program can only help the profile of college hockey, the impact on current conference configurations, especially the CCHA and WCHA, could be significant. Penn State would join Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Wisconsin as the sixth Big Ten Conference institution to sponsor varsity hockey. That’s the minimum number of schools required by the NCAA for a conference to award automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the Big Ten covets hockey for its wildly successful television network.

If for some reason there is a Big Ten Hockey Conference I think you will see a realignment of college hockey. If that happens I would like to see more of a super conference with the WCHA and the CCHA schools. Then we could find a place for UAH to go as well. Contrary to the self absorbed elites there would still be some nice schools left in spite of the Big Ten. Maybe you could re-align the WCHA to include Northern and Fairbanks.