Big Ten Conference hockey? It's a strong possibility

I found this little news nugget in today’s Saint Cloud Times. First off; I can’t be the only one that is uninspired by McLeod’s leadership in moving the WCHA forward with the Big Ten Hockey Conference looming in the future. I am actually more worried now after reading these comments from McLeod; combine these comments in this news article with his interview with Scott Williams Lakeland Public Television during the UND and BSU series a few weeks back I am even more concerned. I am still trying to download the interview between Scott Williams and Bruce McLeod and will do so as soon as I can figure out how to rip the DVD to my hard drive.

Times news services --- Though Penn State officially is committed to playing NCAA Division I hockey, Big Ten Conference representatives won’t speculate about the possibility of an official Big Ten hockey conference.

The Nittany Lions, they point out, haven’t even hired an architect to design their arena. And, they add, such a monumental decision would require a significant amount of discussion at the elite levels of college athletics.

Bruce McLeod doesn’t buy it.

“The way I see it, there’s not much to speculate about,” the Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner said. “They were already looking at it, and now they have six teams. They will have it.”

Last summer, the Big Ten reached out to McLeod and other college hockey leaders about the possibility of starting a hockey conference. Despite only having five schools that play Division I men’s hockey — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State — the Big Ten thought a conference could be created through affiliate memberships with schools such as Notre Dame.

“I and some other people fought very, very hard for several months to avoid that,” McLeod said Monday. “We made a pretty good case, and it didn’t happen.”

Minnesota was among those opposed, though with the addition of a sixth conference team — the number the NCAA requires for a conference championship — arguments against a Big Ten men’s hockey conference might have dried up