Another good point that I like is currently there are only one of the six Big Ten Hockey Schools in the NCAA tourney, that's if the NCAA hockey tourney started today, so the only Big Ten Hockey team currently in the NCAA hockey tourney is Michigan. That being said there is a chance there could be two teams, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have a small chance but they are going to need a lot of things to go their way to make it into the final 16 teams. I also like the Notre Dame and Miami being in the WCHA, because I think both team would be attractive options.
Mike Chambers, Denver Post --- This season’s big off-ice discussions have centered on the possible, if not probable, new Big 10 hockey conference. I’m all for it. If long-time Colorado rivals and WCHA members Wisconsin and Minnesota want to join Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and the new Penn State program and do their own thing, have at it. And we will happily do ours.
Right now, I like the look of ours. What I mean my “ours” is a hypothetical, Western-based power league consisting of DU, CC, North Dakota, Miami (Ohio), Notre Dame and Nebraska-Omaha, and maybe the other ‘Sota schools — Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and Bemidji State. If it’s only a six-team loop — preferrable to guarantee home-and-away series against every league member, a key for building rivalries – I’ll take our six teams over the Big 10 boys.
Right now, our six teams are each among the top 14 in the PairWise Rankings: North Dakota (third), Denver (fifth), Nebraska-Omaha (sixth, tied), Miami (ninth), Notre Dame (10th, tied) and CC (14th, tied). How many does the proposed Big 10 have? One — Michigan (four). Minnesota, while hot lately, is a longshot to make the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State will have to win their league tournaments to get in.
Assuming CC gets in, our guys will go 6-for-6 in making The Show, while the Big 10 (or Big 5 right now) is looking at 1-of-5.
If the Big 10 was really smart, it would partner with our league and make it a 12-team super conference split into two divisions. The Big 10 division would have home-and-away series against each other, so 20 Big 10 games apiece, and also play each of our teams in one, two-game series — making it a 30-game league season (or 28 as it is now if we skip one opponent every year).
Whatever happens is fine by me, because I know “our” programs are going to like where they land. I sense that people within the proposed Big 10 conference are full of themselves about how great they are, and at the same time, I don’t like how our teams, our fans, are feeling sorry for themselves about these big schools doing their own thing. If our teams make a plan and stick together, our new league could be more exciting than what we currently have. Certainly, longtime WCHA rivals DU, CC and UND could sell far more tickets in home games against Notre Dame, Miami and Nebraska-Omaha than Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage or Bemidji State. And undoubtedly, if a super conference happens, Minnesota and Wisconsin would benefit by still playing North Dakota and DU a couple times a year.
