UAA AD Cobb not a fan of "Mystery Alaska"

This past Week the remaining teams in the WCHA had their conference meeting and have begun to work out some of the details about how their league is going to be run going forward.

There have been various news stories to come out of the WCHA meetings that concluded last Wednesday.With each passing day it seems some more news emerges, some of this news adds to the already released information.

Apparently the UAA athletic director Steve Cobb is not a real big fan of the nWCHA's new playoff format - after reading his comments he has basically said what I and others have said. Actually, he has some sharp words of criticism for the new format as well  - Cobb called the "Mystery Alaska Rule" embarrassing - I have to say that I agree with him. The new rule challenges the integrity of the WCHA's conference tourney.

Doyle Woody, Anchorage Daily News --- The unusual playoff format for the Alaska schools, a cost-saving measure approved by an 8-1 vote during league meetings in Detroit last week, did not receive a stick salute from Cobb, who said he cast the only dissenting vote.

"I think it is embarrassing, and I think it is bad for college hockey and bad for our league,'' Cobb said. "Don't get me wrong, we love playing Fairbanks. But the playoffs are supposed to be an earned deal. You don't pick your opponent.''

Having UAA travel to UAF for a best-of-3, first-round series, or vice versa, would save the new league considerable money compared to either Alaska team traveling to the Lower 48 or having an opponent, or two, travel to Alaska.

It also looks like the WCHA is going to have their conference tourney in the Xcel Energy Center in 2015 when the B1G is going to be in Detroit. So the NCHC is going to go head to head with the WCHA and the B1G conference tourneys.

Cobb said the league will play its Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., in 2015 -- that's been the site of the Final Five for years -- but has yet to determine a Final Five site for 2014. The Big Ten has booked the Xcel for its tournaments in 2014 and 2016.

It will be interesting to see where the first nWCHA conferece tourney will be held - you have to wonder if some of the Michigan schools like LSSU, NMU, MTU, FSU will lobby for the conference tourney to be held in the Joe Louis Arena for the 2014 season?

It's UAA week.

Well in case you haven't noticed, it's UND vs. UAA week. You may or may not see this blog post, based on the site meter, not too many have. This is probably the kind of stuff that that anti-nickname crowd was talking about, especially when they complained about the opposition fans and their misuse of the nickname and imagery.

This beaut, is from the UAA fan blog, written by Donald Dunlop aka Delusions of Grandeur. Not seeing a lot of hilarity in this blog post. Then again we're probably not his audience. 

Once you get past all of the bravo sierra and profanity there are a lot of good things on his blog about UAA hockey. Also, let it be known, that UAA hockey doesn't get a lot of positive coverage from the local media.  

A few of the topic of discussion we will probably see this week, 1.) Will head coach Dave Hakstol attend the UAA luncheon this year?  2.) Will UND have hot water in the showers in the locker room? 3.) As most of us know, UAA Athletic Director Steve Cobb was less than impressed with the way the NCHC took form. So it will be interesting to see what kind of a reception that UND gets.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, UAA athletic director Steve Cobb said that he blames "everybody for being less than honest with their own league members. ... I'm not offended at all they want to start a conference. I'm very offended at the way it was handled. ... It's going to be very tense and very uncomfortable." [CHN.COM]

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