Notre Dame to the new conference?

So is Notre Dame going to the new hockey conference. Apparently that is what Mario Lucia told the Star and Tribune beat writer Roman Augustoviz.

Kevin Pates; Rink and Run --- Will the conference have a name by Wednesday? Is Notre Dame and/or Western Michigan, also of the CCHA, any closer to joining the conference? Has a commissioner been selected? (Colorado College AD Ken Ralph has been in the forefront, along with North Dakota AD Brian Faison). Has a public relations director been selected? (Bill Robertson recently left the employ of the Minnesota Wild). Is there a cable TV deal in place? (Rink and Run speculated about Versus, but it was speculation).

Here’s one hint on Notre Dame from high schooler Mario Lucia of Wayzata, Minn., at the Minnesota Wild prospects camp this week. When asked by Minneapolis Star Tribune writer Roman Augustoviz about Lucia’s possible college selection Lucia said:

“I’ve talked to Notre Dame and they’ve told me they are probably going to move into that super conference.”

OK, that’s one question answered. The complete Augustoviz blog post is here.

Don't blame the B1G?

Just like everyone else my head is spinning with the announcement of the College Hockey Super League, for now we will just call it the CHSL until they come up with a name for it, someone over on USCHO gave it the Super 8 Hotel Logo. Why are we nervous about the changes coming in college hockey? I think it’s because most of us are afraid of the unknown, no one knows how this is going to play out. I think we all might want to take a deep breath, exhale and see how the dominos fall.

It's all UND's Fault...

When the B1G Mistake was first announced last September, I was on record as saying that his will drastically change college hockey, I don’t think any of us thought the B1G would effect college hockey this much, one could say that this is Tsunami that might be barreling out of control… There were many that said this would have no effect on college hockey and that the WCHA would still be a strong conference even without the Gophers and the Badgers…. Fast forward to the present, there is a huge fire storm swarming over college hockey. Many college hockey fans are now blaming UND for blowing up the WCHA, it's all their fault, I guess the other 5 teams in the WCHA don't hold any responsibility what-so-ever… Also, the BTHC some how holds no responsibility either? As usual “college hockey guru” Ryan Cardinal of GPL is the voice of reason with this post…

So it's okay for the Gophers and Badgers to chase the money because they "had no choice," but for UND and others to do it is wrong and that makes them punks? Please. They are doing the same thing the Big 10 teams did, and that is following the lead of their school's administration. Guarantee you Lucia and Eaves would have rather stayed in the WCHA, and same goes for Hakstol, Gwoz, etc. They just don't have the convenient cover of the Big 10.

All of these programs are positioning themselves better financially, no more, no less.

Nice to see a solid Gopher fan like Ryan Cardinal calling out others for blaming UND for all of this, Goon's World tap of the stick to Ryan Cardinal. Of course over on Twitter Hammy is less than charitable, I guess he see it differently.

First off let me say that I have nothing personally against Hammy, I don’t know the guy personally and that I have never met him, seems like a nice guy to sit down and drink a beer with; none-the-less it's seems odd for Hammy to sit there and criticize others schools for wanting to do what’s best for their school when his school is doing the same thing. Why shouldn’t the 5 WCHA schools in question be able to do what best for their schools? Were these schools just supposed to sit there and wait for Bruce McLeod to come up with a solution that works for their institutions? I hardly think so since Bruce McLeod didn’t have a plan “B” and not a very good plan “A” either…

“I’m not sure why or whatever; I’m not privy to those conversations. I’ve never had a conversation with North Dakota or Denver about their plans that they’re pushing,” McLeod said. “At this point, I haven’t thought about Plan B at all. I’m still working on the assumption that we’re together as 10 [teams after Minnesota and Wisconsin leave for the Big Ten] and, as unanimously directed by the group in Florida [at league meetings in April], can consider extending an invitation to anybody that could strengthen the league. And that’s our plan.”

Are we to believe that Bruce McLeod didn’t hear about the Super Six 6/8 conference rumors that floated around all spring? I have a hard time believing that Bruce McLeod couldn’t have picked up the phone and called any of the member schools that were rumored to be in this deal.

Do Gopher fans have the Moral High Ground?

Hammy and other like minded Gopher fans think they hold the moral high ground because they can say that their school had no choice in this matter and that they had to go BTHC. While Minnesota AD Joel Maturi might have been against the BTHC, I didn’t see him really objecting to it very hard. I am sure someone showed Maturi the financial statements and he saluted like a good soldier and marched on. Now one of the revelations to come out all of this is according to UMD beat writer Kevin Pates is that; "The Versus network is said to be a possible Super League media outlet." If that revelation comes to fruition this could end up being a lucrative deal for the CHSL.

Hey don’t blame us even though our AD was driving the bus of the BTHC

Also, another interesting piece came out today as well; Wisconsin Badgers beat writer Andy Baggot gives the media side of the argument from the Wisconsin Badgers perspective, Baggot is saying, 'don't blame the B1G on this matter.' I am sorry but I think the BTHC does share some of the blame in this matter. Not being a hater, just giving you the facts as I see them. If anything Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez was one of the major driving forces behind this mess. I also hold Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany responsible as well...No matter how is to blame there are going to be some hurt feelings in this realignment debate.

Andy Baggot; Madison.com --- But hasn’t the idea of a Big Ten affiliation been floating out there for years? All that was needed was a sixth member, which came to life last fall when a billionaire donor decided to bankroll the sport at Penn State. When that gave way to an announcement in March that the new league was a go, it was as though thousands of heads simultaneously popped out of the sand.

Those insisting that the Big Ten doesn’t care about the greater good of college hockey are many of the same folks who stood mute in the summer of 2009 when the WCHA, needing a 12th team, yanked Nebraska-Omaha out of the CCHA and the CCHA, despite needing a replacement, told Alabama-Huntsville to swim by itself as an independent.

Word that a renegade faction is now trying to start its own eight-team league sends many messages, but one is deafening. The idea that Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota and defending NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth would prefer to start their own brand instead of sticking with one that’s been around since 1959 — claiming 37 national titles in the process — is a clear indictment of the WCHA and the suspect management style of its commissioner, Bruce McLeod.

It also suggests that if you must assign blame in this summer of volcanic activity in men’s college hockey, you best keep your options open.