Organizing the new WCHA

Image via WikipediaOr maybe we should call it re-organizing the WCHA.

It looks like the newly reformatted WCHA is going to have a 28 game schedule starting in 2013-14. One of the main things that the new WCHA is also working on is travel to the Alaska schools. For obvious reasons, having both Alaska schools in the same conference is going to cause travel costs to go up.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner --- The revamped WCHA is set to play a 28-game conference schedule during the regular season.

“I think it’s a good thing and it will put us in a strong position,” Karr said Saturday night at the Carlson Center following the Nanooks’ 3-1 win over Bowling Green. “Some of the other conferences may be playing fewer games.”

The administrators of the new WCHA are also considering a plan which teams would come twice in the same season to the 49th State to play the Nanooks and UAA either once out of every five years or twice out of every five years.

“They’re going to come up to Anchorage in the first semester and Fairbanks in the second semester, or vice versa,” Karr said.

There is a possibility, too, of an opponent coming to Alaska to face the Nanooks and UAA during the break for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

There is also an advantage of traveling to Alaska as well, if your team travels to Anchorage or Fairbankds your favorite college hockey team can add two extra games to their schedule, for a team like UND or Minnesota, that can mean a lot more money in the bank.

Looks like the WCHA is also going to add a 10th team and there is a chance that it could be UAH, this was discussed on the Pipeline Show last weekend. Geof Morris  from UAHHockey.com, was on the Pipeline Show laid out the problems facing UAH, their situation is not pretty.

“We’re hoping to get to 10 schools as soon as possible,” Karr added.

Among schools under consideration to become the 10th member of the new WCHA are Wisconsin-Green Bay, Iowa State, Minnesota State Moorhead and Alabama-Huntsville.

Officials at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Iowa State and Minnesota State Moorhead have discussed adding Division I hockey to their athletic programs.