The day the WCHA died... UND to join "Super League"

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Well it happened the Super League that everyone has talking about since the NCAA Frozen Four has finally come to fruition as Brad Schlossman and Kevin Pates are both reporting that five teams (UNO, UND UMD, DU, C.C.) are going to break away from the WCHA and Miami is going to break away from the CCHA to form a new "super league" it has been rumored in the past that Notre Dame and Western Michigan might also join the CHSL at a later date.

Brad Schlossman; Grand Forks Herald --- UND will soon announce it is leaving the men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association for a new, startup conference in 2013-14, the Herald has learned from multiple sources.

An official announcement is expected Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.At least five other teams will join UND in this league: Denver, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota-Duluth and Miami (Ohio).Notre Dame and an eighth school -- possibly Western Michigan -- also could be added to this group by the end of the summer.When reached today, UND athletic director Brian Faison declined comment.

Related articles

• Report: University of Denver, Colorado College hockey leaving WCHA in 2013 (denverpost.com)

More on UAF.

Alaska Nanooks Hockey Blog has an interesting blog article on the UAF's prospects of moving to the WCHA. The Nanooks blogger talked with the UAF AD Forrest Karr. There were two points from the article that really stuck out. Very interesting.

So this is where I have to ask what the WCHA sees in UNO? Why do they seem to be so interested in them? Forrest's response, "No idea...". I second that. The only thing that I can think of is the recruiting side of things. Omaha puts you right in that fine divider between USHL and the NAHL, which opens up a lot of recruitment opportunities for the coaching staff of the WCHA that they currently don't have

This is he other part of the blog post that sticks out for me as maybe the writting is on the wall. While the voting might not be over as some say. I will buy that. It does appear that expansion/realignment is going a certain direction.

But with all of the financial benefit to all parties involved, why are we riding the pine pony while UNO hogs all the WCHA ice time? I didn't have an answer, but Forrest Karr put it nicely. "Right now it doesn't make sense to jump into the mix as the WCHA is a long ways down the road already with UNO. The coaching staff (and I agree) would rather show loyalty to the CCHA and if for some reason a UNO-WCHA partnership does not work out, we will discuss further."

[Nanooks and the WCHA - The Saga Continues...]

Expansion talk.

Brad Elliott Schlossman has nice a blog article today about some of the things facing CHA member Alabama-Huntsville and their quest to get into the CCHA.
[University of North Dakota Hockey]

If Omaha departs the CCHA for the WCHA -- a move that is looking probable -- it would drop the CCHA to an odd number of 11 teams.

Alabama-Huntsville applied for membership in January and received a site visit from the CCHA a couple of weeks ago. The CCHA will vote on Huntsville's application in August. By then, it will know whether Omaha is on its way out.

Huntsville coach Danton Cole said today that he felt that the site visit went well. The CCHA had a few concerns and Cole said UAH is working to address those concerns "quickly."

"There is no guarantee on our future," Cole said, "regardless of what transpires with the other institutions over the summer. That being said, the university and our community are very proud of what we presented and what we have to offer the CCHA and college hockey."

Geographically, UAH isn't much different than Omaha is to the CCHA, and transportation wouldn't be all that bad. Bowling Green is a quick, three-hour drive to UAH. The Huntsville airport also has direct flights to Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati -- which basically covers the CCHA.

The Anchorage Dail News has an article today saying that there is going to be an informal vote on expansion on next week. So WCHA fans are going to have the answer sooner rather than later. Interesting point is if league office gets expansion done before August we would have a new 12 team WCHA in 2010.
[WCHA likely to expand to 12]

UAA's hockey team is likely to get two new conference rivals in a year or two, and whether one of them is the Nanooks from up north will depend largely on a straw vote league members will take next week.

The 10-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association has all but decided to expand to 12 teams, either for the 2010-11 season or the 2011-12 season, commissioner Bruce McLeod said.

UAA athletic director Steve Cobb, one of four members of the WCHA's structure committee, thinks league members next week will vote informally on a proposal to admit both Bemidji and Omaha.

If that vote fails to show widespread support for both teams, or if Omaha decides it doesn't want to join the league, Fairbanks is expected to become a bigger part of the equation.

"Depending on how things go with Omaha, we'll consider Fairbanks," McLeod said.

The team everyone expects to gain admission is Bemidji State of Minnesota, the only school so far to formally apply for membership. Bemidji was an NCAA Frozen Four team this year, but its conference -- College Hockey America -- has disbanded.

But the WCHA wants an even number of teams, McLeod said. And so it has been talking with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association that is a geographical fit for the WCHA.

The league has had several conversations with Omaha, McLeod said. The Mavericks recently hired head coach Dean Blais, a long-time WCHA coach who guided North Dakota to national championships in 1997 and 2000.

If Omaha decides it doesn't want to leave the CCHA, or if WCHA members decide Omaha isn't the best choice for its 12th team, Fairbanks will become a bigger part of the expansion conversation

"Bruce McLeod has asked us to sit back and wait to see what happens with Nebraska-Omaha," UAF athletic director Forrest Karr told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner last week.

Two other schools that McLeod wouldn't name are also potential applicants for membership. But Cobb predicts the new members will come from two of three schools -- Bemidji, Omaha or Fairbanks.

Just when you think that MSU-Moorhead has little or no chance of starting up a division one hockey program the CCHA commissioner throws them a life line. Also, star2city posted the MSU-M business plan for expansion. It's mind numbing that college hockey cost that much.

Moorhead, Minn. (WDAY Sports) - MSU Moorhead has likely seen the door closed on it's WCHA hopes, but the Commissioner of the CCHA says his league may be willing to consider a startup program.

It's all speculation right now, but the dragons say if they can raise enough money they'll launch a program next year.

Nebraska Omaha is about to move to the WCHA, but that would open up a spot in the CCHA.

If the Dragons have hopes of getting in, they could boost their appeal by offering a travel subsidy

.

UAF discussion

There has been an interesting discussion on who the 12th team is going to be. There are a few people out there that want the UAF team to be the 12th team to be admitted to the WCHA. There have been a few great discussions on the blogsphere about this subject. I don't care which team is admitted, I prefer UNO because of their old affiliation in the now defunct NCC. That being said this discussion is all but over. There is a 95% - 5 % chance that UNO is going to be the 12th team. UAF is a fall back plan if UNO falls through.

[UNO to WCHA Quicker Than Expected?] and [ANCHORAGE FAN REALLY WANTS UAF IN WCHA]

The Key is right here as Moose Richards points out over on Chris Dilk's blog. You can listen to the Commish Bruce McLeod tell us that. Check it out the blog the "Hockey Show" Moose and Scott have had the WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod on their show numerous times through out the process.

Note how he says they are “targeting one institution” (read UNO), and that when I asked about all the other schools (NMU, UAF, MSU- Moorhead) he only talked in casual terms about them (saying that they haven’t gone “too far down the road” on UAF). I don’t think that Bruce would be negotiation with that one school if he thought they wouldn’t be voted in, seeing as the WCHA is committed to expanding to 12 schools.

Moose

College Hockey realignment fodder.

I saw the link to this article when I was perusing the College Hockey News. Seriously, I came to UND in 1993 and Gopher fans were talking about the Big Ten hockey conference. Fast forward 16 years and this discussion of a Big Ten Hockey Conference still comes up every year with no Big Ten Conference in site. I say let the Big Ten Schools have their Big Ten Hockey conference, I mean talk is cheap. Even if there was a Big Ten Hockey Conference; guess what? The WCHA would still be here and would still be viable, the CCHA wouldn't look as good. If that day ever comes I am sure there would be some serious realignment in college hockey.

In the ever changing world of college athletics who knows how the landscape will look for the 59 Division I hockey schools as soon as 16 months from now.

Will the CCHA still have 12 members (Nebraska Omaha is likely to switch to the WCHA)? Will the three Big Ten schools - Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State - still be in the league or will they be a part of a modified conference including Minnesota, Wisconsin and maybe even Notre Dame? Such a Big Ten hockey set up would provide more programming for the Big Ten Network and the idea is reportedly being pushed by Wisconsin and others. Would a CCHA still exist with the other eight teams? Will Alabama Huntsville still have a team if it doesn't find a new league and its application to the CCHA is iffy at best. Where will the two Alaska schools end up? Will Bowling Green and others finally succumb to the economics of their sport? These and more are all issues to determine after the coming season.
[Lansing State Journal]

More on the UNO situation.

Here is the latest on UNO's possible membership in the WCHA. It also looks like UNO could/will have some possible competition for the 12th and final spot because McLeod mentioned that other teams had contacted him about possible membership in the WCHA. It would be interesting to know which other teams have contacted the WCHA about membership.

Alberts is also investigating a possible move from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to the WCHA. The WCHA is seeking a program to pair with Bemidji State as candidates to create a 12-team league. It was rumored that WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod was in Omaha last week to speak with school officials.

When contacted Satur?day in Denver, McLeod would only say that the WCHA has had contact with Omaha and is in the preliminary stages of talking about possible membership in the league. He also noted that the WCHA has been contacted by other schools about admission.

During WCHA meetings in April in Marco Island, Fla., Bemidji State made a presentation to the league, but no vote on admission was taken, although a straw poll vote was reportedly 5-5. Schools making application need eight of 10 votes to gain admission.

The 10-team WCHA gave McLeod the OK to negotiate with potential members if needed, and it’s believed that there will be some bargaining with Bemidji State and Omaha. The league has indicated that new teams would not begin league play until 2011-12, however it’s likely neither school would want to wait that long. Also, in the WCHA criteria for consideration of admission, it’s noted that new schools do not share in WCHA postseason revenue during the first three years of membership, which wouldn’t appeal to any financially strapped athletic program.

The per-school share from the 2009 WCHA Final Five, which isn’t officially totaled, is estimated to be $91,000 or more, McLeod said.
(read the whole story here)