Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Last weekend the college hockey season un-officially got underway, with a slate of exhibition games.  None of the WCHA teams lost however there were a couple of ties.

WCHA STANDINGS 2012-2013

Team………………………W-L-T………Points

1. Minnesota………………0-0-0…..…….
2. Minnesota-Duluth….…..0-0-0….……..
3. Denver…………..………0-0-0………...
4. North Dakota.………..…0-0-0….……
5. Colorado College ……..0-0-0……….
6. St. Cloud St………….…0-0-0………
7. Nebraska-Omaha………0-0-0……...
8. Michigan Tech………….0-0-0………
9. Bemidji State……..…….0-0-0.……...
10. Wisconsin…....………..0-0-0...…..…
11. Minnesota State………0-0-0...……..
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....0-0-0………..

Non Conference Games

Clarkson @ Colorado College

The Golden Knights (ECAC) invade the World Arena this weekend for a pair of games against the Tigers.  I’m sure the Knights hope they will be the ones holding the Tigers under siege and not the other way around.  The Tigers started out last season on a hot streak and their fans are hoping for another fast start.  Tigers Sweep.

Minnesota State @ Alabama-Huntsville

The Mavericks hit the road to start the season and they hit it with a lengthy trip.  The Chargers are the lone independent team (I know Penn State starts this year as an independent, but I don’t count them since they are new.) in the college hockey world; hopefully a nice conference will adopt them next season…  Last year the Chargers had season to forget, they went 2-28-1, in their games.  Mavericks Sweep.

Ohio State @ Minnesota-Duluth

The Buckeyes from Columbus will make a trek to scenic Duluth to start their last season as a CCHA team before moving to the big ten conference.  Last season OSU finished the season 15-15-5, it doesn’t get any more even than that.  The Bulldogs have been good at home in their new arena and I expect them to add to their win total there this weekend.  Bulldogs Sweep.


Michigan State @ Minnesota
The Spartans come to Minneapolis, for a weekend series, to kick off their non conference schedule.  Next year this will be a conference game as both teams will head to the new big ten hockey conference.  With all the returning talent the Gophers have, you would expect them to win this series.  Gophers Sweep.

St. Could St. @ New Hampshire

Coach Motzko and his team of Huskies mush their way across the country to New Hampshire to begin their 2012 campaign.  Last year the Wildcats finished 11-14-2 in Hockey East and 15-19-3 overall, so they were down a bit from normal, while the Huskies finished 12-12-4 in the WCHA and 17-17-5 overall, they were even stevens.  I’m going to wimp out and call this series a SPLIT.

Northern Michigan @ Wisconsin

The Wildcats from Marquette head down south to Madison to take on the Badgers.  Last season the boys from NMU finished 11-11-6-3 in the CCHA and 17-14-6 overall, compared to the guys from UW who went 11-15-2 in the WCHA and 17-18-2 overall.  I’m inclined to call this series even based on last year’s numbers.  SPLIT.

Exhibition Game

US U-18 @ North Dakota

The USA development team travels to Grand Forks this year to take on NoDak.  The last time they were in GF was back in December 2010, when the Sioux won 2-1 in that game.  UND will most likely be playing everyone that is dressed to play, to get everyone some ice time and experience.  ND Wins. 

US U-18 @ Bemidji State University.  BSU Wins.

IceBreaker Tournament (Kansas City, Missouri)

Nebraska-Omaha vs Army

The Mavericks could be considered the home team in this contest, give their proximity to this tournament.  Given that last season the Black Knights finished 4-23-7 overall, I have to give the advantage to UNO in this tilt.  Mavericks Win

Notre Dame vs Maine

The Irish finish the 11-12 season with a 19-18-3 overall mark, and the Black Bears owned a 23-14-3 overall mark.  I’m going with the Black Bears to chase off the Irish.  Maine Wins

Thus that gives me UM vs UNO for the championship, I’ll take the Black Bears to win the tournament.  Then that leaves ND vs Army, and I’ll take the Irish in that game.

Kendall Hockey Classic (hosted in Anchorage, Alaska)

Canisius vs Alaska-Anchorage

The Golden Griffins from Buffalo, NY finished last season with a 10-22-4 overall record.  The Seawolves finished the 11-12 campaign with a 9-25-2 record.  I’ll pick the home team here.  Seawolves Win

Air Force vs Alaska

Last year the Falcons from Air Force won the Atlantic Hockey regular season title with a 15-6-6 AH record and where 21-11-7 overall.  The Nanooks from Fairbanks, didn’t fare as well, going 8-16-4 in the CCHA and 12-20-4 overall.  Falcons Win

Then the teams switch in this tournament –

Canisius vs Alaska – I’ll take the Nanooks in this Saturday game.

Air Force vs Alaska-Anchorage – I’ll take the Falcons in this game.

BYE WEEK

Denver Pioneers

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UND third in CHN's Preseason Top 10

Joesph Edwards of the the College Hockey News has post his national top ten and this is how it shakes out.

1. MINNESOTA (28-14-1, 20-8-0 WCHA)
2. BOSTON COLLEGE (33-10-1, 19-7-1 HOCKEY EAST)
3. NORTH DAKOTA (26-13-3, 16-11-1 WCHA)
4. UNION (26-8-7, 14-4-4 ECAC)
5. MICHIGAN (24-13-4, 15-9-4-1 CCHA)
6. DENVER (25-14-4, 16-8-4 WCHA)
7. MASSACHUSETTS-LOWELL (24-13-1, 19-9-1 HOCKEY EAST)
8. CORNELL (19-9-7, 12-4-6 ECAC)
9. WESTERN MICHIGAN (21-14-6, 14-10-4-4 CCHA)
10. NOTRE DAME (19-18-3, 12-13-3 CCHA)

Here is what CHN had to say about UND.

Dave Hakstol got the most out of an injury-depleted, undermanned roster last season, taking them all the way to the West Regional Final. North Dakota faces some early-season self-imposed adversity this time around with the suspension of numerous players, but are otherwise healthy, and should be ready to go as soon as that gets sorted out. North Dakota has replaced goalies Brad Eidness and Aaron Dell with highly-touted freshman Zane Gothberg and Huntsville transfer Clarke Saunders, who should perform admirably behind possibly the strongest defensive unit in all of college hockey, Seniors Andrew MacWilliam and Joe Gleason will be the anchors, along with juniors Derek Forbort and Dillon Simpson. Up front, the senior duo of Corban Knight and Danny Kristo are well-known scorers, while classmate Carter Rowney is looking forward to building on his breakout junior season. Losing Brock Nelson leaves a big hole, but getting Rocco Grimaldi back after losing most of his first season to injury (he got a medical redshirt and retains four years of eligibility) will help fill the game.

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NBC Sports Net releases 24 game college hockey schedule

English: A picture of a RedHawks college hockey fans before a game against Nebraska-Omaha. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Originally post at the Hockey Writers.

With the NHL owners set to lock out the NHL players I they don’t have a new Collective 

Bargaining Agreement on September 15^th, 2012 hockey fans are going to be looking for options when it comes to watching hockey.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post – NHL fans have options. One option that you will have – NBC Sports Network is going to show 24 college hockey games during the  2012-13 season, if the NHL owners and the players don't solve their labor dispute - this will be one of the few options hockey fans are going to be looking for  to file the NHL hockey void.

Not all is lost NHL Hockey fans.

On Friday nights - if there is a lockout - NBC Sports Network will college hockey on the television dial - you can check you local listing to see what channel it's on. For DirecTV subscribers NBSN is on channel 603.

There are a few dates  on the schedule where there are going to be double headers, for instance on November 30th, 2012 you will be able to watch Boston College play Boston University at 7:30 PM  Easter followed by Wisconsin at Denver University at 10 PM Eastern.

Also, you can expect CBS Sports Network to release their college hockey schedule very soon.  Here is the link to the NBC Sports Net Announcement.

Ice Breaker Tournament

Fri., Oct. 12 Notre Dame vs. #12 Maine 7 p.m.
Army vs. Nebraska TBD
Sat., Oct. 13 Final (Teams TBD) 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 16 Harvard at #13 Cornell 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 30 #1 Boston College at #11 Boston University 7:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at #8 Denver 10 p.m.
Dec. 1 #11 Boston University at #1 Boston College 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 7 Michigan State at Notre Dame 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 4 Colorado College at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 11 #3 Union at Princeton 7:30 p.m.
Nebraska-Omaha at Denver 10 p.m.
Jan. 18 Harvard at Yale 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 25 Yale at #13 Cornell 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 1 Dartmouth at #3 Union 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 8 #6 North Dakota at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 15 #11 Boston University at #12 Maine 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 22 Yale at Quinnipiac 7:30 p.m.
#6 North Dakota at #8 Denver 10 p.m.
March 1 Wisconsin at Nebraska-Omaha 7:30 p.m.
March 8 #12 Maine at New Hampshire 7:30 p.m.

Hockey East Tournament

March 15 Quarterfinals 7 p.m.
March 22 Semifinals 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
March 23 Final 7 p.m.
All rankings based off USA Today/USA Hockey Men’s College Hockey Poll (April 9, 2012).

NHL Hockey fans you have options

This post was originally posted at the Hockey Writers.

Due to the impending and inevitable NHL lockout this season a lot of hockey fans of the National Hockey league are going to be looking for other options to fill their NHL hockey void.

May I suggest, giving college hockey a try to fill your NHL hockey void.  

For the college hockey fans this is going to be a very exciting season. First time fans are also going to find out that this is going to be very historic season in the college hockey world as well.

Let me get you up to speed on what is happening in the college hockey world.

Historic Season

The landscape has changed drastically since the summer of 2011 – this was due to a very generous donation from Penn State University alumnus Terry Pegula in September of 2010  – that very large and generous donation allowed Penn State University to start a men’s and women’s division I college hockey team.    

With Terry Pegula, who is the founder and chief executive of East Resources Inc., opened his “rather large” wallet and wrote Penn State a check for $88 million to help the Nittany Lions build Pegula Ice arena.  None the less, that donation rocked the college hockey world, now that the Big Ten “will have” six teams that play college hockey – the B1G by conference rules is required to have a B1G hockey conference – with this generous donation by Pegula – this new conference will begin play during the 2012-13 season. 

With the addition of one University joining college hockey – a tidal wave of change came to college hockey landscape that set the ball in motion for what ended up being a very chaotic summer. With a swipe of a pen – the big name/money schools from the Big Ten Schools that were in both the WCHA and the CCHA dedided to leave the WCHA and CCHA conferences and form the Big Ten Hockey Conference.

On the outside, it would “appear” that the transition for the B1G schools was for the most part seamless.

Not to be out done and in response to the Big Ten hockey conference formation; Miami University from the CCHA decided to join North Dakota, Denver University, Colorado College, and University of Nebraska Omaha to form the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The NCHC transition was seen as a little rockier as the NCHC schools made what some in the media perceived as a few unimpressive stumbles out of the starting blocks. One of these perceived blunders was in the NCHC’s attempt to lure Notre Dame to become a member of the six team super conference.

That effort fell short when the NCHC leadership didn’t wasn’t too keen on the idea of Notre Dame having their own television deal – the NCHC was looking at inking their national television deal with a sports network.

Hockey East had no problem with Notre Dame having their own television deal and Notre Dame decided to join Hockey East in October of 2011.  

While some fans were perplexed with why the NCHC didn’t look past Notre Dames TV deal the NCHC decided to move on and signed a television deal of their own with CBS Sports Network in the February of 2012. League fans of the NCHC weren’t happy with this deal because many of them thought an exclusivity deal with the NCHC that guarantees at least 18 games was as step down from their current television deals.

In some cases it was.

While the NCHC lost the Fighting Irish, they gained Western Michigan University of the CCHA and Saint Cloud State University of the WCHA.  

If your head is still spinning you’re not alone, the college hockey world wasn’t done changing – the remaining schools from the WCHA and CCHA merged into the WCHA – the CCHA which has been in existence for almost 40 seasons the league will disband after the 2012-13 season.

The new WCHA which will begin play during the 2013-14 season will have the following schools; Bemidji State University, Bowling Green University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Minnesota State University Mankato, Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Alaska Anchorage.

If you thought the movement was over, it wasn’t.  Hockey East with the addition of Notre Dame was sitting at an unattractive and uneven number of 11 schools which makes conference scheduling more difficult. On June 21^st, 2012 Hockey East solved that scheduling issue and accepted the University of Connecticut Huskies of the Atlantic Hockey Association. The UCONN Huskies will begin Hockey East play during the 2014-15 season.

With what has happened the last few summers – this season could shape up to be an exciting season of college hockey – especially with a long term labor dispute – college hockey could take center stage.

The CCHA will play it’s final conference tourney of their history at the Joe Louis Arena on March 21-23 in Detroit and the WCHA will play their final conference tourney the same weekend at the Xcel Energy Center under the current WCHA. Old rivalries will have one more opportunity to renew themselves before teams go their separate ways.

There will be many opportunities to watch college hockey on television, if the NHL gets involved a long term lockout and ends up losing the whole season.

No one knows how long the NHL work stoppage will be if the NHL owners lock the players out.

That being said, an NHL lockout is bound to benefit of Division I college hockey. As we get closer to the season a full television schedule will come out and this is especially handy if you have the sports pack on DirecTV where you  can watch numerous games in three time zones.

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HOCKEY EAST HIRES DAN SCHACHTE AS COORDINATOR OF OFFICIALS

If my favorite team wasn’t leaving the WCHA I would say – I wish the WCHA was watching. There are now two leagues that have ex-NHL officials as head of their leagues officials (Paul Stewart, ECAC).

By hiring an ex-NHL official the Hockey East shows that they would rather have a competent professional leading their ranks – instead of the status quo and a bunch of good ole boys.

[Official Press Release]

Wakefield, Mass. - Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna announced the hiring of Dan Schachte on Tuesday afternoon, as the league's first Coordinator of Officials.

Schachte, who will handle all the day-to-day operations of the league's officiating program, just finished a 30-year career as an National Hockey League linesman. He worked 2,009 regular-season games in the NHL dating back to 1982, which ranks fifth all-time and first all-time among American-born NHL officials. He also worked 221 Stanley Cup playoff games, which ranks eighth all-time among NHL linesman. He worked five Stanley Cup Finals ('97, '98, '00, '01, '02) and worked Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals. He also served as a linesman in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which included the Bronze Medal Game.

We are fortunate to have attracted someone with Dan's experience to this new position," said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. "Dana Hennigar, Brendan Sheehy and, more recently, Dick DeCaprio all contributed greatly in finding and mentoring top on-ice officials. I look forward to working with Dan as he puts his own stamp on our officiating program."

Schachte also served on the NHLOA Discipline Committee from 2002 to 2010, as well as the NHLOA Executive Board (1991-1992) and the NHL Injury Analysis Panel in 2002.

"My family and I are excited to take on this position with Hockey East, said Schachte. "The conference is arguably one of the top amateur hockey leagues in the world, and I am going put every ounce of my energy into making the league the best."

He has also served as an Officiating Supervisor for USA Hockey since 2011, mentoring many of the top young officials in the United States with instruction and training at camps around the country. Schachte, who was a former Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and United States Hockey League (USHL) referee from for two years (1980-1982), co-founded of the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League (WEHL) back in 2006.

Schachte studied Mechanical Enginering at the University of Wisconsin. He resides in Verona, Wis. with his wife Kim and children, Danny, Ian, Lauren and Maddy.

FOR TRANSACTIONS: HOCKEY EAST: Hockey East Association announced the hiring of Dan Schachte, as Coordinator of Officials.

Is the NCHC lacking name-recognition?

Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey has this little blurb on his blog today – it’s worth a look. I sure there will be NCHC fans will take issue with some of the things that he said. Or not!

In all honesty, the league didn’t have to do terribly much to seemingly come out ahead on realignment. By just letting things play out and adding Notre Dame, largely due to the league thanks to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s (seriously, that’s as hard to type as it is to say) lack of foresight and possibly arrogance, Hockey East took another significant step forward by attracting UConn.

Meanwhile the NCHC has very little name-recognition, and therefore a second-rate TV deal, a second-rate tournament venue, but a high level of on-ice competition. From a hockey standpoint, it’s a fantastic league, but that’s where it ends. That might be enough for you as a fan, but it’s not enough to lead me or anyone else to believe it’s going to be a great business long term.

The Big Ten Hockey Conference will have good exposure on the Big Ten Network, but it’s still merely a six-team league. Until a few more Big Ten schools step up for hockey, and there’s nothing to indicate that will happen anytime soon, the conference’s size doesn’t make for a lot of variety and excitement, though the rivalries should remain intense. Still, the exposure and brand recognition resonates with the casual fan.

First off, is Chris Right? For disclosure – Chris was not a big fan of the re-alignment that took place last summer, he isn’t alone there are a lot of people that weren’t fans of last summer's re-alignment plan as well. It's not like we had a choice in the matter, said schools pursued this venture without any input from the fans.

That being said, do you agree with what he said? Right now, I am more concerned with what NCHC fans think than the B1G fans. It's obvious that the B1G has name-recognition.

Does the new NCHC has very little name-recognition? In my opinion; no! I am also not so sure how you can say that there is little name recognition with the teams that make up the NCHC. Teams like UND, DU, C.C. UMD have all won NCAA titles and have storied histories.

Add to the mix up and coming teams like Miami University and Western Michigan from the soon to be defunct CCHA and UNO and SCSU and you have the making of a very well balanced hockey league. The NCHC brings to the table 16 NCAA titles, only the B1G will have more NCAA titles (20), so were not talking about a second rate bunch of pathetic cupcakes here. We already know the title counts of all three leagues involved.

Let's take a look at the financials. Historically, the NCHC teams have been successful on the ice as well as financially; if you look you will see that five of the future NCHC teams make about 3.2 million off of their Division I hockey programs as opposed to the reconfigured Hockey East which loses about $395,000 a year of their hockey programs. Only Denver and Western Michigan have lost money with their hockey programs.

I am not here to disrespect Hockey East or (Chris for that matter) because Hockey East is a very good hockey league and has piled up an impressive four NCAA titles during the 2000’s, however, it’s only been two teams that have won the NCAA titles during that time period ( BU and B.C.) – besides the three power schools currently in the Hockey East no other really stands out in that conference, except maybe the University of New Hampshire.

If anything I think that the two leagues are on equal footing as far as name recognition goes in college hockey.

I think historically speaking people are just as familiar with BU and B.C. as they are with DU, UND when it comes to college hockey.

Adding Notre Dame to the Hockey East was a good move but what exactly have they accomplished during their hockey existence? Yep! You will be able to watch your team play Notre Dame when they play their Hockey East foes, but the rest of the league is not going to benefit financially from that television deal.

Breaking it down further – outside of the power schools Boston College, Boston University, Maine and UNH who else in the current Hockey East stands out and packs fans in the stands? Maybe Notre Dame when they get to Hockey East in 2013-14.

Are University of Connecticut hockey fans going to suddenly realize that they have a college hockey team and fill the XL center when it’s 30 miles from their campus? This isn’t the UCONN Men’s or Women’s Basketball teams.

This is a very different animal, the UCONN Huskies hockey team with very little history that is currently a member of the AHA conference, that’s not to say that they can’t evolve into a power house hockey team. Let’s call UCONN a work in progress.

Here is the part that I do agree with Chris with. If the Target Center which is exclusively a Basketball venue doesn’t improve after the 100-150 million dollars improvements Target Center is going to be a second rate tournament venue. That’s really not debatable; the Target Center has its work cut out for it.

The central location of the Target Center does make it an attractive venue and the majority of the fans that have the most rabid fan bases are all driving distance away.

Finally, I am not so sure we can call the deal with CBS Sports a second-rate TV deal, before we even see how it turns out.

Besides the Notre Dame TV deal with NBC Sports Net, how is the rest of Hockey East doing when it comes to games being televised? I have watched a few of the games on NESN via my DirecTV Satellite Dish but I don’t see a lot of UMASS Lowell or Amherst games on the dish.

There are a lot of unknowns going forward – no one knows how this deal is going to shake out – I would say at least give the NCHC a chance before we bury them and kick dirt on a conference that hasn’t even played a collegiate hockey game as of yet.

I also think that it’s too early to declare winners and losers – with college athletics none of this stuff stays static – things change constantly. Who knows, maybe there are more moves in the re-alignment phase before the 2013-14 season kicks off.

Lastly, I know there are a lot of unhappy people with the NCHC Television deal, I gathered this by reading the reactions of the fans over on Brad Schlossman’s blog. Due to the size of UND’s fan base there are a lot of fans that live outside of the Midco.net foot print and watch UND hockey on DirecTV or FTA Satellite dishes. After the upcoming season, many of them are worried that they will no longer be able to watch all of UND’s home games. I too wonder if I need to re-subscribe to Midco.net myself?

In conclusion, there is also no reason to panic just yet because there is a whole year left to work out the details. As we get closer to the kickoff of the NCHC more details will emerge and we will get a better idea what is going to transpire. I also don't think that the NCHC will lack name-recognition.

UConn Men's Ice Hockey To Join Hockey East for the 2014-15 season

STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut has been offered and has accepted an invitation to join the Hockey East Association in the sport of men's ice hockey in a joint announcement made on Thursday. Connecticut will join the league for men's ice hockey in 2014-15 and is already a member of the league in women's ice hockey.

Connecticut's membership in the men's league will put the conference at 12 teams for the 2014-15 season, including: Boston College, Boston University, Maine, Merrimack, UMass-Lowell, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Notre Dame (beginning in 2013-14), Providence and Vermont.

The Huskies will continue to compete in the Atlantic Hockey Association for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

"This is a historic day in the history of the University of Connecticut and its Division of Athletics," said Director of Athletics Warde Manuel. "Hockey East is the premier men's ice hockey conference in the country and we are proud to say that the Huskies are now part of it. I would like to thank Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna and the Athletic Directors at the institutions that comprise Hockey East for providing us this special opportunity.  We are committed to developing a men's ice hockey program that can and will perform successfully on the national level and compete for Hockey East and NCAA championships.

"I would also like to recognize Commissioner Robert DeGregorio and our fellow Atlantic Hockey institutions for their support during this decision making process."

The Hockey East Association was founded in 1984 and league teams have won eight NCAA championships in the past 20 years. Hockey East teams have made 37 appearances in the Frozen Four and 21 appearances in national championship games in the 28-year history of the league. Since 1999, Hockey East has won six NCAA Championships and has placed 20 teams in the Frozen Four, along with 53 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Thirty-two Hockey East alums have won the Stanley Cup with their respective NHL teams.

"This is one of the most historic and significant days in the history of our conference," said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. "We have enjoyed a terrific relationship with the University of Connecticut for more than a decade through our involvement with its women's hockey program. Today we start a new chapter in this relationship and we couldn't be more pleased.

"Warde Manuel and his staff did a commendable job in preparing for this moment and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the role played by the state's biggest hockey fan, Governor Dan Malloy. Our directors have always said that we would welcome growth through any institution that brings value to our conference. No other school was better positioned to do this than the University of Connecticut."

UConn plans to play its home Hockey East conference games at the XL Center in downtown Hartford and will continue to play non-conference games in Storrs at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. The XL Center is the longtime off-campus home of both the UConn men's and women's basketball teams.

"The State of Connecticut is very excited that UConn is joining Hockey East and will be bringing the passion of college hockey to downtown Hartford," said Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy. "I have been a longtime fan of college hockey and believe that this is an incredible opportunity for the University. It is also a great opportunity to bring more top-flight events to the XL Center and further enhance the quality of life in downtown Hartford."

"We are thrilled with the University of Connecticut's decision to join Hockey East," said Chuck Steedman, AEG Management CT/XL Center Senior Vice President and General Manager. "AEG is extremely excited about the opportunity to play host to UConn Hockey at the XL Center and will support UConn's program in a variety of areas.

"We commend the forward-thinking vision of both the University of Connecticut and Governor Malloy, as Hockey East represents a major win for the state of Connecticut and the capital region will see the direct impact of these games being played downtown."

Connecticut currently does not offer athletic scholarships in men's ice hockey, but plans to elevate to the NCAA maximum of 18 scholarships as a participant in Hockey East. UConn will also add additional athletic scholarships to women's sports to ensure compliance with gender equity regulations.

UConn joins an elite group of seven other schools that compete on the national level as a member of the BCS Conference in football and play college basketball and college hockey in a national elite conference. Those other schools with their future conference hockey affiliation are: Boston College (Hockey East), Michigan (Big Ten), Michigan State (Big Ten), Minnesota (Big Ten), Notre Dame (Hockey East), Ohio State (Big Ten) and Wisconsin (Big Ten).

"It is a very exciting time to be part of the University of Connecticut and the joining of Hockey East is a reflection of the continuing efforts to advance our great university," said President Susan Herbst. "UConn is one of the top 20 public research institutions in the country, and our athletic prowess has been a terrific part of our overall success.  I would like to thank Governor Malloy for his support of our membership in Hockey East.   I am also extraordinarily grateful to the leadership of Hockey East, and to the university presidents of the league.  We are honored to stand alongside such excellent institutions and look forward to meeting them on the ice." 

The University of Connecticut first fielded a varsity men's hockey team in 1960-61. UConn elevated its program to Division I status in 1998-99 as a founding member of both the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and Atlantic Hockey in 2003-04.

"The entire UConn men's ice hockey family is very excited about this announcement," said UConn head coach Bruce Marshall. Marshall is a 1985 UConn graduate and former men's ice hockey student-athlete. He has been the head coach of the program since 1988 and is the winningest coach in program history as he enters his 25^th season in 2012-13. "We are very grateful to the administration of the University and to the entire state for bringing Connecticut into Hockey East. From our current student-athletes to our dedicated hockey alumni base, there is great anticipation about this move. I believe that there is a strong appetite for this level of college hockey here in Connecticut and that Husky fans will embrace our entry in Hockey East."

Not all WCHA members are thrilled about the new Mystery Alaska plan

The WCHA leadership has been in full spin mode since the league announced their “Mystery Alaska” plan. It’s been interesting to watch as the WCHA commissioner spins this unattractive playoff plan. This would be a text book definition of a “gong show” – there is no way to explain this – it is what it is.

Today we have found out that the new format might only be around for a two year rotation – to me this suggests that the league has taken an idea and thrown it up against the wall to see if it sticks, but to also see how the nWCHA’s fan base responds to the new playoff format.

Todd D. Milewski, USCHO.COM --- The plan was born from financial and geographical issues related to Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage being in the same conference for the first time when conferences reshuffle in 2013, McLeod said.

But the league committed to it for only two seasons, possibly further illustrating the trepidation WCHA members felt about making an outside-the-box change to postseason seeding.

“Some years if they both finish in the lower half, that’s not going to taste very good,” McLeod said. “But if they both finish in the upper half, it’s going to be not good for them. They might have been able to get two in [to the Final Five] otherwise and they’re only going to get one. That’s why we did it on a two-year rotation to see how things shake out and how people feel about it. It’s not a very long commitment.”

Including all nine teams in the postseason wasn’t a foregone conclusion, McLeod said. Eight- and six-team plans were also discussed at the meeting in Detroit before the full field was approved.

Perusing the fan message boards - I have seen a mixed response from the nWCHA fans about the new “Mystery Alaska” playoff format.

It would also appear that a big number of the nWCHA fans are siding more with the ‘we don’t like the new playoff format’ or they have just basically blamed the NCHC for the nWCHA’s fortunes.

Based on what we have seen transpire in the last week in Detroit. I believe is one of the major reasons that UND, SCSU, UMD, DU, C.C. and UNO decided to leave the WCHA and go out on their own to form a new league.

There seems to be a major divide between the schools that are strapped for cash and the schools that aren’t as strapped for cash; especially in the present economy. Schools are experiencing financial constraints and reduced budgets and this is not new to college sports or to college hockey.

Let’s also not forget there there’s always going to be the “haves” and “have nots, ” this was true even in the old North Central Conference and will be true in the Big Sky Conference as well. The present WCHA schools are never really going to be able to compete financially with the schools in the NCHC, B1G or even a majority of the Hockey East schools.

The question I pose is; is it the big school’s responsibility to prop up the small schools in Division I athletics?

Also, does the nWCHA hold the moral high ground?

Another school in their geographic template UAH (BGSU is 629 miles from UAH - it's rougly 4000 from BGSU to UAA) needs to find a conference home and it would appear from the side lines that the nWCHA is basically stalling or dawdling, almost hoping that the Chargers go away.

The UAH Chargers basically have one viable option, conference membership in the WCHA where they would be able to be with other schools (except BGSU who is DI); who outside of hockey are also Division II in all their other sports.

But I digress.

Lastly, Division I college hockey is currently resembling the other major Division I college sports right now with all their conference re-alignment. It has been really ugly with the other sports changing conferences leaving teams to scramble to find a new conference home. It’s almost like natural selection, or a survival of the fittest.

I also don’t know if there are any answers or quick fixes to what ails college sports – there doesn’t seem to be any magic pill that could just fix everything. Some say that the WCHA would have been fine if the schools that left had stayed. The CCHA still might have been a conference in shambles, Miami and Notre Dame still probably would have wanted out. There would still be other issues out there that would still be unresolved.

There is also another elephant sitting in the room – the commissioner of the WCHA Bruce McLeod – no one seem to want to talk about it right now. Eventually, I believe the WCHA is going to have to cut ties with McLeod and go a different direction. Keeping him on board past the 2013-14 season is detrimental to the WCHA going forward. The WCHA needs an infusion of new blood.

UCONN to Hockey East

Hockey East Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It would appear that the Huskies of the University of Connecticut will probably be leaving the AHA and moving to Hockey East, it has been thrown around a bit the past couple of months. One of the interesting things that I found in this article was that Hockey East actually wanted to add the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Miami University Redhawks. It almost appears that the UCONN Huskies were the third choice of Hockey East. 

Allen Lessels, New Hampshire Union Leader --- Talks between Hockey East and UConn officials have heated up in recent months and both sides have been studying the feasibility of teaming up. While no formal invitation has been extended to the Huskies yet, it's clear that — barring any last-minute hitches — it's only a matter of time before one will be.

“Right now, we're looking very closely at UConn,” said Marty Scarano, the director of athletics at UNH. “I think it's safe to say that it's very close to being consummated.”

Hockey East started out as a seven-team league for the 1984-85 season and added Merrimack for the 1989-90 season, Massachusetts (1994-95) and Vermont brought it to 10 teams in 2006-07.

A major overhaul of the college hockey landscape — including the creation of Big 10 hockey for 2013-14 that will include Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin — led to Notre Dame coming to Hockey East.

“Once we made the move to 11, we had to make the move to 12,” Scarano said. “We knew that. We had talked to Notre Dame and Miami of Ohio and when Miami elected not to join us, we had to cast our attention elsewhere.”

So with an extra spot in AHA Hockey - there's an open slot as well in the WCHA - does one of these two  conferences step up and offer the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers a spot in their conference? The Chargers still need a conference to call home. I get the feeling that all of the movement we have seen the last two summers might not entirely be over yet. Or is it?  

Related articles

• UCONN exploring move to Hockey East

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• UCONN exploring move to Hockey East

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• Hockey East Focusing On Recruiting UConn To Join Conference

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• Hockey East Commissioner Says Conference Is Targeting University of Connecticut in Expansion

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UND 5th in final INCH Power Rankings

1. Boston College 33-10-1 (19-7-1 Hockey East, 1st)
2. Ferris State 26-12-5 (16-7-5 CCHA, 1st)
3. Minnesota 28-14-1 (20-8-0 WCHA, 1st)
4. Union 26-8-7 (14-4-4 ECAC Hockey, 1st)
5. North Dakota 26-13-3 (16-11-1 WCHA, 4th)
6. Minnesota Duluth 25-10-6 (16-7-5 WCHA, 2nd)
7. Michigan 24-13-4 (15-9-4 CCHA, 2nd)
8. Denver 24-15-2 (15-11-2 WCHA, 4th)
9. Miami 24-15-2 (15-11-2 CCHA, 4th)
10. Western Michigan 21-14-6 (14-10-4 CCHA, 3rd)
11. Cornell 19-9-7 (12-4-6 ECAC Hockey, 2nd)
12. UMass Lowell 24-13-1 (17-9-1 Hockey East, t-2nd)
13. Air Force 21-11-7 (15-6-6 Atlantic Hockey, 1st)
14. Boston University 23-15-1 (17-9-1 Hockey East, t-2nd)
15. Maine 23-14-3 (15-10-2 Hockey East, 4th)
16. Harvard 13-10-11 (8-5-9 ECAC Hockey, 3rd)
17. Michigan State 19-16-4 (14-11-3 CCHA, 5th)
18. Colgate 19-17-3 (11-10-1 ECAC Hockey, 4th)
19. Merrimack 18-12-7 (13-9-5 Hockey East, 5th)
20. RIT 20-13-6 (14-7-6 Atlantic Hockey, t-3rd)

One more final time this season; as always I include the INCH Power Rankings, because I find them amusing.  In the final INCH Power Rankings, nothing really jumps out here as being really controversial.

On a side note, some fans like to bag on the guys from INCH and personally, I think INCH does a good job covering college hockey. I have had the pleasure of meeting Jess Myers the last couple of years at the Final Five and Jess is one of the funniest and also one of the nicest guys that I have ever met, he is a class act as well.

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