Amway Top 25 Coaches Poll (7/31/14)

1. Florida State Seminoles (56)
2. Alabama Crimson Tide
3. Oklahoma Sooners (3)
4. Oregon Ducks (1)
5. Auburn Tigers
6. Ohio State Buckeyes (1)
7. UCLA Bruins
8. Michigan State Spartans
9. South Carolina Gamecocks (1)
10. Baylor Bears
11. Stanford Cardinal
12. Georgia Bulldogs
13. LSU Tigers
14. Wisconsin Badgers
15. USC Trojans
16. Clemson Tigers
17. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
18. Arizona State Sun Devils
19. Mississippi Rebels
20. Texas A&M Aggies
21. Kansas St. Wildcats
22. Nebraska Cornhuskers
23. University of North Carolina Tar Heels
24. Texas Longhorns
25. Washington Huskies

Only four Big Ten Teams in the top 25 coaches poll.

(Video) Seth Helgeson vs Anders Lee

A couple of ex-college hockey players from Minnesota beating each other up. Former Minnesota Golden Gophers Seth Helgeson versus former Notre Dame Fighting Irish Anders Lee. Definitely not a staged fight.

Video of the Minnesota vs. Notre Dame highlights

Here are the highlights of tonight's game between the number one ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers and the number two ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It's a good win for the Minnesota Gophers because it's bumps their Pairwise ranking up. It's also the fifth win in the last six games for the Minnesota Gophers.

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?  

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• 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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Notre Dame picks Hockey East

Image via WikipediaThis was posted at Inside Hockey.

Well Notre Dame has “finally” made their decision on what conference they want to be a part of for the 2013-14 season. After weighing all of their options, the Fighting Irish have decided to become member of Hockey East. It had been reported that the Fighting Irish had wanted to be a member of the NCHC because it was in Notre Dame’s geographical foot print, but in the end, the NCHC leadership didn’t want to allow the Irish to have their own television deal with VERSUS/NBC Sports Network and made the announcement last week that they were fine going forward with eight schools.

Honestly it’s a little puzzling to why the NCHC didn’t want to allow the Fighting Irish to have their own television deal and I have been contemplating this move by the NCHC and it’s a bit of a head scratcher why the NCHC wouldn’t let the Fighting Irish have their own TV deal. While it’s not a deal breaker, it would’ve been nice to have the Fighting Irish in the NCHC to start the 2013-14 season.

I have been on record in the past as saying that the newly formed NCHC will be fine with or without the Fighting Irish and that the NCHC has a solid base of schools to work with. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the NCHC will truly be one of the power conferences in Division I college hockey, no matter what the naysayers say.

If you’re not sold on my reasoning yet, let’s break it further, five of the top 10 teams in all three preseason polls (CHN, USCHO, USA Today) are going to be members of the newly formed NCHC to start the 2013-14 season. If your still not convinced, the eight teams that make up the NCHC have a combined 17 NCAA titles among them (DU 7, UND 7, UMD 1, C.C. 2).

The newly formed B1G is only other league that has more NCAA titles than the NCHC (Michigan9, Wisconsin 6, andMinnesota 5). Whether you want to admit it the NCHC has the making of being a pretty good hockey league. So with Notre Dame going to Hockey East this is where we are currently at for college hockey conferences in the west, there could be another addition to the WCHA as the University of Alabama Huntsville is looking for a conference to call home.

NCHC
North Dakota
Denver
Colorado College
Nebraska-Omaha
Minnesota-Duluth
Miami
Western Michigan
St. CloudState

WCHA
Alaska Anchorage
Alaska (Fairbanks)
Bemidji State
MSU-Mankato
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior
Ferris State
Bowling Green

Notre Dame not going to the NCHC.

Dame Image via WikipediaWell it's official the NCHC will not be adding the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Like I have said in the past I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal for the NCHC. For the naysayers that think this a fatal blow to the newly formed NCHC are delusional, the NCHC is going to be a top league in college hockey and is home to 17 national titles (UND 7, DU 7, C.C. 2, UMD 1).

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced today that it will launch its inaugural season in 2013-14 as an eight-team conference.
The eight institutions in the new Division 1 men's hockey conference are Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University.  St. Cloud State and Western Michigan accepted invitations to join the Conference on September 22 following a comprehensive process to identify additional members.  

"We are very confident with our decision and excited to move forward as a strong eight-team conference," said Brian Faison, Director of Athletics at North Dakota and the spokesperson for the Conference's Athletic Directors Committee.  "As we have stated many times, it is our goal to establish the National Collegiate Hockey Conference as the premier conference in men's hockey and there's no question in our minds that we are well positioned to do so with our membership.  We conducted a deliberate and exhaustive process that included consideration of adding more institutions.  In the end, we determined it is in the best interest of the Conference to proceed with our eight outstanding programs."

Dating back to the year 2000, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference boasts four NCAA National Champions, 14 NCAA Frozen Four appearances, 12 conference regular-season championships and 10 conference tournament championships.  All eight members were participants in the NCAA Ice Hockey Championship tournament in one or both of the last two seasons.

In addition to completing its membership, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has been conducting a national search for its first commissioner and expects to have its top executive in place by the end of the calendar year.   

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• What's up SCSU? (mvn.com)
• Waiting to Exhale, the WCHA is Back (mvn.com)
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• So it's UND's fault? (mvn.com)
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Notre Dame close to a decision?

According to Mike McMahon of the Eagle Tribune, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are close to picking a college hockey conference, it's between the Hockey East and the newly formed NCHC. I like most college hockey fans would like to know where the Golden Domers are going to end up. I guess we will find out soon enough. Here is a link to the story in the Warrior Rink Rat.

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• More on Notre Dame's conference selection. (mvn.com)
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More on Notre Dame's conference selection.

Image via WikipediaOmaha Sioux posted this article in the comments of another article earlier today. It appears that Notre Dame would like to remain a independent in football.

ESPN.COM --- The Fighting Irish compete in the Big East in all sports but football. "I think college football has just taken control of everything," former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said in an interview with "Outside the Lines" host Bob Ley. "All these moves are about football and money and greed. And I think, you know, I'm embarrassed ... about the whole thing. And not just because it's affected the Big East. It just seems that things such as integrity and loyalty and congeniality are gone. And our problem is quite simple. We have no one in charge.

"What we have are little fiefdoms who have conference names and we're living in a society where it's almost like it's Wall Street. Greed is good and I'm Gordon Gecko," he added.

According to a source close to Notre Dame, the Irish's first choice is to remain as an independent in football and stay in the Big East in all other sports.

If the Irish decide they can't remain as a football independent then the choice would be to pursue the ACC before the Big Ten.

But the latter is not the ideal scenario for the fiercely independent Irish. The Irish don't want to give up independence unless forced.

Notre Dame to the Big Ten?

Image via WikipediaThis would be an interesting turn of events but not unpredictable because there has been a lot written on this subject during the past week.

Neil Hayes; Chicago Sun Times --- The tectonic plates beneath the college football landscape may soon be shifting, which could increase the likelihood of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten in the future.

Brian Kelly is aware that Big East Conference members Pittsburgh and Syracuse have submitted letters of application to the Atlantic Coach Conference, which could impact Notre Dame basketball and other sports. With other significant changes to major conferences expected, joining the Big Ten might make sense now than it did a decade ago, especially if Texas is involved.

Imagine a Big Ten “Western” division that includes Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, llinois and Northwestern and an “Eastern” sub-conference featuring Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue and Indiana. Such a scenario would maintain many of the Big Ten’s geographical rivalries as well as allowing Notre Dame to continue to play traditional foes such as USC and/or Navy.

“I know personally as the head coach, you’re always listening to what’s going on out there,” the Notre Dame coach said. “How it affects our day-to-day operation is none. It doesn’t affect what we do. Nothing is going to be decided during this season.

So if Notre Dames decided to join the B1G that would mean that the Fighting Irish would join the B1G in all sports to include Division I hockey as well, meaning that the Fighting Irish would not be in the NCHC. I don't think it's as devastating to the NCHC as some hockey fans have predicted or hoped. Let's get real, the NCHC in it's current form is still more of an attractive option than the WCHA. One scenario I would like to see happen is, if Notre Dame ends up going to the B1G, I would hope the NCHC would extend an invitation to BGSU and WMU to join the NCHC. I would also caution the NCHC about offering an invitation to SCSU to join the NCHC.

Related articles

• Waiting to Exhale, the WCHA is Back (mvn.com)
• Notre Dame vs. MSU: 3 NEW Reasons for Irish to Consider Big Ten Realignment (bleacherreport.com)
• Notre Dame Football: Can the Irish Ditch History, Tradition and Join the Big Ten (bleacherreport.com)
• ACC begins seismic shift, SEC and Big Ten will finish it (aol.sportingnews.com)

Where is Notre Dame going?

Image via WikipediaThe million dollar question that many college hockey fans are waiting for is, ta-da, where are the Notre Dame Fighting Irish going to end up? Are the Fighting Irish going to Hockey East, NCHC or Independent?

I like many college hockey fans are sitting by the  computer combing twitter, hoping that an announcement by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to make known their intended destination. Most of us are hoping that announcement will come soon. I also think they are holding up other college hockey teams decisions as well... But what's the hurry right, this move won't happen for another two years any ways.

Mike McMahon, Warrior Rink Rat --- The Irish were debating internally whether to join Hockey East, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, join the WCHA/CCHA or run its program as a Independant.

According to sources, Hockey East is now considered a long shot. Initially, Notre Dame officials were said to be split between joining Hockey East or the NCHC.

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