Future of the WCHA

[scsavre]

My gut still tells me that the gophs and siouxtraitors won't be playing much any more.

[archerystud]

I'm hoping SCSU somehow gets into the new conference. They want to be in no matter what their Prez says.

I'm curious as to why W Michigan is being included in this conference? To give Miami a rival?

Since 05-06 W. Michigan has a 77-122-25 record. SCSU at the same time has a 120-92-29 record during that same time in arguably a better conference.

Oh well.

[scsavre]

If I were cloud I would stay put and take this opportunity to win the league and get an auto bid. The same thing that duluth should be doing.

[solbes]

I'm hoping SCSU somehow gets into the new conference. They want to be in no matter what their Prez says.

I'm curious as to why W Michigan is being included in this conference? To give Miami a rival? Since 05-06 W. Michigan has a 77-122-25 record. SCSU at the same time has a 120-92-29 record during that same time in arguably a better conference.

I really hope they do too. The only reason they've given for not wanting to join is travel costs. I'm not sure it will be THAT much more expensive in the long term. But I'm not looking at their balance sheet either.

WMU (Kalamazoo, MI) is really being included because of proximity to Miami (Oxford, OH) and Notre Dame (South Bend, IN). All part of a play to try and lure Notre Dame and some of their external appeal. I see SCSU as a much more viable player competition wise. I think WMU has had one winning season since '02. Sure Blashill helped bring some success this year, but he's already out after departing for the bigs with Detroit.

[scsavre]

Fanwise cloud is way bigger then any of those 3 as well.

Also don't forget that when computing travel costs, alaska actually used to pay for the visiting team to come up there. That's a pretty cool deal that might be coming to a close now too

[solbes]

]If I were cloud I would stay put and take this opportunity to win the league and get an auto bid. The same thing that duluth should be doing.

True, if your goal is to make it to the big dance. For winning it, if you don't play the best teams week in and week out, you won't have that confidence going into an NCAA tourney. You need 4 wins in a row against great teams.

Bemidji came close nullifying this argument a few years back, but IMO that is a REALLY hard thing to do.

Speaking of auto bids, there's some talk on USCHO about both new conferences not getting auto bids right away. An NCAA rule where at least 6 teams must play together in their conference for 2 years prior to being granted an auto bid for tourney champ. Not sure if they are reading that correctly or not. It's almost a guarantee that the winner of BTHC and SC would qualify anyway, but interesting.

[scsavre]

Not sure about the rule,I just know that they said the bthc gets a auto bid.

Cloud will still play all the best teams. They are going to play,gophs , sioux. Badgers etc.

[solbes]

]Not sure about the rule,I just know that they said the bthc gets a auto bid.

Cloud will still play all the best teams. They are going to play Dogs, gophs , sioux. Badgers etc.

FYP

I must be bored again at work. Shame on me.

[cbrooks]

I had to.

I can't even reply to that.

[Steve Foss]

I had to.

I don't even WANT to reply to that. Gimme the Dark Side (black jerseys) every time!

Gino Gasparini to Hakstol: "Hak . . . I am your father."

Hehehehe

[solbes]

According to Pates, there's a strong chance that Northern Michigan returns to the WCHA in '13/14. Some buzz about Alaska Fairbanks considering the move as well.

If any of this is true, you would have a strong push from the remaining CCHA schools to merge into one conference. But I wonder what the current WCHA members would think about that.

[Bran32]

If I were the WCHA commish i would try to get Northern Mich. Alaska Fairbanks and Lake Superior and have an 8 team conf. with 2 divisions to help split costs of traveling to the Alaskan teams WEST div.: BSU, SCSU, MSU Mankato, and UAA. EAST div.: MT, UNM, LSSU, and UAF! Costs would be fairly light between the Mn schools and the schools up in th U.P.!! Just a thought!

[cbrooks]

Here's a link to the live feed of the conference announcement at Colorado Springs.

http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?p=88210