In my eyes, those are the two teams that are in D1 club hockey that could make the move and get the support from the student body and get the prospects to field a somewhat competitive team. Of course, I grew up in the mid-Atlantic, so those are two teams who's club teams have been held up to a bigger standard in that area. They are long-standing club teams, in the vain of ASU and Penn State and could bring up a variety of players from areas close by.
As far the funding being cut, that seems to be across the board when it come to club programs. University of Maryland has had setbacks in funding, Navy in the same way, as well. I don't think that'll affect what I was suggesting in that the NHL and NHLPA doing the research like their doing with the University of Illinois to see how viable a team is there. If they were to get some kind of NCAA status, I'm sure Navy will change their tune when it comes to funding the team because it is a varsity sport rather than just a club team.
Outside of Arizona being put into the conversation (which could work with Tucson having an AHL team there and those two sharing an arena), those are the two teams the NHL and PA should look to as a serious expansion. California club teams are growing, as are the teams in the PacNW-- so they're not in the equation just yet. Maybe if people think UW-Stevens Point is going to be able to pull from the other NCHC/Big Ten schools in the vicinity-- they could be a contender to expand-- but it's a very longshot.
