Not without someone building them a rink on campus. Too bad the AHL rink wasn't done that way.
A higher level of club hockey in the area makes it easier for USC or Arizona to elevate if they ever get (and accept) a golden goose. Those are the two to watch in the region.
https://timesofsandiego.com/sports/2023/09/11/in-sunny-san-diego-aztec-ice-hockey-team-reaches-for-national-prominence/
More ACHA Div 1 teams in the southwest is a good thing.
The holdup on Pinto is their cap situation; with less than 800k free they need to give up a prospect to get someone to take a bad contract off their hands.
Micheletti asking Goon why Clouse being Canadian is relevant is embarassing. There's no way he's oblivious to the ethnocentric reputation of MN/Gopher hockey.
Houston and Atlanta both have what the NHL wants in a city in spades: large corporations that will pay for luxury suites. Bettman would need to commit to both cities the same way he's committed to Phoenix, though.
His specialty is internet-style absurdist humor. The movie part probably stems from all the videos on YouTube of pleasantries exchanged between the two teams.
Gotta assume that Augustana is going to be in the Summit soon. Why else would they have added hockey but to appease the hockey schools in the conference?