ArchyAlum11

Also moose are clever, aggressive and ornery as hell, were as bison are big, dumb and panic easily!

Wreck the Farm #mooseontheloose

Well then if they Win its obviously an Omen... meaning we have to change the name... again.

Good article and video about UNLV - https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ed-graney/unlv-hockey-club-desperate-for-money-ncaa-division-i-status-1566599/

which one...

Still even if only a few programs announce they are exploring hockey, it might be enough to encourage the legislature and the school to keep the program alive. I would actually say Boise is probably in a better position than U Wash and Oregon, There club team is already ACHA D2 that is very successful and has a partnership Century Link Center which also hosts the ECHL Idaho Steelheads, so they wouldn't need a lot of seed money to get the program started.

If given the choice between UAH and a UAF/UAA combined team, my guess is UAH gets it. With the exception of very early into the new WCHA when UAF looked like it could establish itself as force within the league, all three teams have had similar records. On top of that UAH is looking at increasing its funding and build new facilities, strong indicators it is committed to hockey. Not to mention that the burden of travel to Huntsville, Al are far less than to Anchorage or Fairbanks. Even if the combined Alaska Schools manage to survive the budget issue and travel distances are going to hurt them long-term. As I said it’s a shame none of the Pac Northwest schools are adding hockey, that would be a huge lifeline to the program. So maybe the Washington and Oregon school can pull there thumbs out of there rears and elevate their club programs. U-Wash, Wash State, Oregon, U-I Boise could all support hockey and already have successful club programs as well as usable facilities. Eastern Washington all ready has a team that competes in a Canadian league, I have also heard rumors that Portland University has a club team and given the area population and the lack of Pro-Teams, d-1 Hockey could be a huge boon to the university, Also it should be noted that Montana had a very successful club team for many years but it had to fold as the travel expenses were more than the self funded club could handle but with D-1 level Funding I could easily see Grizz Hockey being a hit on campus. It would only take five along with a unified AK team to start a conference.

Frankly I don't see hockey surviving even with a merge, the reality is that the they would be with out a conference and probably have reduced budget, which means either less money to offset travel costs for visiting teams or less money to put into scholarships and the program as a whole. Hopefully though they can keep hockey alive either at the club level or via the Canadian leagues, if there is still some structure there for college hockey I could see the program being resurrected if there is ever some sort of Pacific Northwest division, though it would likely depend greatly on AK financial situation. Pacific Northwest is perhaps one of the best new area's to push for hockey, but until it happens it going to be a struggle for Alaska.

That is possibility but I'm not sure, these budget cuts a pretty damn drastic, I think even if they manage to avoid completely cutting athletics, its going to hurt them for a long time to come, any of the top level players are going to look for other options, combine that with fact that the majority of teams are vacating the WCHA due to the AK teams and the lack of travel cost coverage and I think that that merging the programs may only delay the inevitable, unless all of a sudden a number of Pacific Northwest schools decide to add hockey, and the PAC-0 decides " Ya know instead of being like the big ten and pissing of the college hockey world, were going to show that we love college hockey's Mix of Power 5, D1 and D2 schools and create two affiliate hockey conferences, on for the Pacific North West and one for the South West/ Cali" if they did that the travel costs for all schools would be much lower than the current arrangement and allow for more money to stay with the programs, also it might give the schools pause to cut what is probably the most expensive sport at both UAF and UAA.

UAH might be able to to sweep up some of the AK programs, better players especially now that they are getting more investment in the program, Not sure if the 7 schools will still leave the WCHA, or simply try to reform the league now that the AK schools are most likely down for the count.I do think you will see them start to put some pressure on Ferris state to invest more in there program.

I don't think either program will come out of this alive unfortunately, If you did save hockey at one campus then I would say save Fairbanks, but I think you will see athletics totally eliminated.

I suppose I should have been more specific, I was talking about DII schools. As I understand it D2 schools can either play up to division I or down to DIII, the main difference is that if they play down to DIII they cannot offer any athletic scholarships for that sport.

Would be great if that is the case, but is that just the rumor mill or do you have a source?

Pretty sure for hockey the rule is schools can either play up or down, but if they play down they cannot offer scholarships for hockey and have to abide by funding restrictions.

the Ivy League is 8 members, if Penn Adds hockey it would more or less shame Columbia into adding hockey, as Columbia would be the only school without a hockey program. Its way different than the big ten, they would now have all there members except one in a single league. As opposed to the Bigten which had only a few members and decided to start a hockey conference.

Well they are going to have massive sticker shock if they choose to go D-1 or even D-2 ... I might be be a little biased as 90% of St. Thomas alums I have dealt with have been elitist jerks, I don't see them moving up to D2 I see them going D-1 if the move up because competing against D-2 schools would be under them. So lets say the go D1, in addition to scholarship money, they are going to need to spend a ton of money Building all new facilities, both training and stadium. St. Thomas Football stadium only seas 5000, Basketball 1800, Hockey 1400. Even for D2 these are pretty small and are not going to attract recruits. So yea hope they are willing to kiss a big chunk of that endowment bye bye to build all that.

ECAC - Penn is an Ivy League school so they would probably be able to get in despite making the league uneven.

Saint Thomas is an academic focused school that is not going to move up to d2 - d1. Moorhead State - Is the school that makes the most sense as it would be in partially untapped market, and could likely play its games at scheels arena until they could build there own facility in Moorhead. However I don't know how much will there is on campus to give it another shot... haven't seen that NHL feasibility study reach out to try and help them or any of the other smaller schools. Crookston's big issue is its small size and close proximity to UND, also the only arena in crookston is the one that the Eagles played in in there d-3 days even after renovation only seats 1200, the Current WCHA requires a Minimum of 2500 seats in an arena, and I'd imagine the New conference is going require at least the same amount and possibly others things.

Best of luck to them, I hope they can pull it off, I'd love to see some more small schools add hockey, but keep in Mind Moorhead State tried that - all be it at a time when the economy wasn't in as good of shape, Moorhead has a larger student body, budget and metro area. They weren't able to get it done. But Again I really hope they do manage to beat the odds and add D1 hockey, I would also love it if Moorhead could get its act together and try again. I'sd be curious if they are talking about D1 or D-3 hockey though.

You really want to compare the the state of the U in 1966 - the Year that UMD joined the WCHA to Now, that 53 years of changes to the landscape of college sports! Not to mention 53 years of changes at the U of M. John Marrucci was probably a big reason, though there first year was the first year of the Sonmore era, the reality is when they were trying to get into the WCHA John Marrucci was still the head coach and had a lot pull at the school. He wanted to see an huge expansion of college hockey across state, as I have said before do not confuse the wishes of John Marrucci with the Wishes of the U of M in its current state. The More Pertinent Question is why did the U of M do nothing to save the UM-Crookstons D3 program when it suddenly folded in 1999, even after the City of Crookston renovated and enlarged the arena and UM- Crookston still payed the rental fees for the contract period.

I would agree with you, I don't think a switch would happen right away, at least not for WMU, given that Maimi has had a middling performance in the NCHC they might be more eager to switch to a conference with more local teams that are not quite as skilled, but then again even if they decided to change conferences we are still looking at least 4- 5 years down the road and whether or not the other Michigan schools can continue to grow. I'm pretty sure that there is going to be a huge focus on the remaining teams with regards to non-conference play. Either way even if MNSU and BSU don't get realignment they still drop the trip to Alaska, even if UAH comes in as the eight school that far less of a travel and finical burden than the AK schools.

Yeah, that's needed to happen for years, honestly at this point even if they stay D2 they would need to demolish the old stadium and build a new one, as the foundation is crumbling and the press box is something that a 5th grader could have built on the weekend with modest budget and trip to Home Depot. So yeah, I know there was a plan to completely redo the outdoor facilities a few years back, and they seem to be doing it piece meal, at this point but the football stadium design drew some criticism for being only 6000 seats, 1500 less than current capacity. Most of the finical attention has been on hockey for that last 8 years, which makes sense seeing as it is the biggest earner, the mens team actually turns a profit, the other sports turn a modest profit, though realistically like most schools that is Football and possibly Men's Basketball carrying all the other sports, so it seems reasonable to assume that now that hockey has gotten a ton of upgrades and since the basketball court was already surpassed D1 courts at similar sized schools, that it would be time for the football Stadium to get some love... however as a wise man once said "reality shats on reason".

I would agree on FBS - the U of M is the only school with a ridiculous Budget that can afford all crap that comes with that, But FCS would be very doable with less money than the U of M gets for single new athletic project.

The U of M would never allow Crookston to add hockey, if the U of M had it its way they would be the ONLY school, in Minnesota with a D1 athletics program, and all the state universities would go back to being teachers colleges. Don't make the mistake conflating the wishes of John Mariucci with the wishes of the U of M, The U of M lobby Machine only wants one thing, total dominance over Minnesota Higher Ed. They are big reason why Minnesota, one of the highest taxed a wealthiest states per-capita in the union only has a single D1 institution, never-mind the face that MNSU, UMD and SCSU are all large enough and theoretically have enough of budget that could handle the move to D1 FCS but are still sitting static at D2.