[College Hockey Expansion]

On 05/09/2017 at 9:03 PM, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Both are schools that should explore the possibility, since they serve major metros that support hockey but don't have a nearby college team. But Maryland and Penn are more likely candidates in each metro.

Considering what I've heard from the plight of Maryland's teams at the D2 level, it'll be hard to get a competitive team. They need to get to D1 in club first before getting to a NCAA. The school cut their funding and made them buy new jerseys just because they got rid of the certain "Terps" script they used on their white jerseys. They had a GoFundMe that fell a couple hundred short, but got a lot of stuff paid for. Penn is interesting because of their Ivy League status and having the money. 

 

22 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

If Navy adds DI hockey, have been expecting Liberty to add it too.  Liberty has made major improvement to its rink, like something bigger is happening.  Liberty has plenty of money and would relish playing Navy and AHA schools just for their academic credibility.  Delaware seems like it has a lesser chance, as it's facilities seem to need an improvement and I see it wanting FBS before hockey.  An outside chance could be West Chester St in PA, a DII school, that would have a lot to gain in the Philly area by going DI in hockey.

Six schools on the east coast have made club hockey a major deal with the ESCHL and suspect each of them have eventual DI plans.  Those six schools are Delaware, West Chester, Rutgers, Liberty, Stony Brook and URI, but each of them have different ideas on when they are going DI.

Liberty has a lot of talented coaches there, so I would say they're  big outlier, but definitely would spend to the hilt in order to get some more publicity. Them getting into NASCAR will certainly jump their profile more and attract more, which D1 hockey would. 

West Chester is definitely a good choice and could steal some interest from the D3 program in Neumann for hockey kids....maybe....doubtful. 

[College Hockey Expansion]

3 hours ago, cberkas said:

https://scottywazz.com/2017/09/05/on-the-topic-of-ncaa-expansion/

I expected him to bring up more then two teams.

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.