Instead of dividing the league along geographic lines, how about two clusters
"Original Six"
CC, Denver
UM, UW
UND, Tech
"Newcomer Six"
UMD, SCSU
UAA, MSU-M
Bemidji, [#12 insert here]
26 league games - 4x with a designated rival, 3x in your cluster, 2x with the other cluster.
I don't care for it a lot, but it would preserve rivalries better than other solutions. And it would allow for more non-conference games.
... Bringing the total allowable games back to 38 without extending the season would help a lot.