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UND's New Hockey Conference


Cratter

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With the Blashill departure, I wonder in Western is out of the new conference. If that is the case, I'd support Michigan Tech as an 8th team with Notre Dame. Would further the academic reputation of the conference, bring along the MacNaughton Cup, and keep the remaining "Core 4" original WCHA schools together. Tech has a larger barn than Miami, and with the hiring of Pearson has shown a reaffirmed commitment to their program.

That would allow the following new conferences to form.

Midnight SUN Conference

UAA

UAF

MSU-Mankato

St. Cloud

Bemidji

MSU-Moorhead

Thought about Minot State, but believe the flood has put that potential program on the back burner for now.

Compact travel for the Northern Sun schools and you can make a single trip to Alaska, playing back to back weekends. (Do it around Thanksgiving and in early January to minimize lost class time.)

Great Lakes Hockey Conference

CCHA Division

Northern Michigan

Lake Superior State

Ferris State

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

New Division

Alabama Huntsville

Niagara

Robert Morris

Mercyhurst

Lindenwood

Play own division 4 times, opposite division twice. Minimizes travel for CCHA schools to Alabama and preserves remaining rivalries. Gives emerging programs a full scholarship conference.

Lindenwood could potentially go Midnight SUN if another eastern school emerged for Great Lakes conference.

I wouldn't mind seeing tech come along. it also looks like I will make my first ever trip to the final five now before it goes away.

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It's been posted several times on USCHO that WMU is out of the picture. I haven't found any papers/blogs that are reporting it though.

One of the things that I posted in the wrong thread..... Floating Tiger breaking news...

NewsChannel 13 Sports Director Rob Namnoum confirmed Friday morning the Colorado College Hockey will join a new league in 2013.

Sources say the new so-called "super league" will consist of CC, Denver, Miami of Ohio, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota.

Sources also say the league is looking for a 7th team and hope it will be Notre Dame.

The teams say they are making this move in order to compete with the new Big 10 hockey league.

The new league offices will most likely be in Omaha, according to sources.

What happened with Western Michigan??

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If the new league is looking for a good TV deal,do you see them pulling into any of the large state universities in the highly-populated Northeast, such as UMass,UConn, or Maine or perhaps a private school in a large city such as Boston University or Boston College ?

That would be an interesting twist on the situation. Imagine setting up a league where on Friday and Saturday nights a network could broadcast an early and a late game and have five hours of built-in programming each night.

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Minnesota didn't have a choice in the Big 10 essentially. Lucia and Maturi spoke out against it, however voted for it. Why risk membership in a premier conference in all the other HUGE sports (football, basketball) to say no to Big10 hockey? They can't go independent in those sports just to remain in the WCHA. They were put up against the wall created by Barry Alvarez. It would be like UND all the sudden saying no to the Big Sky in football, basketball, etc which would be a huge mistake as well. Most logical UMN fans are against the move to the Big10 as well, so let's not paint with a broad brush.

With that being said, I am all for UND doing whatever they need to do. I feel bad for you UND fans who travel so darn well and fill up the barns at places like SCSU, Bemidji, Mankato, etc. Such easy roadtrips to make. Everyone can point the fingers at this school and that or whatever, but in the end NO ONE is in a "better" spot right now and there's nothing us fans can do to change anything about it.

The difference is that Wisconsin and Minnesota have been in the Big Ten forever. I seriously doubt taking a stand on this would put them in jeopardy of being booted.

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Oops, I've been posting in Big 10 thread, instead of the new conference thread.

The Irish fans seem to be pulling for "Super 6".

One of the Irish fans is going for the HE since its driving distance...from South Bend to Boston or NY State? I would think it would be the same to drive to the east coast as driving to Denver or CC. Actually ND to CC approx 1000mi ND to BC 900mi. Weak argument.

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One of the Irish fans is going for the HE since its driving distance...

Seriously? Dude needs a map.

Notre Dame to ...

Oxford, OH 225 miles

Omaha, NE 547 miles

Duluth, MN 562 miles

Grand Forks, ND 816 miles

Denver, CO 1080 miles

Colorado Springs, CO 1150 miles

Burlington, Vermont 817 miles

Massachusetts

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One of the Irish fans is going for the HE since its driving distance...from South Bend to Boston or NY State? I would think it would be the same to drive to the east coast as driving to Denver or CC. Actually ND to CC approx 1000mi ND to BC 900mi. Weak argument.

That fan (Boston Domer) I assume lives in Boston or somewhere in the NE which is why all of ND's road trips would be driving distance for him...

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Won't you Sioux fans miss going to St. Cloud and the other schools? You guys travel well, but will a lot of folks be going to CC, Denver, Omaha, and Miami? How about missing the Final 5 at the X? Just curious.

I'm going to miss going to St. Cloud, Mankato, and the other schools. I'm really going to miss going to St. Paul on St. Patrick's Day for the Final 5. That's probably what sucks about this most of all for me personally.

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All of this, starting with "Jim Delany Television" (aka Big Ten Network) through this new hockey conference, has all been all about the Benjamins.

The official announcement of the BTHC was March 21.

On March 25 the UNO Regents officially voted to move full DI (and drop football and wrestling).

Many things all happened there in rapid-fire succession.

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Not coming over here to flame since I've been at least understanding of this move unlike many opposing fans, but wanted to see what Sioux fans thought of Blais' comments back in March about the BTHC and how, IMO, silly those look now since this new league is essentially doing the same thing.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110321/MAVS/703219805

It’s a TV issue. There’s money. The big schools have money, and they want a lot more. Is it good for college hockey? We’ll see. It wouldn’t hurt UNO. We’re going to be fine. But this division could hurt certain teams. It would give an administration an excuse to drop hockey.”

I think we may see this borne out, especially with smaller schools who are already struggling to support 1-2 hockey teams. It's unfortunate, and IMHO the most dangerous thing for college hockey resulting from the BTHC, and whatever "Super 6-8" league comes out of the west. However, I don't see UNO making this move without Blais' assent. I think the biggest issue for the 6-8 league is getting a strong media contract that drives money to each of the teams in roughly equal shares. It will also be interesting to see if there is a gate revenue sharing agreement too.

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Not coming over here to flame since I've been at least understanding of this move unlike many opposing fans, but wanted to see what Sioux fans thought of Blais' comments back in March about the BTHC and how, IMO, silly those look now since this new league is essentially doing the same thing.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110321/MAVS/703219805

For me, it is a big TBD. It seems like the Big Ten schools did what would be best for them, and UND and the other schools are doing what is best for them. I don't think anyone knows what the ripple effects will be, but stay tuned, as things could change tomorrow! I really do hope that traditional rivalries are kept alive with a series every year. The powers that be that handle scheduling need to just take a few deep breaths, enjoy the next few weeks, THEN work on scheduling. I would hate for this to turn into a situation like UND and NDSU have now where they are just starting to talk to each other again and play each other.

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I'm just surprised how quickly this all came to be. So lets pretend that Western Michigan and Notre Dame join the new conference (can't wait to hear the name), and the WCHA and CCHA merge.....would this be the new WCHA? Any one of these teams could win the league....

1. Anchorage

2. Fairbanks

3. Mankato

4. Michigan Tech

5. Northern Michigan

6. SCSU

7. Ferris State

8. Bowling Green

9. Lake Superior State

10. Bemidji State

You could add Huntsville to the CCHA and Air Force to the WCHA and have the two leagues remain intact. Then both leagues would get an automatic qualifier, which would mean less chances for an at large team to make the field.

WCHA

1. Anchorage

2. Mankato

3. Tech

4. SCSU

5. Bemidji

6. Air Force

CCHA

1. Huntsville

2. Fairbanks

3. Northern Michigan

4. Ferris State

5. Bowling Green

6. LSSU

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The league as it sits now has six members. It needs 8.

Western Michigan is out apparently. If Notre Dame joins they get to bring with them whomever they would like.

But if Notre Dame decides to go to Hockey East, look for SCSU and Mankato to get an invite.

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According to this article, St. Cloud was expecting to be a part of the talks regarding a new conference. They were never extended an invitation and state they would not accept if an invite was offered.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20110708/SPORTS0401/107080035/SCSU-won-t-join-hockey-super-league

Is this "no" because he was never invited?

SCSU fans seem to think they are going to die a slow death. The exact opposite of what Potter thinks. He thinks attendance would be stronger his new WCHA/CCHA conference? :lol:

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The league as it sits now has six members. It needs 8.

Western Michigan is out apparently. If Notre Dame joins they get to bring with them whomever they would like.

But if Notre Dame decides to go to Hockey East, look for SCSU and Mankato to get an invite.

Did you read the article I linked above. St. Cloud President is on record as saying they would not accept an invitation.

Edit: Oops, your second post got in before mine...nevermind

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