Big A HG Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Just saw on Twitter today that Jimmy John's founder is considering ponying up to get Illinois some D1 hockey. That would add another Big Ten to the mix. USCollegeHockey was adament about their initial claims of PSU adding hockey back when it was first announced. I think it'd be awesome if they could, even though it's a B1G school. This whole conference reallignment may be working itself out in a good way afterall. Penn State coming for sure Maybe Moorhead State Maybe Illinois USCollegeHockey is not claiming that Illinois WILL add hockey, rather that they MAY. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIRE HELMET GUY #26 Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Obviously expanding college hockey is a good thing, and as a Gopher fan it would be nice to see Illinois join the Big 10-(mistake) to expand as well, with only six teams currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFG Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 This one's been going for a couple weeks now. This sounds like a very promising rumor since it is from the staff of their club hockey team. There's also an unconfirmed rumor going around that if Illinois adds D1 hockey that a donor (can't remember his name) will step forward for Indiana as well and get them moved up to D1. There's also a lot of alumni "interested" and supportive of getting hockey at Iowa, but the chances for that one are very, very slim it seems. The B1G could turn out to be good for the sport if things keep going like this...never would have guessed that last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigGreyAnt41 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 This is definitely where the conference realignment will pay off. With the new conferences, they're smaller so it leaves room for new teams to start up and have a place to play. The way the conferences were before there wasn't really any room for anybody to move up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A HG Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 I know Illinois has been rumored in the past, but it was just speculation. Now, there is a potential donor involved and staff within the university are talking about it. It'll be interesting to see where this leads now. UAH isn't quite dead, but who knows what their future really holds. Penn State makes up for them. Bowling Green is hanging around, but for how long. We need someone to replace them. Any sort of net gain is a huge bonus, especially in today's economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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