College Hockey Expansion

[cberkas]

From the State of the Game press conference:

Quote

"In the NHL, the more players that can come from NCAA hockey directly to the NHL is a good thing for them because the more you can tie their sport, especially in the U.S., to college fanbases, that's an outstanding opportunity for the NHL to grow the game," said Sean Hogan, Executive Director of College Hockey, Inc.

"The more teams we can create, the more fanbases we can create, the more players that come through our pipeline on the road to the NHL is a good thing for everybody. Might not be as the two paths as it used to be. You're going to be 16, 17, 18 years old, play junior hockey wherever you want. When a college hockey team recruits you, they're ready for you, you should be ready for college hockey because that's going to be the next step on the development path to the NHL on the men's side."

There are currently 63 Division I men's college hockey teams. The hope is for there to be more.

"It's my own personal goal, I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to do it, but I'd love to see us grow up to maybe 75 programs," said Tim Troville, Chair of the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Committee. "The player pool is growing."

On Arizona:

Quote

"If I see a rink being built suitable for Division I by a university, there is one is Tuscon, I called the University of Arizona," Hogan added. "It was a hard no. Doesn't mean we didn't try to do it. That's one thing we're out there doing, beating the bushes trying to create more teams. We're doing it too for men's and women's."

 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/04/penn-mens-hockey-storied-history

[cberkas]

Woman's hockey expansion news

More on Illitch wanting a woman's team at Michigan (cough cough fund it yourself cough cough)

Michigan would need a new arena, Michigan State can't for some reason, so Western Michigan could just add a team when the new arena is built and get Illitch tears lol.

[cberkas]

The full video is in Non-UND Hockey thread.

So, 20 top teams in the ACHA. Can eliminate the ones that have NCAA D3 team and D3 schools, Adrian is always at the top of ACHA D1 and have a NCAA D3 team.

This list is going to be who could make the jump soon due to having an arena available and a ACHA team

1. UNLV: Orleans and Lee's Family Forum
2. Arizona: Building an arena and have the TCC
3. Liberty: LaHaye Area 
4. FGCU: Hertz Center
5. Colorado State: Blue FCU Arena is 25 minutes aways, so close enough.
6. Illinois State: Grossinger Motors Arena
7. Utah: Maverick Center, sits empty former ECHL arena 
8. Tennessee: Knoxville Civic Coliseum
9. NC State: Lenovo Center used buy their men's basketball along with the Canes
10. Binghampton: Visions Veterans Memorial Arena
11. Utica: Adirondack Bank Center
12. Nebraska: Pinnacle Bank Arena also a practice facility across the road by the baseball field 
13. Creighton: CHI Health Center (former Omaha arena)
14. Gonzaga: Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
15. Texas: H-E-B Center
16. Louisville: Broadbent Arena
17. San Jose State: Tech Cu Arena
18. Marquette: UWM Panther Arena 
19. Iowa: Xtream Arena
20. Northwestern: Allstate Arena, basketball played there
21. Boise State: Idaho Central Arena 
22. Georgia: Akins Ford Arena
23. Ohio: Bird Arena, would be nice to see them make some renovations and come back to D1
24. Toledo: Huntington Center
25. NDSU: Scheels Arena, would never happen but would be a fun to see them and UND play. 

I've heard Mike McMahon mention Pacific but didn't mention which one.  Pacific University is D3 in Oregon, I think he meant University of the Pacific which is D1 in Stockton. There is an arena that used to have a AHL team there.

I could have added more but just went with these 25. Also, there is no indication any are adding hockey just using schools that have the two criteria above.