OT: More college hockey realignment coming?
Posted on several outlets.. 7 teams from the WCHA gave official notice to the league that they intend to seek other affiliations. Any changes would happen in the 2021-22 season, two years from now.
The teams are: BGSU, Ferris, LSSU, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Bemidji St and Mankato St.
Geography was given as a big reason for the movement, so not surprisingly the Alaska schools and Alabama Huntsville were not included.
This would be good for hockey as the fallout from the Big Ten messed up geographic conferences not in the east. This would be a step towards financial stability for central and western schools, but I’m not certain what’s next for Alaska and Huntsville.
https://www.michigantechhuskies.com/sports/mice/2019-20/releases/20190628nxci54
https://bgsufalcons.com/news/2019/6/28/ice-hockey-statement-regarding-hockey-league-affiliation.aspx
Funny that it's easier for 7 teams to leave than asking the other two to find a new home. Awkward!
True, I think it’s less of a message to those three schools (UAF, UAA, UAH) and more of a message to the league itself.
What has the WCHA done to improve the marketability and sustainability of college hockey in the “Midwest” lately? That’s a big driver behind the move, if I had to guess.
This is a bit hit to the Alaska schools. And yesterday was a pretty devastating day for the University of Alaska system.
Also yesterday: the Alaska Governor used a veto that results in a $130MM reduction in state support for the University system. The veto is very unlikely to be over-ridden. That $130MM represents a nearly 40% (!!) cut in total state support. About 15% of the total budget.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/06/29/huge-budget-cut-university-alaska
There's a lot of speculation that ALL UAA and UAF athletic programs are DONE. For hockey at least (not other sports, which all compete in the D-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference), UAA and UAF partially subsidized trips for schools to come all the way up there. Can't see that as an option with the big budget cuts.
The 2 Alaska schools were a unique part of the college hockey landscape. But they are likely no longer. I suspect that both have already played their last game.
Yeah this is a major bummer for both of the Alaska schools and their programs. I think UAA has been headed towards stopping their program for a couple years now. Fairbanks seemed to be in better shape, but this news in addition to the potential realignment here spells bad news for UAF too :(
Yep, it's a bummer. The CCHA and WCHA didn't have to work with the Alaska schools and invite them into the conference in the 90s and 2000s.
Yet they did. Sure the Alaska schools had to subsidize things, but there was a "we all in this college hockey world will try to help each other" atmosphere.
Even this split has a remnant issue. The 7-school WCHA still isn't a "bus league." BGSU is a southern outlier and Ferris has pretty long trips to the west and north with Lake Michigan in the way.
I imagine that BGSU has explored some sort of geographically better conference. It's known that Mankato has inquired about the NCHC. If either of those 2 things ever happen, the 3 UP schools and Bemidji could theoretically fall themselves. Ferris would be in an odd spot: they're a viable option to join any other conference BGSU may join, but they also have GLIAC and state ties to the UP schools which makes it politically harder to split.
I feel weird as a Penn State fan. I am happy my school was able to add ice hockey. It's a big school in a hockey-friendly state and the program has good fan support. It absolutely makes sense for PSU to be a part of the D-1 NCAA hockey landscape. But their arrival precipitated such a massive change in the structural landscape of the sport. And I don't think the sport is better as a whole because of that massive structural change.
I mean you shouldn’t feel bad. College hockey may be losing some of its charm but schools like penn state joining are it’s only chance at survival. College hockey is a niche sport with only like 60 d1 programs in the country. It’s expensive and has shitty rules around player eligibility because of the small schools. The future of college hockey as a viable sport needs penn state way more than it needs the Alaska schools
Sure, but 60 schools isn't exactly that many. College hockey absolutely needs the PSU, Arizona State and (hopefully) Illinois programs but the idealistic part of me thinks there's a way to ensure the viability of the Alaska, Bemidji and Huntsville programs too.
PSU should have just joined the CCHA. But I get it - everything's ultimately about $ and the BTN.
But then again --- when I turn on BTN on a winter Friday night they are:
(1) 25% of the time showing a B1G hockey game in a sold-out arena,
(2) 25% of the time showing a B1G hockey game in an uninspired not-sold-out arena,
(3) 25% of the time showing wrestling, or
(4) 25% of the time showing a FOOD program showcasing the best food at football tailgates.
So that's that. Less regional hockey, more Rotel food commercials!
(rant over)
College hockey might be the strangest D1 sport in that a ton of the schools aren't D1 or are very small / non-football D1 and that means it shouldn't be run like a normal D1 sport. Plus, 60 is a very small membership number. Plus plus, it's a very expensive sport. Hockey needs to be somewhat regional so the smaller schools can remain viable. The Big schools obviously want to do their own thing and dominate, but without the small schools there is no D1 hockey. So the whole thing needs to be symbiotic. The Big Ten can't just sit on an island and let the rest of midwest and west hockey wither. I think they need to seriously consider disbanding the BTHC
There is zero chance of the three UP schools not having hockey programs.
Like the chant goes, "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!! It's all your fault!!!"
Not Penn State's fault. It's the fault of the Big Ten as a whole that the league by-laws mandate that we all play together if there are enough teams for an auto-bid. That was not a good move for college hockey. Everything was somewhat geographically centralized before with the WCHA in the west and the CCHA in the Michigan-Indiana-Ohio region. The move for us all to leave those leagues created chaos amongst the non-Big Ten teams west of PA
Initially when PSU joined, there was thought that 2 leagues becoming 3 would result in more teams moving up now that there were open slots - now I'm afraid as the dust settles there will be less teams
Meh - if the other big ten schools finally get around to having D1 programs then I'm ok with the move. If an Alabama school can sustain a D1 hockey program then there is no justifiable reason that Iowa, Nebraska, Illiniois, Indiana, Rutgers, Purdue, NW and Maryland cannot eventually do the same.
Why do politicians aka Republicans love cutting education budgets? Is it like a part of their DNA to keep the population under-educ.... oh.... I get it.
KEEP POLITICS OFF THIS SITE! for fuck’s sake, it’s a simple rule
Death is what’s next for the Alaska and Alabama schools.
there is something unholy about alabama having hockey at all.
So can the B1G pick up any of the exiles? I mean, since we already have the Irish, why not?
Right? They should try a conference with UM, MSU, OSU, Ferris, LSSU, and MI Tech in it and see what happens. Hell, WMU too!
If I actually thought the Big Ten gave a crap about other schools in D1 hockey, the obvious solution (assuming the Alaska schools are dropping hockey) is to split the 7 WCHA teams between NCHC and Big Ten
Bemidji and Minnesota State to the NCHC. Add Northern, Tech, Lake State, Ferris, and BGSU to the Big Ten to get to 12 teams. Huntsville has to fend for themselves again
I may be wrong but this sounds an awful lot like a western and a central conference again. Hmm...
Still feels a little like a bad dream that the BTHC screwed up western college hockey so bad. The old CCHA was regional (plus UAF), stable, and fun. I know league by-laws say Big Ten teams have to play together but why? The BTN sure isn't using the new conference to televise games and we've undercut a lot of old regional rival programs. I hate it and I would love nothing more than to go back to the old CCHA
Assuming the Alaska schools are essentially done:
"Midwest Conference"
Michigan
Michigan State
Northern
Western
Ferris
LSSU
Miami
Ohio State
BGSU
Penn State
Notre Dame
"Western Conference"
North Dakota
Minnesota
Duluth
St Cloud
Wisconsin
Michigan Tech
CC
Denver
Minnesota State
Bemidji
UNO
Arizona State
There are some obvious problems (you either have 2 huge leagues with no open spots or 3 weaker leagues that are just as vulnerable to crumbling as what we have now) but I can dream...
The answer: more hockey programs.
Yes.
The NCAA Hockey tournament isnt helping the matter...with games being played in near empty arenas that favor Certain schools who only have to go a few miles while the other 3 teams are nowhere nearby, so those games are virtually empty and leads to a complete lack of excitement..
A whole new division for Big Ten hockey!!!
Big "10" hockey is a joke and its inception wiped out two very good and storied leagues with outstanding rivalries, the CCHA then and now the WCHA. Hang this on Delaney.
BGSU owns the rights to the CCHA as they were the last charter member to leave the league in last last realignment. I wouldn’t be shocked if it came back in some way, shape or form.
F*ck Penn State.
November 18th, 2020 at 7:24 AM ^
I agree that we need more hockey programs. Then students-athletes will not have to change something so often and they will be able to play and study without any second thought. If suddenly they'll have problems in their studies, they can always use the service https://assignmentbro.com/us/do-my-assignment to cope with their tasks. Student-athletes need to be supported.