| BG still mulling options (08-12-11) |
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| Written by KEVIN GORDON Sentinel Assistant Sports Editor | ||
| Friday, 12 August 2011 08:56 | ||
The Falcons will remain in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for two more seasons, but their home after that hasn't been decided. The 11-team CCHA already has lost five schools during college hockey's summer of realignment, and could lose as many as three more before the realignment is completed. That would leave BG as one of three CCHA schools looking to form a new league. Future realignment options for BG are a possible merger of the CCHA and WCHA leftovers, joining the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, or continuing as a member of the CCHA which would include new members. The CCHA recently held discussions with representatives of four Atlantic Hockey Association schools - Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Robert Morris - about the possibility of those schools joining the CCHA leftovers. All of the realignment takes affect have the 2012-13 season. "We want to try keep all three options open for as long as we can, so we can make the best decision," BG athletics director Greg Christopher said. "We may not have all three options at the end of the day, but, again, we're trying to explore all of our options." The rest of the realignment is expected to fall into place quickly once CCHA member Notre Dame announces its plans Monday or Tuesday at the league's annual summer meetings in Dearborn, Mich. Notre Dame is mulling an offer to join Hockey East or the NCHC, which was formed by CCHA member Miami, and five WCHA schools - Colorado College, Denver, defending NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota. The NCHC reportedly will add at least two more teams. ND also could skip league play entirely and play as an independent. Regardless of what the Fighting Irish decide, they are not expected to remain in the CCHA. Western Michigan, also of the CCHA, has said it would like to follow Notre Dame to whatever league it joins. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that Notre Dame and Western Michigan could be included in a CCHA-WCHA merger. "Notre Dame holds a lot of collateral in all this," Christopher said. "At the end of the day, which direction Notre Dame goes may dictate some other decisions, whether it's for us or some of the other schools." Christopher said the CCHA-WCHA merger option "gets discussed the most." The two leagues met Aug. 2 and are will meet again Aug. 23. "We are exploring all three options. We are talking with all three," Christopher said. BG and CCHA member Alaska (Fairbanks) also have discussed possible membership with the WCHA as individual schools. The CCHA and the four Atlantic Hockey schools also are expected to talk again. Christopher said a time line for BG's decision and the rest of college hockey's realignment to be completed "is hard to predict. It might be the next month. I don't think it stretches out more than the next three to four months." Notre Dame's decision may come down to money and television ratings. Versus, which will be rebranded as NBC Sports Network early next year, is believed to be close to an agreement to televise college hockey next season. The agreement could include games from all five leagues. If that's the case, Notre Dame could be headed to Hockey East, which includes the Boston market. NBC already televises Notre Dame's home football games and is rumored to be considering moving some of those games to its NBC Sports Network. If Notre Dame and Western Michigan leave the CCHA, the CCHA's remaining schools would be BG, Alaska, Ferris State and Lake Superior. A league needs at least six teams to maintain an automatic to the NCAA playoffs. The remaining WCHA schools are Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State (Mankato) and St. Cloud. The WCHA also lost Minnesota and Wisconsin to the Big Ten, but added CCHA member Northern Michigan. "We haven't decided, the WCHA as an entity, whether we're approaching this thing kind of from a (perspective of) adding one team at a time, or whatever, and trying to get the best fits that way," McLeod told the News-Miner. "There's a sense I have from the CCHA people that they want to approach this more from a group type of merger thing. The first question they asked me is 'How are you approaching this, Bruce?' Obviously, I told them we don't have a single approach right now, it's kind of ... the thing where we kind of work our way through it." One concern WCHA schools have about adding Fairbanks is making two trips to Alaska each season. One solution could be to limit schools to one trip to Alaska each season. "We had a good discussion with the CCHA, agreed to some common ground and talked about some things that could be on the table when we get the whole group together to meet in the future," McLeod told the News-Miner. "I wouldn't read too much into the (Aug. 2) meeting one way or another. It was good and positive and we have a lot of hurdles to overcome. "It always gets back to do we worry about ourselves and get back to eight (WCHA) members or do we think of the greater good of college hockey? More than anything, we're just trying to keep as nimble as we can possibly be. Gradually, we'll get ourselves to making a decision." Alabama-Huntsville, the only Division I independent, also is looking to join a league. |
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| Last Updated on Monday, 15 August 2011 21:19 |
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Comments
GO CCHA!
http://www.sent-trib.com/bgsu-sports/ccha-wcha-talk-merger-08-03-11#comments
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Hello merger of the ten team league. The best little league in the country.
The Northern Division teams will be:
Duluth, Mankato, Cloud, Bemidji, Mich Tech and N. Mich
The Southern Division of the CCHA will be:
BG, Ferris, Lake Superior, Canisius, Robert Morris, Niagara, Mercyhurst and possibly RIT.
To balance the two divisions, Lake Superior could be moved to the Northern Division for travel purposes.
The league would have 14 teams and would clearly reflect a Midwestern League which would best be called the CCHA rather than the WCHA. The teams in this league would only be called WESTERN if you were standing on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. This will be a Center of the US League. In other words, it will be the CCHA.
The three MAC teams belong in the same confrence. Not diffrent confrences.
The two best opinions are:
1. Help rebuild the CCHA by voting to bring in the Atlantic league teams (all of which are less than 350 miles from BG) while encouraging expansion of Division 1 hockey among schools in the region.
2. Vote to merge the WCHA with the CCHA. The CCHA would then be a two division north-south league. What happens to the Alaska schools is a tough question. Given the Alaska schools geographic alignment with the new league out west it makes more sense for them to join the real western league that includes the Colorado schools.
MTU/NMU/LSSU/FSU
Mankato/Bemdji/St Cloud/Moorhead
UAA/UAF/UAH/Bowling Green
Home/home with inner cluster. Then play one of the two clusters every other year for a 28 game schedule.
That means teams from Minnesota and Michigan go to Alaska and Alabama every other year.
The WCHA lost all of its premier teams and now offers nothing over what the Atlantic League teams offer in the way of competition.
The WCHA (which is no longer the WCHA given it's loss of its only WESTERN teams -- Colorado College and Denver) should just relent and join the CCHA as that league's northern division.
Let the NACHo league represent the western United States and Hockey East the east coast. The CCHA will do just fine playing teams from America's heartland.
Air Force should be in the new WCHA not Bowling Green.
After more thought, I now believe the idea of the CCHA and WCHA merging should be abandon. It won't work. The schools are too far apart. From BG the distances are:
Bemidji - 869 mi.
St. Cloud - 755 mi.
Duluth - 724 mi.
Mankato - 686 mi.
Mich Tech. - 613 mi.
N. Mich. - 516 mi.
Hockey East is too far and so are the Nacho League teams.
The ONLY realistic choice BG has is to remain in the CCHA and build.
Do whatever is necessary to keep Lake Superior, Ferris, Western and add the Atlantic teams. That will give us 8 teams with BG. Then work hard to encourage 4 universities in the region to step up - schools like Kent, Ohio, UC, Adrian, etc.
Bowling Green should form a league with Mercyhurst, Niagara, Robert Morris, Canasius, Ferris,and UAH.
But I would rather see Bowling Green stick in the Miami, Notre Dame, and WMU in the Nacho league. Either way Bowling Green is going to have a tough time to continue playing without major traveling which they are not use to from the old CCHA.
While it would be fun to play in the National league, the travel costs and travel schedule would eat us alive. The team would be flying every other weekend (Denver(2), Fargo, Omaha, Duluth) and only a few of the fans could afford to follow. I suspect Miami will come to regret having joined that league.
Allowing Huntsville into the CCHA gives us some breathing room, plus it supports college hockey. It would be great to eventually see a Southern Collegiate Hockey Association form.
Final CCHA membership:
BG, UAH, LSU, Ferris, (WMU), Mercyhurst, Canisius, Niagara, Robert Morris.
National League Schools (NCHC)
1,241 (20hrs.) Univ. of Denver
1,241 (20hrs.) Colorado College
974 (16hrs.) North Dakota
724 (12hrs.) Minn. Duluth
706 (12hrs.) Omaha
173 (3hrs.) Oxford
Average Distance: 843 miles
Average Driving Time: ~14 hrs.
Western League Schools (WCHA)
869 (15hrs.) Bemidji State
755 (12.5hrs) St. Cloud
686 (12hrs.) Mankato
613 (11hrs.) Michigan Tech
516 (9hrs.) N. Michigan
Average Distance: 688 miles (excluding Alaska schools)
Average Driving Time: ~12 hrs.
3,823 (3 days) Alaska, AK
3,707 (3 days) Fairbanks, AK (assuming they join the WCHA)
Proposed Central League Schools (CCHA)
565 (9.5hrs.) Alabama-Huntsville
400 (6.5hrs.) Lake Superior
344 (6hrs.) Niagara
325 (5.5hrs.) Canisius
256 (4hrs.) Ferris
233 (4hrs.) Robert Morris
229 (4hrs.) Mercyhurst
171 (3hrs.) Western Mich.
Average Distance: 315 miles
Average Driving Time: ~5 hrs.
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