(Updated, Monday, 10:15 p.m.) Notre Dame’s future conference affiliation for hockey still hasn’t been
decided.
The school won’t be announcing its future plans during the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s annual
summer meetings, the South Bend Tribune reported Monday night.
The Fighting Irish’s future league affiliation is not on the agenda for the meetings, Notre Dame
assistant athletic director Tom Nevala told the Tribune.
Widespread speculation has ND, a member of the CCHA, considering a move to the newly-formed National
Collegiate Hockey Conference or Hockey East among its options. The school also could become an
independent.
A spokesman for ND’s athletics department said earlier this month that the school would inform the CCHA
of its plans during the league’s annual summer meetings which conclude today in Dearborn, Mich.
Nevala has previously told the Tribune that Notre Dame would not join the Big Ten hockey conference, and
is considering membership in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. He also said the school is
considering staying in the CCHA.
“If our membership makes that a new agenda item in the course of the day, we will address it,” Nevala
told the Tribune, “but it’s not on the docket at this point.”
The Tribune reported the Fighting Irish are closer to making a decision about their future.
“I can’t say, but I would expect not,” Nevada told the Tribune when asked if the school’s decision still
could come later this week. “No decision’s been made. We’re reviewing our options.
“When the time comes, we will have to alert our current partners and membership if that’s what we are
doing, and we’ll go from there.”
CCHA commissioner Fred Pletsch did not respond to an email from the Sentinel-Tribune seeking comment.
The 11-team CCHA already has lost five schools during college hockey’s realignment this year.
Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are headed for the Big Ten, Miami is joining the NCHC and
Northern Michigan is moving to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
All of the realignment takes effect with the start of the 2013-14 season. The CCHA has just six teams for
the 2013-14 season, the minimum needed for a league to receive an automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs.

Bowling Green and the rest of the CCHA and college hockey are waiting for Notre Dame to make its decision
as the rest of the alignment is expected to fall into place quickly once the Fighting Irish announce
their decision.
BG has been talking to the NCHC and the WCHA about joining one of those leagues, while a merger of the
CCHA and the WCHA also is being discussed.
Alaska (Fairbanks) of the CCHA also has been talking to the WCHA about joining that league, while Western
Michigan 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 merger of the two leagues.
The only other CCHA schools are Ferris State and Lake Superior.
The CCHA also has held discussions with four members of Atlantic Hockey — Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara
and Robert Morris — about joining a revamped CCHA.
Notre Dame’s decision may come down to money and television ratings.
Versus,
which will be rebranded as NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2, 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.