Bowling Green’s options for league membership might not be limited to the Western Collegiate Hockey
Association.
The school is continuing to hold discussions with four members of Atlantic Hockey.
But those talks also have included the University at Buffalo, Bruce Ciskie of Duluth (Minn.) radio
station KQDS-FM reported Friday.
Buffalo, a member of the Mid-American Conference in other sports like BG, is considering upgrading its
club hockey program to the NCAA Division I level.
BG already has an invitation to join the WCHA.
Friday was the original deadline for BG to make a decision about joining the WCHA, but Bowling Green was
granted an extension to Oct. 7.
The discussions with those five schools are likely why BG would have wanted the deadline extended.
Athletic department spokesmen Jason Knavel of BG declined comment Friday. Paul Vecchio of Buffalo didn’t
respond to an email seeking comment.
The Atlantic Hockey schools involved in the discussion are Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Robert
Morris.
The Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology, which also is a member of Atlantic Hockey, was invited, but
declined to attend.
“We’re flattered to have been contacted, but we’re happy where we’re at,” said RIT head coach Wayne
Wilson, who was a defenseman and co-captain on BG’s NCAA championship team in 1984.
Wilson said RIT was contacted by Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Fred Pletsch.
Ciskie also reported Atlantic Hockey member Air Force didn’t send a representative to the meeting, but
indicated interest.
The talks with the eastern schools appear to be a last-ditch attempt to save the CCHA.
Whether BG and the other schools are trying to form a new league or are trying to include every team
under the WCHA umbrella still hasn’t been determined. A league needs at least six members to receive an
automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs.
If BG agrees to join the WCHA, it would become the only NCAA Division I institution in the league, giving
the WCHA a vote on all Division I issues.
The WCHA’s eight members for the 2013-14 season are Alaska (Fairbanks), Ferris State, Lake Superior and
Northern Michigan from the CCHA; and WCHA holdovers Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech and
Minnesota State (Mankato).
BG is the only remaining CCHA school for the 2013-14 season when all of college hockey’s realignment
takes effect. Notre Dame has said it will not return to the league, but is expected to join Hockey East,
the National Collegiate Hockey Conference or the Big Ten.
Buffalo had a varsity hockey team until it was dropped to club status in 1988. The program had NCAA
Division III status when it’s varsity status ended.
The school’s club program is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association.
The club program’s website says its goal is “to return the sport of hockey at the University at Buffalo
to its rightful place at the Division I level.”
The team plays its home games at Northtown Center, which has a capacity of 1,800.
Time and money would be the biggest obstacles to Buffalo starting its varsity program. The school
probably would be at least years away from playing at the varsity level.