Many of you have already seen reports that Penn State will be announcing its addition of D-I ice hockey (Insidecollegehockey.com first reported it on September 13th). There has been speculation about this for years, but more than one source has now said that an announcement will be made on Friday, September 17th.
According to an article in the Altoona Mirror, the school is close to securing funding for a new 6,000-8,000 seat arena the is expected to cost $60 to $80 million.
What does that mean for the WCHA? Well, it could mean one of two things. One, there could be no change. There is an opening in the CCHA right now, and Penn State would be a good fit for that league. It'd be another big time school and would probably fairly competitive shortly after their transition. Two, it could mean the defection of Minnesota and Wisconsin to a newly formed Big Ten Conference. They would be joined by Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State from the CCHA.
As you probably already know, the NCAA minimum for the NCAA auto bid is six teams. Penn State makes six. I don't like the thought of losing the U or Wisconsin from the league. They have such long, storied programs in this league, and it would be a shame to lose them for something as silly as a six team league. With that said, there is speculation that Indiana will be adding D-I hockey, but nothing I've read has been more than that.
Further speculation is pointing to the 2014-15 season as the first season of a potential Big Ten Conference.
Overall, adding a 59th team to the college hockey ranks is good for the sport. We all know that we can't get much smaller or we run the risk of dropping back to a 12 team tourney. I've heard rumors surfacing after last season. That would not be good for the sport. Personally, if it breaks up two leagues, though, I don't like it. However, capitalism is capitalism, and it all comes down to money.
These six schools would be able to play each other 4 times per year and could create some tense rivals. On the flip side, other rivalries will be hurt. Think SCSU/UMN, UMD/UMN, UND/UMN, UND/UW, and now even the SCSU/UW series is pretty tense. I did read a report that said that some of those would be preserved. There would be enough room on their schedules to travel to these schools each year (they'd have 20 league game and 14 non-conference), but would they want to continuously schedule the same non-conference teams? I doubt it. There is a real possibility that we may only play the Gophers two out of every four years, or worse. Heck, if you're Michigan Tech or Anchorage fans, you'll probably never see either team again!
Not only will it mess with the rivalries, think of what it will do to the Final Five. You saw how empty it was last year without the Gophers. It would be even worse with them in another league. There were quite a few Gopher fans there still last year without them. I wouldn't count on seeing any of them there with the Gophers out of the league.
It's a tough thing to look at, but it sounds like it's becoming a reality soon. Personally, I'm hoping Penn State joins the CCHA and it's over, but my instincts are telling me otherwise. I hate to say it, but so long Gophers and Badgers. I hope you like your new league...
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