The Big Ten announced today that the six member schools that have D-I hockey will be seeking to start the Big Ten hockey Conference to begin play for the 2013-14 hockey season. The Presidents/Chancellors of each school will need to approve it, but it will not be a problem.
WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said in a statement: “Today’s announcement from the Big Ten conference has been anticipated for some time now, and this will obviously have an impact on the WCHA. But change creates opportunity, too. The timeline of this Association spans seven decades and has included expansion and contraction on numerous occasions, but the success of this organization has remained constant. The commitment to excellence by our member institutions will not waver and working together we will push forward to assure our future remains bright.”
Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi: “It’s worth celebrating that a BCS conference institution in Penn State has joined the great landscape of college hockey. We are also pleased that the Big Ten has embraced this move by recommending that men’s hockey be added as an official conference sport. At the same time there are some mixed emotions for us, as Minnesota is an original and proud member of the WCHA. We would depart with fond memories, and the sincere belief that many of the great WCHA rivalries that the Gophers have been a part of will continue through non-conference play.”
Minnesota coach Don Lucia: “We are excited about the possibility of a Big Ten hockey conference beginning with the 2013–14 season. Our rivalry with Wisconsin is well documented and it will be nice to play Michigan and Michigan State more than once a year. It will also be exciting to create new rivalries with Ohio State and Penn State. Right now we enjoy playing in the WCHA and will work with the league and WCHA schools to maintain established and traditional rivalries to ensure a competitive and entertaining non-conference schedule.”
Each member school of the BTHC will play 20 league games (10 home, 10 road) and will play 14 non-conference games plus whatever tournaments they decide to participate in. It sounds like the Huskies will probably keep a two game series with the Gophers on the schedule each year. If they don't, expect them to have a two year on, two year off schedule with them.
Personally, I am not a fan of this decision by these schools. The WCHA and CCHA are two very strong conferences, and now they're screwing those up to created this one conference for the Big Ten schools. I don't think this is a good move for the game, but what do I know? I've only been following the sports for the last 14 years...
We did see a preview this last weekend of what the Final Five will be like without the Badgers and Gophers there. It was pretty dull, until the Sioux played on Friday and Saturday. Expect the league to go back to the original format of the Final Five for the 2014 FF. However, I would not be entirely surprised if they drop the third place game as that was an unpopluar game with the coached.
Hopefully, this will not have a negative impact on the member schools of the WCHA. Also, I would hope that the league would not change the location of the Final Five. Even without the Gophers and Badgers, we still were able to draw at 13,000 per game. Yes, you could sell out the Ralph, but it still can't hold more than 11,500 for a game.
The only problem I could possibly see running into is if the BTHC wants to use the X and outbids the WCHA for it. I don't see that happening as I think they're going to want to want to have something more centrally located for their tournament. I could see something in Chicago, Madison, or even Detroit.
Only time will really tell us how this is all going to play out in the end. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
