The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Shane Frederick

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October 20, 2009

Big Ten hockey? No thanks, WCHA will do

When it comes to speculation about the future of college hockey, no subject is more of a talker than the creation of a Big Ten hockey conference.

Currently, five Big Ten schools have Division I men’s hockey, and they are split between the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (Minnesota and Wisconsin) and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State).

According to a recent article in the Wisconsin State Journal, some “high-level discussions” took place over the summer, and Wisconsin — Minnesota State’s opponent Friday and Saturday at Mankato’s Verizon Wireless Center — expressed some support for a new league.

The article stated that talks went no further than “the exploratory stage,” however, Wisconsin officials supposedly said the school would even consider making a move to the CCHA, which not only has more Big Ten schools but more schools that have Division I sports across the board, including Notre Dame.

According to the report, Badgers coach Mike Eaves said he’s not interested in a move, which prompted athletic director Barry Alvarez to back up his coach. However, Alvarez does believe college hockey needs to be more “regionalized.”

One reason talks have heated up about Big Ten hockey is the conference’s TV network. Currently, it shows a handful of hockey games played by its members. But the higher-ups would rather see Wisconsin play Michigan State, perhaps, than Minnesota State.

Since there are only five Big Ten hockey teams and not the six required by the NCAA to get an automatic berth to the national tournament, any breakaway would require at least one additional team. Waiting for a school like Penn State or Illinois seems futile, so scenarios could include the luring of Notre Dame and/or the other full-time D-I schools, which include Miami, Western Michigan and Bowling Green.

And that’s where you have to consider the one thing that seems to be overlooked in this talker:

Hockey.

Minnesota State opened its season this year with a series against Bowling Green, a program that, just six months ago or so, was on the verge of extinction. A week after sweeping the Falcons, the Mavericks went to Minnesota Duluth and quickly found out just how much stronger WCHA competition is.

“Definitely, the speed picked up a lot from last week,” freshman forward Eriah Hayes said between MSU’s two losses. “Guys are bigger, faster, stronger.”

Yes, Miami is ranked No. 1 right now and was in the national title game last year. But top to bottom, there is no better conference in college hockey than the 10-team WCHA, and there is no league with more commitment to or support for the sport throughout its ranks.

Minnesota State ranked 15th in the nation and seventh in the WCHA in average attendance last season, drawing 4,552 fans to downtown Mankato. The Mavericks ranked ahead of nine CCHA teams, including Ohio State (4,181), Notre Dame (2,703) and Miami (2,491).

Six WCHA teams, including No. 1 Wisconsin, ranked in the top 10 in attendance last season. There were just two CCHA schools in that group, No. 4 Michigan and No. 6 Nebraska-Omaha, although Omaha is jumping over to the WCHA next year with Bemidji State to make it a 12-team conference.

A new conference might be a good talker. But a better one now might be this weekend’s games between the Mavericks and the Badgers.

Big Ten vs. Division II? Nah. Just a good-old, competitive WCHA series.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Click here to access his college hockey blog or e-mail him at sfrederick@mankatofreepress.com.

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Shane Frederick