BTHC puts a lot of question marks in D1 college hockey

[darell1976]

http://www.uscho.com/2011/03/21/big-ten-confirms-plan-to-sponsor-hockey-starting-in-2013-14-season/



The addition of a Penn State program for the 2012–13 season will bring the number of Big Ten teams with men’s hockey programs to six. Minnesota and Wisconsin will leave the WCHA, while Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State will leave the CCHA.


Big Ten teams will play 20 conference games — 10 home and 10 away — and will play their first conference postseason tournament in March 2014.

[TheValleyRaider]

Right now, I expect much of the rest of the college hockey world will be in a wait-and-see mode. The CCHA and WCHA can certainly still operate, though you may see smaller changes like a shift in conference tournament locales, things of that nature

I hope the only swift change that comes from this is the slotting of UAH in a conference, as I'd hate to lose any program, and certainly not the sport's southern outpost

My fear is that the CCHA will take a big hit, as the smaller schools struggle to maintain gate without regularly seeing Michigan/Michigan St/Ohio State. The threat of some of those smaller programs (Bowling Green) dropping the sport without the revenue is real, though hopefully avoidable

[darell1976]

Right now, I expect much of the rest of the college hockey world will be in a wait-and-see mode. The CCHA and WCHA can certainly still operate, though you may see smaller changes like a shift in conference tournament locales, things of that nature

I hope the only swift change that comes from this is the slotting of UAH in a conference, as I'd hate to lose any program, and certainly not the sport's southern outpost

My fear is that the CCHA will take a big hit, as the smaller schools struggle to maintain gate without regularly seeing Michigan/Michigan St/Ohio State. The threat of some of those smaller programs (Bowling Green) dropping the sport without the revenue is real, though hopefully avoidable

What I would like to see is maybe a flip flop of teams Michigan Tech and UAH to the CCHA, and Alaska to the WCHA. Looks good geographically, even Air Force to the WCHA wouldn't be bad either. Minnesota fans are very unhappy with this. Especially now they have that non-conference ban with UND (due to the nickname). Would Minnesota relax that policy when they see that they are not packing Marriucci Arena with Michigan Tech and UAA? The BTHC is all about $$$ is will be a very weak conference and I think they are doing more damage to themselves than to the rest of college hockey.

[TheValleyRaider]

I don't think you'll see the Alaska schools together given the expense of travelling up there potentially twice a year for teams in either the WCHA or the CCHA. I'm fairly certain they were split apart on purpose for that reason

Air Force to the WCHA is an interesting idea, but highly unlikely. They want to be in a conference with Army, and they would be significantly less competitive outside of AH (3 tournament titles in the last 4 years)

I had forgotten about Minnesota's policy (was it Minnesota or the Big 10? Or just Big 10 member schools?) regarding games at UND, but if the nickname really is changed, or at least on pace to be changed, I would expect that restriction to be removed

I don't really buy the idea of the Big Ten as a weak conference. Sure the schools had a generally down year this season, but Michigan and Wisconsin are currently strong, Minnesota will never be far from competitive and Michigan State is more than capable of putting together strong teams. 3 of those schools have championships in the last 10 years, and the one that doesn't is Michigan. Ohio State and Penn State will likely be bottom-feeders initially, sure, but playing on the Big Ten Network against other Big Ten programs will hardly hurt their recruiting and national profile

The insularity of the Big Ten will likely hurt them from the standpoint of keeping teams above .500, but a strong OOC showing and a .500 or just below conference season could be good enough for 4th place and an easy NCAA at-large birth. That will hardly diminish the conference's ability to be nationally competitive and among the country's best on a fairly annual basis

[darell1976]

I don't think you'll see the Alaska schools together given the expense of travelling up there potentially twice a year for teams in either the WCHA or the CCHA. I'm fairly certain they were split apart on purpose for that reason

Air Force to the WCHA is an interesting idea, but highly unlikely. They want to be in a conference with Army, and they would be significantly less competitive outside of AH (3 tournament titles in the last 4 years)

I had forgotten about Minnesota's policy (was it Minnesota or the Big 10? Or just Big 10 member schools?) regarding games at UND, but if the nickname really is changed, or at least on pace to be changed, I would expect that restriction to be removed

I don't really buy the idea of the Big Ten as a weak conference. Sure the schools had a generally down year this season, but Michigan and Wisconsin are currently strong, Minnesota will never be far from competitive and Michigan State is more than capable of putting together strong teams. 3 of those schools have championships in the last 10 years, and the one that doesn't is Michigan. Ohio State and Penn State will likely be bottom-feeders initially, sure, but playing on the Big Ten Network against other Big Ten programs will hardly hurt their recruiting and national profile

The insularity of the Big Ten will likely hurt them from the standpoint of keeping teams above .500, but a strong OOC showing and a .500 or just below conference season could be good enough for 4th place and an easy NCAA at-large birth. That will hardly diminish the conference's ability to be nationally competitive and among the country's best on a fairly annual basis

Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin had bans on UND but since UND went "off" the H&A list Iowa and Wisconsin lifted their bans. UND has played Wisconsin in basketball but Minnesota still has a ban.