Re: WCHA, CCHA talk merger (08-03-11)
Well, if there was no question at all that the CCHA could stay viable, they wouldn't have been having this discussion. Obviously the question of long-term survival for the CCHA is an unknown, so it would be in their best interests to consider another option.
The major problem is that the three teams not assumed to be gone to other leagues (BGSU, Ferris and LSSU) have had question marks in recent history about the future of their program, and those questions are arising again now that they have no big-time partners. Worst case scenario is that the new CCHA has six teams, four recently taken from an East Coast league (in which two have been playing with the same East Coast partners for over a decade); yes, that preserves their autobid, but is it really a stable conference? Adding UAH doesn't really add any extra stability either.
The question the CCHA leftovers have to be asking themselves is: Do we really want to willingly be relegated to third-tier status, in a conference built on shaky ground, now that our best five programs have walked or are all but gone, all for the sake of maintaining an autobid? NMU obviously didn't. WMU doesn't. The rest don't have much of a choice.
They would be foolish not to at least explore all potential options, is really the main point I'm going for.
Originally posted by beaverhockeyfan
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The major problem is that the three teams not assumed to be gone to other leagues (BGSU, Ferris and LSSU) have had question marks in recent history about the future of their program, and those questions are arising again now that they have no big-time partners. Worst case scenario is that the new CCHA has six teams, four recently taken from an East Coast league (in which two have been playing with the same East Coast partners for over a decade); yes, that preserves their autobid, but is it really a stable conference? Adding UAH doesn't really add any extra stability either.
The question the CCHA leftovers have to be asking themselves is: Do we really want to willingly be relegated to third-tier status, in a conference built on shaky ground, now that our best five programs have walked or are all but gone, all for the sake of maintaining an autobid? NMU obviously didn't. WMU doesn't. The rest don't have much of a choice.
They would be foolish not to at least explore all potential options, is really the main point I'm going for.
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