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  • Originally posted by ExileOnDaytonStreet View Post
    - The nnWCHA doesn't stay together. Minnesota schools go to NCHC, MI/OH schools do their own thing (link up with UAH and/or some of the more western AHA schools?)
    - The remaining D-II schools petition to play up as there is no D-II title, link up with AIC and Bentley (they're all in the NE-10 conference in other sports) to form either a supersized AHA, or a breakaway from the AHA
    - New programs that we never knew about or never took seriously come to fruition out of nowhere
    - Great West Hockey Conference 2.0 featuring ASU, UAA, UAF, and mystery school(s) TBD. Remember Simon Fraser University?
    - A black hole forms and we all die
    This is an interesting thought here on the division II schools in the Northeast-10 that have no home right now other than playing themselves for the conference title.

    It would be nice to see an exception given how small and niche the sport of hockey is but we all know how difficult it is to get the ncaa to embrace those kind of things.

    With the potential of St. Thomas going Division II, you’ll now have Saint Anselm, st. Michael’s, assumption, southern NH, Franklin pierce and stonehill all without homes and a chance to compete for a NCAA title.
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    • Originally posted by gfmorris View Post
      We were not.



      Here is the the upshot of traveling to Huntsville: getting a full hockey team here sucks. HSV is one of the most expensive airports in the US to fly through for its passenger volume (Google it). We don't get big body aircraft into and out of here, so your options are 1) chartering and 2) flying to Nashville or Atlanta and then busing. 1) No one in the nWCHA/Shady Seven charters and likely never will; flying into either airport adds six hours to the trip. It's simple.

      People joke that someone winning the lottery should fund a UAH rink first. HELL NO. Endow a charter service that not only flies UAH direct to road trips but flies road opponents direct into HSV. You wouldn't be able to do a UAH livery without a lot of money, but a subsidized/free charter would make UAH a palatable conference and non-conference foe. I figure $85MM would work this given how UAH's foundation rules govern endowing University activities.

      Yep, I'd pay more to endow travel than I would want us to spend on a barn. It's that important. Until there are five other teams within an eight-hour bus ride of Huntsville, it's not worth hoping for an easy league.

      GFM
      Last year, NMU flew into Nashville. The year before, it was Birmingham.
      "The use of common sense and logic will not be tolerated and may result in fine and/or suspension."- Western Professional Hockey League By-laws. 1999-2000.

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      • Re: New WCHA is dead

        Originally posted by Schadenfreude View Post
        It could happen, I suppose. But there are a lot of variables here.

        My impression -- and I'll stand corrected -- is that Atlantic Hockey imposes tougher scholarship limitations than the rest of college hockey. Do a couple of these western schools want to step it up and play in a league without these restrictions?
        A few years back, AHA set up a time line to allow teams that wished to offer the full allotment of scholarships. Not sure where they stand on the timeline, but the opportunity is there for its members.
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        • Originally posted by PrezdeJohnson09 View Post
          This is an interesting thought here on the division II schools in the Northeast-10 that have no home right now other than playing themselves for the conference title.

          It would be nice to see an exception given how small and niche the sport of hockey is but we all know how difficult it is to get the ncaa to embrace those kind of things.

          With the potential of St. Thomas going Division II, you’ll now have Saint Anselm, st. Michael’s, assumption, southern NH, Franklin pierce and stonehill all without homes and a chance to compete for a NCAA title.
          AFAIK, there is a process allowed for D-II schools to play up even with the moratorium on play-ups imposed in I-forgot-which-year. It’s been discussed here and elsewhere in the forums.

          Now, what would happen if we had 30 D-II schools (aside from those grandfathered in as proper D-I hockey programs) playing up, and the NCAA decided to sponsor a D-II championship again? I have no idea.
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          • Re: New WCHA is dead

            Originally posted by gfmorris View Post
            We were not.



            Here is the the upshot of traveling to Huntsville: getting a full hockey team here sucks. HSV is one of the most expensive airports in the US to fly through for its passenger volume (Google it). We don't get big body aircraft into and out of here, so your options are 1) chartering and 2) flying to Nashville or Atlanta and then busing. 1) No one in the nWCHA/Shady Seven charters and likely never will; flying into either airport adds six hours to the trip. It's simple.

            People joke that someone winning the lottery should fund a UAH rink first. HELL NO. Endow a charter service that not only flies UAH direct to road trips but flies road opponents direct into HSV. You wouldn't be able to do a UAH livery without a lot of money, but a subsidized/free charter would make UAH a palatable conference and non-conference foe. I figure $85MM would work this given how UAH's foundation rules govern endowing University activities.

            Yep, I'd pay more to endow travel than I would want us to spend on a barn. It's that important. Until there are five other teams within an eight-hour bus ride of Huntsville, it's not worth hoping for an easy league.

            GFM
            Flying to Huntsville is not even the easiest for a single ticket. I remember flying there a couple of times on business quite a few years ago and it was Kalamazoo to Chicago, switch planes, Chicago to Atlanta, switch planes, and finally Atlanta to Huntsville. And reverse that coming home.

            Lake State takes a sleeper bus on their trips to Huntsville.

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            • Originally posted by Alaska Hockey View Post
              short bus..
              I see what you did there.
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              • Re: New WCHA is dead

                Originally posted by Bill View Post
                Flying to Huntsville is not even the easiest for a single ticket. I remember flying there a couple of times on business quite a few years ago and it was Kalamazoo to Chicago, switch planes, Chicago to Atlanta, switch planes, and finally Atlanta to Huntsville. And reverse that coming home.

                Lake State takes a sleeper bus on their trips to Huntsville.
                I remember my one trip into Huntsville by plane..... Trip down was no problem as I flew out of Brainerd, MN on a puddle jumper to MSP, then to Detroit and then Huntsville. Wasn't bad at all.

                The way back, my departure got delayed and then cancelled. I was rebooked but went HSV-Memphis-Cincy-Chicago-MSP-Brainerd. Made the last connection flight to Brainerd by ten minutes. Never had more than an hour to make a connecting flight.
                Millsy

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                FROZEN FOUR 2009!


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                BEMIDJI STATE BEAVERS!
                NAIA National Champs: 1968, '69, '70, '71, '73, '79, '80
                NCAA D-III National Champs: 1986
                NCAA D-II National Champs: 1984, '93, '94, '95, '97
                NCAA D-I National Champs: 20??
                Perfect 31-0 in 1983-84
                Holders of an NCAA Mens Record 43 straight wins (Nov. 8, 1983-Jan. 1, 1985)

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                • Re: New WCHA is dead

                  It's been a very informative thread. Mostly with bad news, of course.

                  Let me see if I can sum up the most likely realities here, just because I want to make sure I have it right.

                  The 7 schools essentially want a conference without the Alaska schools and Huntsville. Given GFMorris' post above, I guess it's completely feasible to say that travel costs and burdens are the reason for this. Would this be the assumed truth?

                  If so, does it follow that these are the correct conclusions?
                  1- At least in every part of the country except the NE, college hockey travel sucks a big portion out of team budgets. This means that even schools with strong traditions like MTU, LSSU, etc, are in some sense struggling.
                  2- That being true, it seems as if the landscape is going further delaminate, with one section being rich (B10, NCHC), and the rest poor and struggling.
                  3- If this is true, then the future is going to look very different from the present, because the little schools aren't going to make it. I think we are all really lamenting this truth.

                  As for the short-term future...
                  1- GFMorris' post suggests that the 7 schools really DO NOT want Huntsville or Alaska. That would be the direct conclusion of their 'announcement.'
                  2- If that's true, the question becomes, why were the Alaska schools included in the first place? Anchorage had an 'in' because they already belonged to the WCHA. But, why let the others in only to kick them out a few years later? I haven't seen a good answer to this question.

                  Next category.
                  1- Is there something about the present environment which may be cyclical, which is creating the crunch? If so, can we expect the cycle to change and the pressure to come off?
                  2- If not, this is really a sad week for Alaska and Huntsville.

                  Sorry everyone. If I have anything wrong here, please correct me. I always want to understand as well as I can.

                  Comment


                  • Re: New WCHA is dead

                    Originally posted by davyd83 View Post
                    Last year, NMU flew into Nashville. The year before, it was Birmingham.
                    I hope we keep Huntsville. It's my annual college hockey trip since I am only a five hour drive away. It was a good trip.
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                    • Originally posted by gfmorris View Post
                      We were not.



                      Here is the the upshot of traveling to Huntsville: getting a full hockey team here sucks. HSV is one of the most expensive airports in the US to fly through for its passenger volume (Google it). We don't get big body aircraft into and out of here, so your options are 1) chartering and 2) flying to Nashville or Atlanta and then busing. 1) No one in the nWCHA/Shady Seven charters and likely never will; flying into either airport adds six hours to the trip. It's simple.

                      People joke that someone winning the lottery should fund a UAH rink first. HELL NO. Endow a charter service that not only flies UAH direct to road trips but flies road opponents direct into HSV. You wouldn't be able to do a UAH livery without a lot of money, but a subsidized/free charter would make UAH a palatable conference and non-conference foe. I figure $85MM would work this given how UAH's foundation rules govern endowing University activities.


                      GFM
                      This explains a lot, thank you.

                      Comment


                      • Re: New WCHA is dead

                        Originally posted by PrezdeJohnson09 View Post
                        This is an interesting thought here on the division II schools in the Northeast-10 that have no home right now other than playing themselves for the conference title.

                        It would be nice to see an exception given how small and niche the sport of hockey is but we all know how difficult it is to get the ncaa to embrace those kind of things.

                        With the potential of St. Thomas going Division II, you’ll now have Saint Anselm, st. Michael’s, assumption, southern NH, Franklin pierce and stonehill all without homes and a chance to compete for a NCAA title.
                        Why would the NE10 DII schools be looking to play up to DI?? They aren't even competitive in a DIII league.
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                        • Originally posted by devildog View Post
                          I hope we keep Huntsville. It's my annual college hockey trip since I am only a five hour drive away. It was a good trip.
                          Huntsville and Anchorage are two of my favorite trips. I’m so looking forward to Huntsville this year with the Nashville/Vegas game Wednesday, my old minor league team from Birmingham playing at Huntsville that Thursday night and the Cats on Friday & Saturday!
                          "The use of common sense and logic will not be tolerated and may result in fine and/or suspension."- Western Professional Hockey League By-laws. 1999-2000.

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                          • Re: New WCHA is dead

                            Originally posted by ticapnews View Post
                            Hence the respect part of my statement.

                            The NCAA has zero interest in solving the issue. It's up to someone who does care about college hockey and has the gravitas to tell college administrators, coaches and fans "This is what we're doing," and have them do it. I don't know if such a person or organization exists.
                            The NCAA has zero ability to solve any issue. They can pick on individuals and that's about it.
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                            • Originally posted by DrunkTrainPolka View Post
                              i think that you will end up with a single team out of fairbanks... and try that out until more western teams possibly emerge or there is a new shake-up.
                              I believe if either school loses hockey, they’d need to replace that sport with another to meet minimum NCAA standards yes?

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                              • Originally posted by gfmorris View Post
                                1) No one in the nWCHA/Shady Seven charters and likely never will;
                                BGSU was using a charter plane for a few games last season. Paid for by a very generous donor.

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