Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

BG and the six others leaving the WCHA after next season will name their new conference the Central Collegiate Hockey Association

https://bgsufalcons.com/news/2020/2/18/ ... 21-22.aspx" target="_blank

Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Glad to have the CCHA back.

Schadenfreude wrote:Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Still a lot of balls in the air at this point. I think St. Thomas’ moving to division one is the number one target at this point as the eighth.

I'm so fired up about this.

So much to discuss. 8th member? What happens to the other 3 WCHA programs, and the WCHA altogether? What will the tournament format be like - the old CCHA setup or the more modern campus sites format?

Lots of questions to be answered. Exciting times ahead!

BGDrew wrote:

Schadenfreude wrote:Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Still a lot of balls in the air at this point. I think St. Thomas’ moving to division one is the number one target at this point as the eighth.

Anything you can share about the other MAC schools? I get the sense Western is Nacho-locked for the long term (they're actually having success in that league). Miami State?

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote:

BGDrew wrote:

Schadenfreude wrote:Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Still a lot of balls in the air at this point. I think St. Thomas’ moving to division one is the number one target at this point as the eighth.

Anything you can share about the other MAC schools? I get the sense Western is Nacho-locked for the long term (they're actually having success in that league). Miami State?

Isn't the Nacho exit fee still in the neighborhood of $1 million? That alone would prevent a MACtion reunion.

Critical Thinker wrote:

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote:

BGDrew wrote:

Schadenfreude wrote:Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Still a lot of balls in the air at this point. I think St. Thomas’ moving to division one is the number one target at this point as the eighth.

Anything you can share about the other MAC schools? I get the sense Western is Nacho-locked for the long term (they're actually having success in that league). Miami State?

Isn't the Nacho exit fee still in the neighborhood of $1 million? That alone would prevent a MACtion reunion.

Something like $1.5M. But Mankato wants in so a "We'll trade you a Mankato for a Miami State straight up" might negate that. And if you're the Nachos, you come out ahead. MSU helps the Nacho pairwise (substantially), they're smack dab in the middle of the Nacho footprint, and their fans would travel to the Frozen Faceoff in ways Miami State fans never would. So one would think that waving the exit fee in a trade such as this shouldn't be a holdup.

I can tell you the Michigan fans are jealous. They're not liking Big Ten hockey and it seems most of the Big Ten feels the same. It seems Michigan, MSU, and OSU all have better rivalries with each other and the old CCHA than they do with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Penn State.

And of course I'm happy with this. No more Alaska trips. A solid conference where many of the teams have been in the top ten polls at one time or another in the last few years.

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote:Something like $1.5M. But Mankato wants in so a "We'll trade you a Mankato for a Miami State straight up" might negate that. And if you're the Nachos, you come out ahead. MSU helps the Nacho pairwise (substantially), they're smack dab in the middle of the Nacho footprint, and their fans would travel to the Frozen Faceoff in ways Miami State fans never would. So one would think that waving the exit fee in a trade such as this shouldn't be a holdup.

Bemidji State and Minnesota State for Miami and Western Michigan would also be favorable, although less so.

Bottom line: Everyone has to want the change.

(If they do this right, maybe NCHC could even get the WCHA name back. Who knows?)

Schadenfreude wrote: (If they do this right, maybe NCHC could even get the WCHA name back. Who knows?)

The Men's WCHA is dead. The NCHC teams had the chance to pick and choose members of the WCHA adminstration to take with them. They took none. Remember, what was left of the WCHA voted to extend the contract of Commissioner McLeod, instead of terminating him like the NCHC schools wanted to.

MarkL wrote:
And of course I'm happy with this. No more Alaska trips. A solid conference where many of the teams have been in the top ten polls at one time or another in the last few years.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch...

Can’t wait to see the 3rd place trophy for the CCHA...although we may not be good enough to finish 3rd by the time this thing starts up.

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote:

BGDrew wrote:

Schadenfreude wrote:Wow. So no word on an eighth, I take it.

Still a lot of balls in the air at this point. I think St. Thomas’ moving to division one is the number one target at this point as the eighth.

Anything you can share about the other MAC schools? I get the sense Western is Nacho-locked for the long term (they're actually having success in that league). Miami State?

Nothing on the record unfortunately. The best I can share is both teams are expected to remain in the NCHC for the foreseeable future.

I think St. Thomas will have an open invitation to be the eighth program if they choose to continue their hockey program. Even if their division one petition is denied, they’ll still be allowed to “play up” in D1 hockey since there isn’t a D2 national tournament. The biggest issue for them is they lack a suitable D1 rink. Then again, their endowment is half a billion dollars.

Any idea when we might hear news on St. Thomas?