Minnesota State applies for NCHC

[BGDrew]

http://mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot. ... -nchc.html" target="_blank

Let the game of realignment musical chairs begin again.

[Schadenfreude]

I doubt Minnesota State would announce this unless they expected to be admitted. Do others disagree, though?

So what are the implications?

[rood]

Did Arizona announce a conference affiliation already and I forgot?

[jgeyer]

I have a trade: MSU and BSU in exchange for WMU and Miami. Which is where they all should have been the first time and still called CCHA! Talk about saving money and travel costs.

[apollo]

I would think that Minnesota State must feel like they have a really good chance of being admitted. WMU and Miami aren't leaving unless the Big 10 hockey conference dissolves.

For BG it's a good thing...only 2 other programs that are even halfway decent (Tech and Ferris). The WCHA is clearly the second worst conference now, if Minnesota State leaves it will cement the future as a one bid league yearly. BG just has to win the tournament.

[Schadenfreude]

It might not be a sure thing. Word is that a journalist's request for communications between Minnesota State and the NCHC may have prompted the university to just go ahead and make the announcement.

[apollo]

So if WCHA loses Mankato that's 9 teams...there is a real possibility that both Alaska schools drop college athletics...maybe BG should apply to Atlantic hockey?

Or maybe BG and Huntsville can form their own two team league...play each other 24 games a year. That will still give us a chance to schedule RIT, Canisius, Mercyhurst and Robert Morris.

[Schadenfreude]

Or maybe BG and Huntsville can form their own two team league...

I'm not worried about us. Bowling Green is a valued hockey program. (For example, this Grand Forks TV station speculated that Bowling Green could also be in the mix for the NCHC: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports ... -wcha-nchc" target="_blank )

No matter what happens, there are a lot of schools that want to be in a league with us. And, as I've said, I'm personally not even sure the NCHC would be the right move for us, given the expense. (But I respect the opinion of others who follow the sport more closely, though.)

It would be nice to have a sense of what BGSU is thinking. Not a peep from local media so far on this, that I've seen.

[jbakerifm]

So does this open things up for us and bsu to join as well? Should we if that came to pass?

[BGDrew]

Or maybe BG and Huntsville can form their own two team league...

I'm not worried about us. Bowling Green is a valued hockey program. (For example, this Grand Forks TV station speculated that Bowling Green could also be in the mix for the NCHC: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports ... -wcha-nchc" target="_blank )

No matter what happens, there are a lot of schools that want to be in a league with us. And, as I've said, I'm personally not even sure the NCHC would be the right move for us, given the expense. (But I respect the opinion of others who follow the sport more closely, though.)

It would be nice to have a sense of what BGSU is thinking. Not a peep from local media so far on this, that I've seen.

The NCHC has claimed they're not actively recruiting new members. That's not to mean they haven't "checked in" via coaches and such, but nothing official. Brad Schlossman, who is the beat writer for North Dakota and seems to be pretty connected with the NCHC, says the current plan is to either stay at eight teams or add ASU and MSU for ten. If ASU doesn't join then MSU will get denied. The biggest issue with Arizona State continues to be their lack of a serviceable arena. Until there's a plan in place the NCHC won't touch them and ASU knows that.

The application fee alone for the NCHC is $20,000. There's then an admittance fee if you're accepted, not to mention there's a $1.5 million fee for leaving the conference.

Expense-wise it probably works out to just about even in the NCHC. No more trips to Alaska helps save money. Those trips are slightly subsidized but still cost a good chunk of change to travel to.

We'll probably have more BG-centric coverage about this next week over on BGSUHockey.com.

[apollo]

Minnesota State brings value to the NCHC...quality program, good location, good facilities. The only thing BG would bring is a closer opponent to Miami and Western. Bemidji is a pain in the ass to get to...I don't see the NCHC ever being interested in adding them. Michigan Tech or Ferris would both be options as well however I don't know that they would be a great fit. Regardless BGSU hopefully wants no part of the NCHC...they can't win in that league.

[sbkbghockey]

Minnesota State brings value to the NCHC...quality program, good location, good facilities. The only thing BG would bring is a closer opponent to Miami and Western. Bemidji is a pain in the ass to get to...I don't see the NCHC ever being interested in adding them. Michigan Tech or Ferris would both be options as well however I don't know that they would be a great fit. Regardless BGSU hopefully wants no part of the NCHC...they can't win in that league.

From a hockey standpoint MSU brings the most to the NCHC as Apollo mentioned. Outside of the hockey world MSU and Bemidji are relatively equal- they bring nothing compared to a name brand like Arizona State. I could see BSU being admitted eventually because they add one more close travel opponent and have historic rivalries with the other MN State Universities, NoDak, etc... Essentially they don't add much value but since they're already in the middle of the NCHC footprint they don't cost much to add to conference travel budgets.

No matter what happens, I think a move further West to add ASU as well as move to "bring the old WCHA boys back together" might be enough for WMU and Miami to call it a day and spark that CCHA 2.0 we've all been waiting for.

8-team bus friendly league with good competition:

• BGSU
  WMU
  Miami
  FSU
  NMU
  LSSU
  MiTech
  Alabama-Huntsville

Could bring in RMU-PA or Mercyhurst for 10 teams. Also there's the TBD on the Alaska schools situation- 2 teams, 1 team, or none.

[Schadenfreude]

Minnesota State brings value to the NCHC...quality program, good location, good facilities. The only thing BG would bring is a closer opponent to Miami and Western. Bemidji is a pain in the ass to get to...I don't see the NCHC ever being interested in adding them. Michigan Tech or Ferris would both be options as well however I don't know that they would be a great fit. Regardless BGSU hopefully wants no part of the NCHC...they can't win in that league.

From a hockey standpoint MSU brings the most to the NCHC as Apollo mentioned. Outside of the hockey world MSU and Bemidji are relatively equal- they bring nothing compared to a name brand like Arizona State. I could see BSU being admitted eventually because they add one more close travel opponent and have historic rivalries with the other MN State Universities, NoDak, etc... Essentially they don't add much value but since they're already in the middle of the NCHC footprint they don't cost much to add to conference travel budgets.

No matter what happens, I think a move further West to add ASU as well as move to "bring the old WCHA boys back together" might be enough for WMU and Miami to call it a day and spark that CCHA 2.0 we've all been waiting for.

8-team bus friendly league with good competition:

• BGSU
  WMU
  Miami
  FSU
  NMU
  LSSU
  MiTech
  Alabama-Huntsville

Could bring in RMU-PA or Mercyhurst for 10 teams.

To put it another way: It isn't that we have a bad program. Bowling Green is hampered a bit by our location.

Normally, location serves us well. We are smack dab in the middle of the MAC. We were well centered in the CCHA. But we are so far on the periphery of the NCHC that if it is anywhere near a close call, the league may prefer a Minnesota school to us.

(In many ways, we are the better choice. In terms of academics and our full Division I standing, for example, we have more to offer as a peer school than do most WCHA schools.)

As for Miami and Western Michigan: A fan has alleged here that Miami's president regards its decision to join the NCHC as a terrible mistake. This may be so (or it may not be; I can't vouch for this), but in any case: Both schools seem rather stuck. Word is that the NCHC has established a $1.5 million per school departure fee. Unless Miami and Western Michigan can get out of that (and want to get out of that), I wouldn't expect them to participate in the building of a great CCHA 2.0.

(I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to be back in a league with Miami and Western Michigan.)

All that said, I'm not worried: Chris Bergeron is doing a fine job rebuilding the program. If we keep doing that, good things will eventually happen for us. Nevada-Las Vegas won a national title playing men's basketball in the Big West. Akron won a national title playing men's soccer in the MAC. Coastal Carolina won the College World Series as a member of the Big South. Much, much easier to win a national title playing in the WCHA.

[BGDrew]

As promised we've got BG-centric coverage of this.

Spoiler alert: no comment.

http://www.bgsuhockey.com/2016/07/bg-of ... e-in-wcha/" target="_blank

[jbakerifm]

As promised we've got BG-centric coverage of this.

Spoiler alert: no comment.

http://www.bgsuhockey.com/2016/07/bg-of ... e-in-wcha/" target="_blank

Not a huge surprise. At this point BG and BSU have to be the domino's people are hoping or not hoping to fall. I give them credit for not outright lying about absolutely staying with the wcha (sad state of affairs when that thought was one of the first things I thought reading this).