April 28, 2009
Helping Bemidji Could Come at Others' Expense
by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor
Although WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said he has the utmost respect for the CCHA -- and I believe him -- something about the latest WCHA expansion plan is unseemly.
In order for Bemidji State to be accepted to the WCHA, the league must find a 12th team. To do so, it said -- in so many words -- that it will try to actively recruit an existing CCHA team to move.
All this does is pass the problem on from one league to another. It doesn't help the overall college hockey landscape.
McLeod acknowledges the issue.
"I have the utmost repsect for (CCHA commissioner) Tom Anastos and what they're going through right now," McLeod said. "We know there's some issues at Bowling Green, and maybe another school too regarding the health there -- so it will be a delicate issue.
"Under the circumstances, with the demise of the CHA, the water is getting muddier in this D-I lake here. It'll be a delicate issue. Anything that I do regarding another league, I'm going to be up front and above board as much as I can. But we've reached a real critical point, especially in the West. And the direction I've been given, we have to be more aggressive about our approach. We're at the 11th and a half, and closer to the 12th, hour here."
I perfectly understand that it's every man for himself. It was that way when Niagara and Robert Morris jumped to Atlantic Hockey, and it has always been that way, to some extent. And there's no doubt, it will be extremely unfortunate if Bemidji State's viability is compromised by being left without a home.
But it's somewhat ironic that the groundswell of sympathy for Bemidji State's survival, may now come at the expense of another program or conference.
Bemidji State appealed to the "what's best for college hockey" sympathy vote, but its own self interest now will only be served at someone else's expense.
This does not necessarily make any of the players here wrong or shady or anything of the sort. However, it removes the purely altruistic component of this process.
"If we weren't concerned about Bemidji or the landscape in general, we would just stay at 10," McLeod said.
True enough. And if the WCHA was going to take on BSU regardless, and move to 11 teams, then it would be mainly altruistic. But we can't expect them to do that either.
The bottom line is, there are no good moves here, and there hasn't been for a while.
Without new programs coming in, there are no good options. And a new program can't just go into the WCHA, because the WCHA wouldn't want that at all.
Which is why the CHA was formed, to be a home for new programs. But that's out the window now.
It's a mess and college hockey is stuck.
What I believe will happen is this: Neither Nebraska-Omaha or Northern Michigan will decide to leave the CCHA, and there will be no good answer for Bemidji still. The WCHA will then either choose to bring in Moorhead or Alabama-Huntsville in desperation, or bring in BSU as an 11th team after all. But all three of those possibilities are in the sub-10-percent range, if you ask me. And the UNO/NMU option is not much better.
Which means nothing will change, ultimately, and Bemidji will be up a creek.
I'll once again throw out there the thing that makes everyone gasp -- Big Ten Hockey. Years ago, I would've gasped too. Hate the idea. Bad for college hockey. Bad for the little guy that makes this sport great.
But now, it may be the only thing that saves all the programs. It might make the rich, richer. It might hurt North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, etc... from having the big schools in their conference. But that "rich is getting richer" dynamic has already happened. Those Big Ten schools are already on TV a ton, already get the blue chippers.
But whereas the smaller schools think they benefit from being in the same conference as Big Ten schools, maybe they don't as much. Or, at least, it's not as much of a disaster as they might think to be separate. And the benefit is, their own chances of competing against each other for automatic NCAA bids goes up quite a bit.
And, it creates room for expansion in the CCHA and WCHA.
Just a thought.
GreggApr 28 2009, 5:06 pm
As long as we're talking about outlandish ideas to help Bemidji State, there's always this idea from Andy Baggot. http://www.badgerbeat.com/news/article/id/446361
GoonApr 28 2009, 8:47 pm
I don't see what the big deal is? UAH to the CCHA and UNO to the WCHA. Why don't you ask the CCHA how UAH's site visit went?
TGApr 28 2009, 9:24 pm
One of the schools that seems to have been overlooked in this is Air Force. Have they been approached about a possible move to the WCHA? Geographically it would seem to make a lot of sense, and it wouldn't be a huge hit membershipwise for Atlantic Hockey to lose them. I understand they liked the idea of being in the same league as Army, but playing in a stronger league, less travel time/expenses, and far greater overall exposure would seem like it could mitigate the Army factor. Are scholarships a factor? Any word on this?
CHN EditorApr 28 2009, 10:12 pm
Folks ... UAH to CCHA is not going to happen. We've reported on their site visit. It was not a "site visit" in the classic sense. It was just the CCHA commissioner going there by invitation of UAH, out of courtesy. The CCHA does not want to add expense to its teams by making them have to fly to Alabama. ... As for Air Force, the WCHA probably wouldn't even accept them because of the scholarships issue. But yes, Air Force wants to stay with Army - plus, its chances of making the NCAAs are VASTLY improved by playing in Atlantic Hockey. There is no upside to them leaving Atlantic.
uaafanblogApr 28 2009, 10:30 pm
The 11 team "scheduling problem" argument can be simply solved. Reduce the number of league games from 28 down to 20. For 12 teams down to 22. I really don't understand why that hasn't been a part of the discussion outside of me mentioning it any chance I have. So coaches will have to make some more off-season phone calls ... big deal. It allows anyone wanting to maintain rivalries to do so. To me, it's loads of upside and very little downside. It would also act to quell any desires of the Big Ten schools to run off. I wouldn't want AF in the WCHA. They started this whole mess with their selfishness to be aligned with Army. Screw them. As for begging some CCHA hack school (NMU or UNO) to join ... screw that too. UNO has a mess of an athletic department and will probably end up like Bowling Green. NMU is a pain in the ass road trip. Bring in Bemidji and UAH. Reduce the number of league games. ... then Rock & Roll. And 1000 characters just ain't enough for me.
CHN EditorApr 28 2009, 10:37 pm
The issue isn't mathematical - it's logistical. Hockey East had a 9-team league because they bus everywhere and could play mid-week games. WCHA can't.
uaafanblogApr 29 2009, 6:16 am
Adam: Travel has nothing to do with it. Neither do midweek games. Reducing the mandatory league schedule balances the schedule. With either 11 or 12 teams you are going to end up with inequities in opponents that don't get resolved for years with a 28 game schedule. The ridiculous format the WCHA already uses is bad enough; one more team makes it worse. The want to go to 12 so they can go to "clusters" (or whatever you want to call them). That tactic is so McLeod can dangle the juicy clusters in front of DU and CC to gain their vote. That's what is going on here. That's the smell you're smelling. Read the 2nd post down on my blog. Tell me it doesn't make sense.
gopherfaninseattleMay 7 2009, 2:21 am
I think the WCHA should have 12 teams. Then. just have a 6 team WCHA-West and a 6 team WCHA East. Just like the Big 12 Conference in football. Bring in Bemidji St and Nebraska Omaha or maybe Alaska Fairbanks will join.
Irish-SiouxMay 11 2009, 4:07 pm
It would be good for the WCHA if Alaska-Fairbanks joined with Bemidji State. It would be great for the State of Alaksa and forw WCHA Hockey as well. And, I doubt the CCHA would mis their road trips to Alaska.
CHN EditorMay 11 2009, 4:17 pm
As we've said a number of times -- the CCHA isn't going to miss its trips to Alaska. It's the fact that the WCHA won't want to go there more often than it does now.
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