WCHA Expansion Future
Will or won't the WCHA expand is the question for 2009. Some initial information on Bemidji State of College Hockey America and its quest to get into the league are on the previous post.
Folks are wondering about the other four teams which showed some interest in the WCHA, other than the one official application from Bemidji State. League commissioner Bruce McLeod didn't divulge names, but I talked with Northern Michigan athletic director Ken Godfrey early in the process and he said his school was interested enough to crunch some financial numbers involved with travel. Other guesses have been Nebraska-Omaha and Alabama-Huntsville, which are excellent guesses. That's three.
In talking to various reporters by phone Tuesday, including the Duluth News Tribune, McLeod indicated he would be in Bemidji, Minn., on Friday to look at the plans for the city's new Regional Event Center. Bemidji State officials will then be in Marco Island, Fla., on April 27 to make a presentation to WCHA coaches, athletic directors and league officials.
It's POSSIBLE the league could take a vote that day. It's also possible, said McLeod, that the expansion process could be lengthened beyond what was planned, and possibly no vote will be taken April 27. The WCHA has said from the start that an 11-team league (which would mean just a single addition) is not preferred because of scheduling difficulties. McLeod has said it's almost unworkable.
Bemidji State, it would appear today, would have great difficulty getting the eight of 10 affirmative votes to be admitted.
It's POSSIBLE the WCHA will want to take a longer look at this, in order to be fair to Bemidji State, which will be a program without a conference in 2010-11. The league could re-open the application process and not decide anything until later this year. Economics will play a large part in the process.
Some league schools may not see a benefit to adding Bemidji State because: 1. That means one more school to share in the Final Five playoff revenue, 2. The Beavers may not be an attendance draw when traveling to other rinks, 3. Home rinks that already are seeing less of the bigger-name teams, would now likely see less of those teams with the addition of another league opponent.
WCHA members are looking at a possible expansion with the thought of "Will this addition make our league better?"
It's likely that the Minnesota members of the WCHA -- Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato, St. Cloud State and Minnesota -- would be in Bemidji State's corner. North Dakota is also a Bemidji State neighbor and may be in that camp. That's five possible votes for admission. Michigan Tech and Wisconsin are hard to read. Denver, Colorado College and Alaska Anchorage would likely vote no.
Just the travel involved for the Colorado schools would be an issue. They would likely fly into Fargo, N.D., and bus another 150 miles to Bemidji, Minn.
Bob Peters got Bemidji State on the national hockey map beginning in 1966, and now the Beavers are at a pinnacle. Bemidji State's players and coach Tom Serratore are going to enjoy the upcoming Frozen Four and this week's rink groundbreaking, but they also know their conference future will be a challenge.
Posted by: pates on 4/1/2009 at 5:41 PM | Comments (10) | Permalink
Tags: bemidji state, bruce mcleod, umd bulldogs, wcha expansion
