This argument has come up every year.
 
I don't think anyone is happy with the non-balanced WCHA schedule, but
the majority of whoever votes on the decision (I don't know exactly
which committee of the WCHA it is) decided it was the best that they
could do, given all the constraints.
 
I wasn't at the discussions, but from what I know, there are several factors:
 
  - NCAA game limits and prior committements by various teams
    (especially Wisconsin and Minnesota, but others as well)
 
  - travel issues:
      - There are the occassional mid-week games in the WCHA (last
        weekend, due to a basketball scheduling conflict, the St-Cloud
        at Wisconsin series was Thursday-Friday), but they are rare.
      - According to what I heard on the radio, Wisconsin leaves
        Wednesday for their Friday-Saturday series at Anchorage.
 
  - money issues:
        for many WCHA schools, hockey is their only "income" sport. No
        one wants to give up their home games with their big rivals,
        which usually is Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Those
        games sell out and bring in the money. That is the reality. It
        is also one of the reasons some of the schools were concerned
        about expansion: trading a 2-game home sellout for 2 games with
        a team no one has heard of is a money-losing situation.
 
 
        --david
 
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