A few thoughts...
 
ALASKA SITUATION
First, thanks to Lee for posting the UAA home/away numbers.
Very enlightening.  The discrepancy is not that large for UAF.
The Nanooks were 5-10-0 at home in CCHA play and 3-12-0
on the road.  The five teams that traveled to UAF for a three
game series posted an 0-4-0 record the week following the
UAF series and a 3-6-0 record two weeks following the AK trip.
Looking at the 0-4-0 more closely we see:
  A. Notre Dame blew a third period lead against Boston College
the weekend following their return from Fairbanks.  I'm not sure
how much fatigue from the AK trip played a role.  It was very
early in the season (October).  Also, I'm not sure about the
scheduling of the BC game.  I.e., was it scheduled knowing that
UND would be returning from UAF or not.
  B. Bowling Green was spanked by Michigan at Bowling Green.
However, this game was not originally scheduled for this time.
BGSU was supposed to have a weekend off following UAF,
but their game versus UM was moved to that weekend to accommodate
BGSU playing WMU in Las Vegas later in the season.  (They
couldn't play at home and at Las Vegas the same weekend, so
they changed the date of the home game.)  I'm sure the Falcons
were a little heavy-legged in the UM game, but I'd argue that this
was just one of those unfortunate quirks that happened in the
schedule.  BGSU was supposed to have the weekend off.
  C. and D. Western Michigan was swept at home by Bowling Green
in the first round of the CCHA playoffs following their return from
UAF on the final weekend of the regular season.  If I were an
opponent of the AK travel situation (I'm not), this is the series
I'd point to.  Basically, this sucked for WMU.  For whatever reason
(maybe that was the only time WMU could go to UAF based on
their academic calendar), WMU was the only team knowingly
scheduled to play (assuming they made the CCHA playoffs) the
weekend following their AK trip.  I'm not sure if this can be avoided
in the future or not.  Obviously, I think it's easier on the road team
to travel to AK at the beginning of the season rather than near
the end.
 
Btw...the five CCHA teams playing at UAF in 1995-96 were BGSU,
Illinois at Chicago, Michigan State, UND and WMU.  A *fairly*
even split among the haves and have nots among the CCHA
last year.
 
CCHA-WCHA SCHEDULES
I will disagree with Lee about the CCHA schedule being as
unbalanced as the WCHA schedule.  My defense for that has
some holes, but I believe the neutral site and "second home"
games in the CCHA don't throw a very big monkey wrench into
the schedule.  In the CCHA, the schedule balances every two
years.  That is, over two years, each team plays every other
team six times, three at home and three away.  Some teams
play a few of their home games at a nearby non-campus
venue.  (Example: Ohio State hosting a game at the Columbus
Fairgrounds.)  Others have agreements to play at a neutral
site.  (Example: Michigan and Notre Dame play one game in
Ann Arbor, one game in South Bend and one game at the Palace.
They alternate who is the home team for the Palace game each
year.)  Admittedly, you can argue that playing UM at the Palace
isn't a "home" game for the Irish even if they are designated
the home team.  My argument is, the above is a lot more balanced
than the WCHA schedule.  Currently, WCHA teams play seven
teams four times and two teams twice.  In theory, this balances
every *NINE* years, at which point each team has played every
other team 32 times, 16 at home and 16 away.  So, CCHA=> two
years, WCHA=> nine years.  But, I'd also argue that the CCHA's
home/away situation isn't as bad as the WCHA's because some
WCHA "home" games are played at the "visiting" team's campus
venue.  The classic example is the Minn-UAA series from a couple
of years ago.  To salvage playing in both the Mariucci Classic
and the Showcase, the Gophers had to play their two home games
versus UAA in Anchorage...which, btw, where then exempt under
the NCAA 34-game limit.  So, Minn had 16 home and 16 away WCHA
contests that year but they really played 14 at home and 18 at away
campus venues.  (Pardon me if any Minn games were played at
non-campus venues.  I didn't check the archives to go over their
exact schedule, but I don't see it as being pertinent to the point I'm
trying to make here.)  The bottom line is, I'd argue that the handful
of CCHA neutral site games is less of an imbalance than the
moving of WCHA home games to the visiting team's campus site.
This is not to say that some CCHA team other than UAF won't someday
play a "home" game in Fairbanks, but it hasn't happened yet.
 
HYPOTHETICAL WCHA SCHEDULE
This is hypothetical because it assumes that the WCHA has ten
members including both UAA and UAF.  Why not copy the CCHA
ten team format...27-game schedule, play everyone three times,
balance every two years...and use the concept of "travel partners".
Each team would still make only one trip to Alaska each season.
Go for a three game set in which you play UAA twice and UAF once
or vice-versa.  Hence, each team plays three games at UAA/UAF
and hosts UAA/UAF for three games.  You don't necessarily have
to pair up all of the other schools if you don't want to.  The CCHA
currently uses this scheme with Michigan and Michigan State.
Every other CCHA team plays three games at UM/MSU and hosts
UM/MSU for three.  Some of this could work with eleven teams in the
league and a 30-game schedule.  The obvious flaw is that you no
longer have all two game sets at one location among the non-AK
schools.  For example, "pair" up Colorado College and Denver
but for a 2/4 or 4/2 series, not 3/3.  Hence, every other team plays
either two games in the state of CO or four.  If it's four, you travel
to CC one weekend and travel to DU some other weekend.  If
it's two, you travel to CO and play one game versus CC and one
versus DU on the same weekend.  I'm not a geography whiz, but
I know that this introduces problems because there will be weekends
that you have to travel between games.  Can you play in CC one
night and DU the next?  What about other locations in the WCHA?
I honestly don't know.  I realize that it is an additional burden on
WCHA team, but how much of a burden is it, really?  There may
be one "location" that just doesn't work and you'd have to play a
Friday-Sunday series and use Saturday as a travel day.  Obviously,
the last several sentences are again based on an even number of
teams.  (I'm just brainstorming here, not producing "the answer" to
all of our scheduling dilemmas.)
 
UIC PLAYERS
As has been reported, sophomore forwards to be Tony Kolozsy
(18-16--34) and Chuck Mindel (11-13--24) have transferred to WMU.
This has been officially announced.  What I've seen reported by
several sources, including a couple on Hockey-L, is that Adam
Lord (9-18-2, 4.35, 86.9) has transferred to Miami.  I believe it's a
done deal, but I haven't seen anything official from UIC or Miami
on it.  Lord will be a junior.  What I've also heard from sources at
UIC but not elsewhere (including Hockey-L unless I missed it) is
that sophomore defenseman to be Chad Korczak (4-12--16) has
completed his transfer to Michigan Tech.  Any confirmation from
MTU out there?  Btw...my personal thoughts, based on a small
three game sample, are that whoever WAS the worst defensive
defenseman in the WCHA is now the second worst defensive
defenseman in the WCHA. :-)
 
 
John H ([log in to unmask])
 
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