A story in yesterday's Omaha fishwrap stated at Bruce McLeod would be
pushing to have UNO voted into the WCHA at the leagues' spring/summer
meeting.  The reasoning is that if the league waited until 1999 to vote,
as originally planned, UNO's 1999-2000 schedule would already be set and
wouldn't be a "league" schedule.  This way, UNO can be voted in, play it's
Independent schedule in 1998-99 and then play a full WCHA schedule in
1999-2000.  The reasons cited for McLeods push were UNO's competitiveness
in the early going (despite a current 5-game losing streak), and
attendance at home games (at 8,314 per game UNO ranks second
nationally behind Minnesota), meaning increased revenue for the league.
 
Speaking from a purely biased viewpoint, I think voting them in as early
as possible would be a "good thing", both for the league and the program.
I think they've shown they're already ready, already.  :)
 
Happy Holidays to all you Hockey-Lers!
 
Go Mavs!
Joel
 
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Joel Mack ([log in to unmask])                         Omaha, NE
Home Page: http://www.tconl.com/~jmack
The UNOfficial UNO Maverick Hockey Home Page:
   http://www.mavhockey.com
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