Niagara and Mercyhurst were both CHA schools originally, which means they
were at least open to the idea of giving 18 scholarships. With Niagara, in
particular, I always got the impression that they resisted joining the AHA
until they had to, because of its lower scholarship limit.

Travel wouldn't be pretty, but my guess is a divisional/cluster structure
would be developed to alleviate some of that. All the teams left are used to
flying to Alaska. The old CCHA teams would get the short end of it, as
they're replacing trips to Michigan and Ohio with ones to Minnesota. The old
WCHA teams, at least, would save by getting rid of their flights to Colorado
- although that might be replaced by an extra flight to Alaska.

John


On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 4:28 PM, Joseph LaCour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I wonder about the AHA schools.  Travel will be a beast.  BTW, the only
> Division I school in that whole mix is BGSU.  The rest are all D-II
> play-ups.
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message----- From: John Edwards
> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 04:15 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Here comes the "Super League"?
>
>
> If this report from Grand Forks is to be believed, a new western conference
> is going to form from the ashes of the post-Big Ten west, to start play in
> 2013.
>
> http://www.grandforksherald.**com/event/article/id/209049/<http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/209049/>
>
> This league would consist of Denver, CC, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota-Duluth,
> Miami and North Dakota. The article lists Notre Dame and Western Michigan
> as
> possibilities to join as well.
>
> Assuming all 8 do that, by my reckoning that would leave the WCHA with:
> - Bemidji State
> - St. Cloud State
> - Minnesota State, Mankato
> - Michigan Tech
> - Alaska Anchorage
>
> And the CCHA would have:
> - Northern Michigan
> - Ferris State
> - Lake Superior State
> - Bowling Green
> - Alaska (Fairbanks)
>
> I imagine they would have to combine to form a ten-team league, and I could
> see a scenario where they go for 12 teams by picking off a couple of
> Atlantic Hockey squads (Niagara & Mercyhurst, perhaps).
>
> John
>

-- 
John Edwards
"You can insure against the weather, but you can't insure against
incompetence, can you?" - Phil Tufnell