In the spirit of Coach Schafer's "you heard it here first", here is another you
 heard it here first.
 
There is an idea being passed around among the coaches that involves merging the
 WCHA and the CCHA into one big SUPER-CONFERENCE. The philosophy is that the
 schools should be working *together* to solve problems. I guess they see the
 WCHA and CCHA competing against each other to each other's detriment.
 
The plan is to have a single central office with a single commissioner, etc.
From what I understand, there would be 4 divisions, including the Alaskas. Some
 combination of play within your division and between divisions would add up to
 30 games, leaving a school 4 games left over for non-conference (EAST)
 opponents.
 
If this were successful, the eastern teams would be expected to unite to make
 Division I college hockey a 2 MEGA-conference show.
 
So far, I think all of this has come from Northern Michigan head coach Rick
 Comley's brain. Geez, give the guy a ring and he goes wacko. (Just kidding!!)
 He sent a memo to the coaches, so you may hear some talk of it in your area
 soon.
 
There, I have told you all I know at this point. All this is really preliminary,
 so don't expect much to come from it. My first reaction to hearing about it was
 "this idea is so crazy it won't work, but perhaps there are one or two good
 ideas that may come out of it." Like getting the Alaskas in a conference or a
 WCHA/CCHA interlocking schedule or maybe even just getting the two leagues to
 work together on their schedules.
 
Of course, if you get any more news, pass it on to the list!
 
"Scoop" Instone