Bryan ("The Commish") writes:
 
>         This is hot off the presses in this morning's Minneapolis Star
> Tribune.  It said that one of the prominent restructuring proposals is to
> combine the WCHA and the CCHA into one conference and divide it up into
> three divisions as such. . . [...]
 
<sigh> Another "scoop" chance lost. :-)  I've known about this proposal since
Sunday, but for personal reasons, didn't get back to the author to get
"permission" to post it here.  (I'm afraid that HOCKEY-L wasn't quite as
important in my life earlier this week, as I had a kidney stone... bringing
new meaning to the phrase "This, too, shall pass."  Fortunately, it has.  :-)
 
>         The paper did not say who came up with this plan, but it is an
> interesting idea nonetheless.  It will be intersting to see how far this
> gets at the WCHA-CCHA meetings.
 
The proposal is from Rick Yeo, the athletic director at Michigan Tech.
(Source:  personal e-mail from the source. :-)  He has formally submitted
the proposal to the WCHA for discussion at the upcoming league meeting.
 
Based on offline discussion, I don't think Rick has any expectation that
this proposal will be accepted "as is" or in the near future.  However,
it WILL force plenty of discussion within both leagues, and eventually
(I hope) lead to a "structure" that will be better for all of college
hockey.
 
<pure speculation alert!>
I'm seriously wondering if the proposal hadn't been communicated to
the CCHA board before this weeks meeting, and that's why they tabled
the NMU request for now.
<end of pure speculation alert>
 
There are a few things about the proposal that concern me, and several
others not resolved here that would need attention.
 
Concerns:
 
- The 32 game "league" schedule.  I really think that if we're going
  to be making this much of a change, the number of league games
  MUST be reduced down to 30 or below.  After many discussions here
  on HOCKEY-L, I've become a "convert" in that I think 2 nonleague
  games in a team's schedule is just not enough; we've got to find
  ways to encourage east-west cross-league play, and that just
  isn't going to happen with a 32 game schedule.
 
- Future expansion or contraction:  we all know that the current
  set of teams will not remain the same "forever".  The structure
  needs to be flexible enough to accomidate such changes with
  minimal disruption.
 
Items needing resolution:
 
- This proposal would require yet another major overhaul of
  the method for awarding bids to the NCAA tournament.  The
  HE and ECAC certainly wouldn't be happy about each "division"
  being treated as a seperate league under the current rules
  (and rightly so!)  On the flip side, I don't think it would
  go over well with "WCCHA" teams to only have 1 set of bids
  for the "meta-league".  (Note that I DON'T consider overhauling
  the current process to necessarily be a bad thing!)
 
- Awarding of the MacNaughton cup:  does it stay just within the
  division that Michigan Tech is in, or does it apply to the
  "winner" of the whole league?  (This may not seem like a big
  issue to people outside of the WCHA, but it is.  For those
  who do not know, the MacNaughton cup is awarded to the
  regular season champion of the league in which Michigan Tech
  plays.  For anyone interested in why, I believe there's a
  file available from LISTSERV on this subject.)
 
  To quote another HOCKEY-L participant [anonymously, since it
  was in "private" e-mail, but I'm sure long-time list readers
  will be able to identify the source :-)... besides, I doubt
  said person will mind]:
 
        WHO WOULD WIN THE MAC NAUGHTON CUP??????????
 
        Which is ABSOLUTELY the BEST TROPHY in all of HOCKEY.
        And I've seen the Stanley Cup....can't hold near as much
        beer as the MC!
 
   Like I said, a big issue for some.  :-)
 
 - The makeup of the MacInnes Division.  Obviously, the intent here
   is to keep the Michgan schools "together".  However, it results
   in much further travel for the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio
   schools.  That may be seen as "unfair" to them.
 
 - Breaking up of some of the "traditional" rivalries that
   currently exist.  Would St. Cloud be happy with not having
   the chance to play Minnesota every year?  BGSU - Michigan?
   Etc.  Unfortunately, I think we can all agree that there
   would be no way to have such a division structure and
   still satisfy everyone on this point.
 
That's what I can think of off the top of my head...
 
- Garrett (Michigan Tech '84)
 
--
Garrett Lanzy        Endicott, NY
 
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