>I'm assuming this moratorium includes UNO, since they haven't formally
>applied for membership.  Hmph.  CCHA here we come, I guess.
 
 
No Fear!   UNO *HAD* begun the applications process.  See the article below
from the StarTribune.  As I read it, it looks to me that Bemidji will be
the one buzzing off.
 
From looking at the "conditions" of approval, looks like Mankato better
sell out every game and then some for the first 3 years.
 
Are these type of "conditions" normal?
 
 
Brett
 
-------------------------
 
 
Published Saturday, May 2, 1998
 
Mankato State wins approval to become WCHA member
 
John Millea / Star Tribune
 
During a warm spring Friday on the Florida Gulf coast, a hockey dream
conceived 30 years ago on the outdoor ice of southern Minnesota was
realized when the WCHA admitted Mankato State as the league's 10th member.
 
The Mavericks begin conference play in 1999-2000, 30 years after the
varsity program began. "It has always been a dream," said Don Brose, who
has been the coach since the program's birth in 1969-70.
 
Mankato State needed approval from seven of the nine WCHA schools, and
league commissioner Bruce McLeod said the vote -- which capped a week of
conference meetings at a resort hotel in Marco Island, Fla. -- was
unanimous. The last WCHA expansion came in 1993-94, with the addition of
Alaska-Anchorage.
 
Mankato State rose through the Division III and II ranks -- winning the
Division II national title in 1979-80 --  until this past winter, when the
Mavericks played their first full season as a Division I independent. They
will play a final season as an independent in 1998-99, but will participate
in the WCHA postseason tournament as the 10th seed for the second
consecutive season.
 
Brose, a St. Louis Park native, said his program has seen a lot of
milestones on its path to the WCHA, including January's inaugural series
with Minnesota at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers won both games, 6-2 and 4-3.
 
"Most people dream of playing at the University of Minnesota," Brose said
from Marco Island. "And here we had a chance to go into that new Mariucci
building and play the Gophers, a team that we had dreamed of playing
against. In the second game, to lose 4-3 and have a battle down to the
wire; to be perfectly honest, I had tears in my eyes."
 
Mankato State's membership hopes appeared to dim in recent weeks. Bemidji
State announced its intention to move from Division II to Division I, and
with it, Nebraska-Omaha and others on the expansion horizon, officials from
some WCHA schools expressed fear the league could become too large.
 
Those concerns prompted the WCHA on Friday to impose a moratorium on future
membership applications. Nebraska-Omaha already has begun the application
process, but no other schools will be considered until the moratorium --
which has no time limit -- has been lifted.
 
"The WCHA supports the need for the growth of college hockey," said
Minnesota faculty representative Norm Chervany, who also is chairman of the
WCHA. "But at this point in time the association needs time to bring a new
member in, figure out what that all means, to integrate them into our
conference, and to do some planning that says, 'How big do we want the WCHA
to be?' "
 
Nebraska-Omaha, which has an average attendance of 8,314 that ranked second
nationally to Minnesota's 10,056 last season, appears to be on track for
WCHA membership in 2000-2001. But Nebraska-Omaha is not locked into the
WCHA as a future home. In fact, school officials made a presentation to the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association this week during that league's
meetings in Naples, Fla., a few miles north of Marco Island.
 
Several conditions were imposed on Mankato State's admission. Most notable
is the Mavericks must pay their own expenses when traveling to
Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves pick up the costs for trips there by other
league teams.
 
Mankato State also must provide 10 percent of the WCHA's total budget each
year during its first three years as a member (a figure estimated at
$35,000 per year), and will not share in revenue from the WCHA postseason
tournament for its first three years of membership.
 
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