Western Michigan should be D-I.  They are members of the same conference as
Miami and BG.

Patrick Bracco

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 3:01 PM, Joe LaCour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> At great risk of being burned at the stake ---
>
> Hockey will not expand until it breaks the paradigm.  To do that, The
> Powers That Be must decide if they want to be a (primarily) Northern USA
> niche sport or a national sport.  If it is to be a National Sport, it has to
> get more name recognition schools in the game and in the tournament.   What
> happened in last year's tournament was nice, but that needs to be a one-off
> and get the name schools back in there.
>
> It's real nice that UNO and BSU are now in the WCHA, but they're going to
> be bottom dwellers for the foreseeable future, and unless they catch
> lightning in a bottle come tournament time, they have no shot whatsoever of
> making the NCAA tournament.  Ditto for UAH assuming they get accepted into
> the CCHA. And frankly, the ECAC is now like the Ivy League in basketball -
> primarily a one and done league.  So just like all the other college sports,
> there are the perennial sharks and the perennial minnows and TV just wants
> to see the sharks come the post season.
>
> To that end I am being Curtis LeMay on this - blow it all up and start anew
> with only D-1 schools qualifying for the D-1 tournament.  D-I will be down
> to 34 teams, which means the best we can hope for is 8 teams to make the
> tournament - I doubt the NCAA will stretch the access ratios to get to 12 or
> keep it at 16.  They'll be 4 at large berths divided up between the HWA and
> HEA.  I can't see the ECAC or Ivy getting more than one bid.  So, here we
> are:
>
> NCAA Division 1:
> Hockey West (10 teams can grow 2 more) -- Denver*, North Dakota*,
> Wisconsin*, Minnesota*, Michigan*, Michigan State*, Notre Dame*, Bowling
> Green, Miami (OH)*, Ohio State
>
> Hockey East (9 teams - can grow 3) -- Maine* BC*, BU*, Northeastern,
> Providence, Massachusetts, Vermont*, New Hampshire*, Connecticut
>
> ECAC League (9/3):  Air Force, Army, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, Colgate,
> Quinnipiac, Niagara, Canisius, Robert Morris
>
> Ivy League(6/2):  Brown, Cornell*, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale
>
> NCAA Division 2:
> East:  AIC, Bentley, Mercyhurst, Lowell, Merrimack, + 6 DII playing D3
> West:  Alaska, AK-Anchorage, Ferris State, Lake Superior, Nebraska - Omaha,
> Western Michigan, Alabama - Huntsville, Bemidji*, Michigan Tech,
> MSU-Mankato, UM-Duluth*, St. Cloud St., Colorado Coll* (they're going to
> have to move up, sorry, but D-III doesn't exist out there, but they'll keep
> the scholarships).
>
> NCAA Division 3
> Clarkson, St. Lawrence*, RPI, Union, RIT + 72 more
>
> The * schools have made the Frozen Four since 2000
>
> Having gotten rid of the no-names, there is a stronger possiblity of a
> national TV contract (Yea, who am I kidding).   Maybe E$PN, maybe the NHL
> network, but they will have name recognition schools to work with.  As much
> as I love Clarkson, we are not a well known school outside of the hockey
> world.   Who would care if we were on National TV?  Would the casual fan,
> who has no knowledge of college hockey. tune into see Clarkson - SLU?  But
> put Michigan vs. BC on, and BOOM!  instant name recognition and you may draw
> the casual fan in.  You could even do a Hockey East vs. Hockey West shootout
> where we have schools travel across the country to take on their
> counterparts on a weekend.  Instant made for TV events!
>
> You can talk all you want about traditions, but when the gold talks,
> tradition has a way of being squeezed out.  My only concern is that some
> schools have arenas that were designed for D-I and now they will be in D-II
> or D-III.  They may have a lot of excess capacity on their hands.  In fact,
> CC probably has the most to lose in this scenario.  Their natural rivals are
> up in Division I and I do not think CC wants to go all the way up there. The
> Denver and USAFA games were sell outs.  Will UNO or the Alaskas tickle the
> fancy of the folks around Colorado Springs?
>
> What schools may jump in?  One criteria is that you have to have your own
> rink.  Rent-a-rink teams must be the primary tenant with their own locker
> room / shower facilities.  So let's try Iowa State and Illinois to HW, Rhode
> Island and/or Penn State to HEA, Navy  to the ECAC, and Columbia and Penn to
> the Ivy League.
>
> I will now don my asbestos suit and be prepared for the flames.
>
> Joe LaCour
> CCT '77 & '78
>
> PS, this really destroys D-I women's hockey.
>