Clay Satow writes:
 
>Joe LaCour and Russell Jaslow (and others earlier) have both referenced the
>lack of respect that the CCHA had when it was founded.  I wonder if someone
>can give me a little background.
>
>The CCHA's founding happened at a time when I wasn't following college
>hockey.  I remember the old WCHA (or a similar name) having Colorado
>College, Denver, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, and I
>believe Michigan Tech.  I don't remember any of the other Minnesota or
>Michigan schools, any of the Ohio or Alaska schools, and I don't think
>Wisconsin was a major player yet.
>
>What I find curious is that at least two of the schools in the CCHA,
>Michigan and Michigan State, and Michigan especially had a lot of stature
>back then.  So I don't understand the lack of respect.   It would seem to me
>that those two schools alone would afford the league some amount of respect.
>Were Michigan and Michigan State in the CCHA when it was founded?   If so,
>why was the league so dissed?
>
>Clay
 
The CCHA was formed in the mid-70's and I believe that some of the original
schools were  MSU, Bowling Green, St. Louis and some others I can't
remember (nice cop out).  I know that Michigan was still in the WCHA at the
time.  Any dissing, I would think, would have come from the WCHA,
especially Minnesota, Wisconsin, DU, since the league had routinely won the
NCAA final throughout its history.  I think at the time the CCHA was formed
eastern teams had won only 6 out of about 30 times so the WCHA woofing was
justified (fortunately it is not today). Bowling Green won the first CCHA
title (in 4 OTs) at Lake Placid in 1984 and since then the CCHA has won, I
think, 5 times.
 
I guess the point of all this is that you've got to earn your stripes a
little before you can expect to go to the big dance.  I hope the MAAC makes
it, but I think they have to do some out-of-conference scheduling against
the big boys first.
 
Greg Ambrose
 
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