Wayne Smith wrote:
 
>Ken wrote, in part ...
 
>>Let's call this conference the North Atlantic Conference. As a World War II
>>history buff,I've always liked that name. ...
 
>   Probably not a good idea.  :-)   The "North Atlantic Conference"
>   already exists as a 9-school 20-sport (no ice hockey) conference,
>   based in ...  er ...  Orono, Maine.  The NACs long-time commissioner
>   is Stu Haskell, former commissioner of Hockey East.  The NAC schools
>   are BU, Delaware, Drexel, Hartford, Hofstra, Maine, UNH,
>   Northeastern, Vermont and (next year) Towson State.
 
Ya know, ever since Drexel joined the NAC a few years back, I've been
intrigued by the idea of the NAC sponsoring ice hockey. Drexel, Delaware,
and Towson all have very successful and popular ice hockey clubs. And
Delaware has an absolutely beautiful rink -- Olympic figure skaters train
there all the time. A NAC ice hockey league would have four major markets
(Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington), not to mention bringing
Division I ice hockey further south than it usually gets.
 
Potential problems: Drexel and Delaware probably wouldn't want to take
focus away from their successful basketball programs. Not to mention the
cost of Division I ice hockey -- Drexel's athletic department already has
budget problems. Drexel's club team plays at Penn's rink, which is not
a Division I facility, to say the least. And of course, it would gut Hockey
East. So, it probably won't happen. Maybe if a NAC tournament at say,
Boston Garden or the Spectrum could be proven to be a big revenue
generator...
 
&REW