Matt, I think that a further examination of the whole UAF-CCHA
situation would show that the issues you raised are exactly the ones
that kept UAF out in the first place.  It's really not correct to say
that the travel question was ignored by the CCHA.  This was,
apparently, the chief concern the other schools had and was why UAF
went several years with only their affiliate status.
 
When this problem was solved to the satisfaction of the other CCHA
schools, it erased the chief concern and fortunately, UAF's full
acceptance followed swiftly.
 
It's important to understand that with the new scheduling format, the
other CCHA schools will only travel to UAF every other year.  Each
year, UAF will host 5 of the 10 CCHA teams in 3 game series, and UAF
will play 3 game series at the other 5 CCHA teams.  As it stands, most
CCHA teams were traveling to UAF about every other year (at least) as
it was.  Remember also that the travel costs for schools going to UAF
are, in many cases, even smaller than playing other teams in their
area, because UAF pays for 25 round trip plane tickets for each team
traveling up there.
 
But most importantly, the scheduling was worked out such that the 5
teams traveling to UAF will be able to do so over breaks in their
school's schedule - i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  In fact, I
believe it was guaranteed that the players would miss NO class time at
all in traveling to and from UAF.  Players will miss more class time
during trips to play other "Lower 48" CCHA schools, since it is not
unusual to leave on Thursday night for a weekend series on the road,
i.e. LSSU at UIC.
 
So I have to say that your characterization of the CCHA as "greedy,
money-mongering institutions" is dead wrong.  In fact, exactly the
opposite is true in this case.  They waited until a situation could be
worked out that was in the best interests of their players and
schools.
 
And equally important, they recognized the commitment that other
hockey-playing schools have to those schools trying desperately to
keep their programs alive and build them further.  The drastic
reduction in Independents over the last 6 or 7 years left UAF with a
tremendous problem in terms of finding enough quality opponents, as
well as finding a place to call home.  They can't even play UAA more
than twice a year now (used to be as many as 8) because UAA only has 2
nonconference games to give as a member of the WCHA.
 
So, I have to applaud heartily the CCHA's acceptance of UAF and the
way in which it was negotiated.  It kept alive a still budding program
that has already come a long way in a very short time, and it gives
them a home and a legitimate way of competing for a national title.
Everyone is a winner here.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93