From the Minnesota Daily, on-line via Gopher!
 
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Headline: WCHA eyes expansion
Publish Date: 11/21/1991
 
By Jess Myers
 
Staff Reporter
 
In the year that has followed St. Cloud State's induction into the
 
WCHA, it appears that the addition of the Huskies to the league may
 
have opened the proverbial floodgates.
 
As of this week, Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks and Mankato State
 
have expressed a desire to WCHA commissioner Otto Breitenbach to be
 
considered for membership into the nine-team league. One league coach
 
foresees those three to be the start of something big.
 
``With the changes that the NCAA wants to make as far as schools with
 
Division III and Division I sports, I think that the WCHA is going to
 
have to contend with many schools wanting to join the league,''
 
North Dakota coach Gino Gasparini said. ``There are efforts in places
 
like Fargo (North Dakota State) and others that are Division I in
 
other sports that will want to be considered.''
 
Aside from the league's historical success on a national scale, one
 
reason the WCHA is the league most often mentioned in expansion plans
 
is geography. Most of the teams looking to join leagues are in the
 
WCHA's same general area -- with the exception of Alaska. But the
 
WCHA is still the closest league even for the Alaska schools.
 
The nearest league to the WCHA geographically, the Central Collegiate
 
Hockey Association, will add independents Notre Dame and Kent State
 
to their current nine-team conference next season. That leaves the
 
Alaska schools, Air Force and Alabama-Huntsville as the only
 
remaining Division I independents.
 
According to one coach hoping to become a league member, WCHA
 
expansion would help all college programs.
 
``Ever since our program started in 1979, it has been our goal to
 
become a permanent member of a league,'' said Alaska-Anchorage coach
 
Kelvin Christiansen, whose team hosts the Gophers for a pair of games
 
this weekend. ``We would love to join the WCHA and we think it would
 
be a big plus not only for hockey in Anchorage but across all of the
 
western United States.
 
Breitenbach said the league's expansion committee will consider the
 
question of expansion the next time they meet in January. If one
 
compares the programs in Alaska to that of St. Cloud State, which was
 
added without much disapproval, it becomes clear that the schools
 
could be competitive immediately.
 
Alaska-Anchorage, which upset eastern hockey power Boston College in
 
last season's NCAA playoffs, plays its home games in the 6,290-seat
 
Sullivan Arena and averaged 5,439 fans per game last season -- fifth
 
best in the nation and better than seven WCHA schools.
 
According to current WCHA coaches, there is more to consider than
 
just having a competitive program. Gopher coach Doug Woog noted the
 
high travel costs of taking a trip to the 49th state and others are
 
wary of the travel itself.
 
``It's not an easy trip for any team to make,'' said Gasparini, whose
 
Fighting Sioux swept Alaska-Fairbanks on the road earlier this
 
season. ``It's a five or six-hour time difference and a very long
 
flight. Add to that the fact that there aren't even direct flights
 
from Minneapolis to Anchorage in the winter and you can see the
 
problems that teams have.''
 
Indeed the Gophers, who left for Anchorage this morning, will have a
 
lay-over in Salt Lake City on their way to the Last Frontier.
 
Another point to consider is what the high travel costs would do to
 
future league membership. Bemidji State athletic director and hockey
 
coach Bob Peters commented that his school is content in its current
 
position and has no desire to field a Division I hockey program at
 
this time.
 
Breitenbach said the league has to consider all of college hockey
 
when they make a decision. While many think that ex-
pansion is the inevitable wave of the future, hockey insiders are
 
quick to caution that not all teams can be accommodated and the tide
 
will have to be stemmed somewhere.
 
 
Gopher notes: When the Dukla Jihlava Elite team of Czechoslovakia
 
pulled out of games scheduled with several WCHA teams, holes were
 
left in a number of league schedules. After some work by
 
Minnesota-Duluth athletic director Bruce McLeod, the University of
 
Calgary Dinosaurs stepped in to fill the Czechs' obligations,
 
including a visit to Mariucci Arena Dec. 30 at 7:05 p.m. Calgary,
 
which won the Canada West University Athletic Association title the
 
past two seasons, also makes trips to North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth
 
and Wisconsin.
 
Gopher junior right wing Trent Klatt became the first Minnesota
 
player of the season to earn WCHA Player of the Week honors on
 
Tuesday when league members recognized his four-goal effort in the
 
home sweep of Wisconsin ... Woog plans to visit and examine the
 
design of Calgary's Olympic Saddledome on Sunday when the team
 
returns from Anchorage. Home of the NHL's Calgary Flames, the
 
Saddledome was designed by Barry Graham, a University graduate who
 
also is designing the new Mariucci Arena.
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T. Burk