The article in the Duluth newspaper is interesting compared to the
Fairbanks article from Saturday,. 4/13.  Who knows?  Maybe they made up
their minds already?  Perhaps we'll know at the end of the day.
 
<begin quoted material from the article>
 
Northern Michigan may join CCHA
 
By Susan Adeletti
Staff Writer
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 4/13/96
 
Two weeks after the University of Illinois-Chicago dropped its hockey
program, Northern Michigan University officially applied to the Central
Collegiate Hockey Association Thursday, its athletic department said
Friday.
 
Northern Michigan athletic director and head hockey coach Rick Comely is
scheduled to meet with the CCHA executive council in Ann Arbor, Mich.,
Tuesday to discuss the possibility of admission to the league, Northern
Michigan sports information director Steve Easton said.
 
"We've approached them about joining them for next year.  We'd replace
Illinois-Chicago from that standpoint," Easton said.  "Not that we're
unhappy with the WCHA or think the CCHA is better--Rich has said that
they're pretty much comparable--but from a common sense standpoint it makes
sense," Easton added.  "If there's seven schools in Michigan, we should be
playing the majority of them."
 
The CCHA, however, has not confirmed or denied the news.
 
"Right now the league office stance is 'No comment,'" CCHA director of
communications Jeff Weiss said Friday.  "But we may issue a press release
on Tuesday."
 
But Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Bruce McLeod,
meanwhile, is already considering Northern Michigan gone from his league.
 
"Rick Comely's an outgoing chair of the NCAA championship committee, and
he's got a real quality program," McLeod said Friday.  "We'll really miss
him a lot--it's been a nice solid program.  But I do understand their
reasoning for heading back there."
 
According to Easton, the decision to apply to the CCHA--of which Northern
Michigan was an original member before switching over to the WCHA in the
1984-85 season--had been considered by university officials for some time,
in an attempt to combat declining enrollment.
 
Easton said the university feels that if the hockey program gains
visibility downstate, where most of its alumni live, it would generate more
general interest in the school and have more of a chance of increasing
enrollment.
 
... <skipped material mostly about possible effects on Alaska-Fairbanks>
 
The WCHA is fielding applications from two other schools--Mankato State and
the University of Nebraska-Omaha--McLeod said, adding that when the WCHA
meets later this month, UAF will be discussed as well.
 
"We'll throw in Fairbanks to that mix and talk about the pros and cons of
that," he said.  "There must be some reasons why it's coming to the
surface."
 
In the meantime, the future of Northern Michigan--after being discussed at
the CCHA office Tuesday--will likely be decided at next week's league
meetings in Florida.
 
... <skipped material, reaction from UAF AD Kelly Higgins>
 
<end of quoted material>
 
Eric Carlson
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