There have been a lot of unusual ideas about formatting the WCHA into
geographic Zones, people have been saying make out of conference games
worth 4 points each instead of the normal 2 points, some people have
said "play one game against a non conference WCHA team and then travel
to the next closest arena and play them." I am against dividing the WCHA
into 3 geographic divisions because of all the factors mentioned in the
previous mail I wrote. I have an idea about expansion that may or may
not work but, I just brought it up for pure discussion.
 
1. Divide the WCHA into 2 zones. Zone A. the Western Teams of the WCHA
   and Zone B. The Central or Eastern teams of the WCHA.
 
 
2. The teams of Zone A. would play the teams of Zone B. twice each for a
   possibility of 24 points. The series would be a weekend series where
   2 games would be played in the same city. (Home or Away) This would
   eliminate this unjust travel situation of playing one game and then
   traveling the next day to play someone else who could be hours away.
 
3. The teams of Zone A. or Zone B. would play each other 4 times
   alternating 2 game home and away series. The only problem with this
   is each zone would have 6 teams if you play each other 4 times your
   possible points would be 40, plus the 24 points from non conference
   WCHA teams. You would have a total of 64 instead of the 56 which the
   proposal states. Something would have to be done within the
   conference to alleviate this. Perhaps a series with only 2 games
   with one or two teams would work.
 
 
      Zone A.                          Zone B.
 
    1. UAF                          1. Minnesota
 
    2. UAA                          2. Duluth
 
    3. Colorado College             3. St. Cloud State
 
    4. Denver                       4. NMU
 
    5. North Dakota (?)             5. Wisconsin
 
    6. ????????????                 6. Michigan Tech
 
This is purely thought, North Dakota might be upset with this format,
but in my opinion it seems much more logical than dividing the WCHA into
3 zones.
 
 
Brad Cuyler