All right, it's time to come back and see if I can adequately explain what
I've been saying.  First off, saying that the term 'Super' conference is a
slap in the face to the other schools is not fair, because it has been used
primarily by those supporting the small schools.  Please don't try to put
words in someone's mouth and then claim that your being slighted.  At least
in my case, I've only been differentiating the schools by their size and
marketability.
 
Second, I've only been advocating such a conference in the limited case of
more and more programs trying to add hockey and trying to fit themselves
into the existing conferences.  This is for two reasons.  One, I have an
aesthetic dislike of conferences with too many teams in them; eventually
you end up with schedules that are even more unbalanced than the WCHA's
currently is.  Divisions within a conference do this automatically, since
determining a regular season champ compares schools from different
divisions.  I know i'm the last person in the world to believe this, but
the regular season title is still the one I want most every year.  The
second reason is that I don't think that most of the programs adding
hockey, at least in the west, are likely to be successful and produce a
competitive program.  Now that the WCHA has gotten to the point that
several of the previously less competitive programs (Colorado College most
specifically) have taken major steps forward, I don't want to go back to
having a bunch of doormats on the schedule every year.
 
I know that there are going to be people that point to the success of CC
and others as demonstrating that these new teams will also be able to do
it.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll be wrong, but the first time Nebraska-Omaha has
a winning team I will also be very surprised.
 
Beyond this one reason, I absolutely agree that the Big 10 teams splitting
off would be a bad thing.  I say this both because it would be harmful to
some of the smaller schools (though I still think that not having to
compete with the big budget departments is the only thing that is going to
save Ferris State) but that I fall into the camp of not wanting to see
college hockey go big time.  Most of the reasons for this have been well
stated by others.  I'll also admit that it's real easy for me to have this
opinion, since I have a couple of the benefits of being big time (almost
all of the Gophers' games are on TV) without the hassles, but there it is.
 
I will state again, and as often as people want me to, I like playing in
the current WCHA and all the teams currently in it (well, not
Alaska-Anchorage, but that's only because of the on-ice thuggery they
displayed this year).  I'd like to see if we can come up with a practical
way to drop to only three games against each team so that we can balance
the schedule and free up a few more non-conference games, but I'm still not
sure that there is one.  (I don't really like the CCHA approach, both
because of the greater distances, but also that the teams that don't make
the Alaska trip have a big advantage.)
 
Scott Monaghan and I have exchanged some mail.  After doing so, I'm no
longer so convinced that a conference of the big schools is likely, but I
still think that it's more of a possibility than he does.  I will also
admit that I slipped over the edge in stating why I thought it was going to
happen into sounding like I advocate such an event.  It won't be the last
time I do such a thing, I promise you.
 
J. michael Jackson
 
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