Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.Now it's official.
In a joint press release sent at noon Saturday, UNO and five other schools confirmed that they intend to break away from their current conferences and form a new hockey league that will hit the ice in 2013-14.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha, North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth will exit the WCHA, while Miami University (Ohio) will depart the CCHA.
Saturday's three-paragraph press release verified the information that several newspapers, including The World-Herald, reported Thursday.
The six schools will hold a joint press conference and offer further details Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“We understand and appreciate the widespread interest in developments relating to the formation of the new hockey conference,” the statement read. “More information will be provided about the initiatives that have been undertaken, as well as the next steps involved, at a news conference in Colorado Springs this Wednesday.”
The press release also noted that “there will be no further comment from athletic directors, coaches or other officials from any of the institutions until Wednesday's news conference.”
It's possible that Notre Dame of the CCHA and one other school could join UNO's new conference. But the intentions of the Fighting Irish apparently won't be known until later this summer. Notre Dame, also being courted by Hockey East, continues to weigh its options, according to numerous reports.
This move by UNO and the five other schools is a counterpunch to the formation of Big Ten hockey, which also will begin during the 2013-14 season.
The Big Ten announced it will form its own six-team league in March, taking Minnesota and Wisconsin out of the WCHA and Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State from the CCHA. Division I newcomer Penn State, which will start skating in 2012-13, will be the sixth member of the Big Ten.
The WCHA and CCHA will maintain their current membership for both 2011-12 and 2012-13. Saturday's press release mentioned that the six schools “look forward to continued associations with our current leagues for the next two seasons.”
But the formation of the new so-called super conference has rocked college hockey to its foundation, and the teams left behind in the WCHA and CCHA appear to be surprised and upset about the six schools' decision to break away.
The Big Ten's announcement ruffled plenty of feathers back in March, and news of this new conference has stirred up even more resentment.
In a story published Friday in the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Anchorage Athletic Director Steve Cobb said he didn't “think anybody saw this coming.”
“At our (WCHA) meeting in April, we voted to extend an invitation to Miami and Notre Dame,” Cobb told the newspaper. “That passed with 100 percent of the vote. Nobody said they were unhappy. We left the April meeting, and basically some (schools) contacted Notre Dame and Miami and said, ‘Don't take the WCHA invitation, we're going to invite you to join our super league.'
“I blame everybody for being less than honest with their own league members. It's a really sneaky back-door deal.”
The five teams left in the WCHA will be Alaska Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State-Mankato and St. Cloud State.
Remaining CCHA schools will be Alaska Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan. Western Michigan, also of the CCHA, was rumored to be a potential member of UNO's future conference. But it's unclear whether the Broncos ultimately will be involved.
It's expected that the remaining WCHA and CCHA members will consolidate. But it's uncertain which teams will be involved, and it's unknown which conference might orchestrate the merger.
The five remaining teams in the WCHA reportedly will meet sometime next week in Minnesota to start talking about their next move. As of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Commissioner Bruce McLeod and the WCHA had not released any statements responding to the earlier press release.
“I don't know what these five schools are gaining by leaving the WCHA. What is better for them in a new league?” McLeod told the Duluth News Tribune Friday. “From a common sense standpoint, I don't know why you would want to do this. Why would they want to give up good conference relationships that they've formed?
“I haven't heard from any one of the schools about why they're leaving. With Minnesota and Wisconsin leaving, you can't be what you were as a league, but we would've still had a good, solid league. I just wish people would've stopped, taken a deep breath, taken a step back and thought about what they were giving up. What was the rush? These (five) teams can't blame WCHA (inefficiency) for their actions. This is in their lap. The WCHA has a good track record.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com
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