Sports: Men's Hockey

WCHA looking to add 2 teams

Currently a 10-school league, conferences hopes to expand soon to 12 programs

If all goes according to plan, Western Collegiate Hockey Association men’s hockey will be welcoming two new members into its ranks sometime over the next few months.

Currently a 10-team league, the WCHA decided at its annual meeting Tuesday to entertain bids from other schools in hopes of expanding to a 12-team conference.

“The Western Collegiate Hockey Association membership today took a positive step forward in their decision to embrace possible expansion,” WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod said in a statement. “And we will continue to explore we may expand once we have completed further studies and once we have been able to identify potential members that fit the league’s criteria for membership.”

The last time the league expanded was in the 1999-2000 season, when Minnesota State joined to make it an even 10 teams.

McLeod said the WCHA decided against expanding to only 11 teams due to problems with scheduling and financial issues.

According to McLeod, the biggest incentive with expanding to a 12-team league comes in the playoffs. Although its not yet finalized, McLeod said the popular “Final Five” would transform into the Final Six. Traditionally a physical league, many WCHA coaches have taken issue with the third place game in recent years hurting their teams for the NCAA tournament.

“Our coaches are very concerned about the third place game,” McLeod said during a teleconference Tuesday. “One suggestion has been to approach the Final Five as a Final Six.”

Already operating during the regular season with an unbalanced schedule, the expansion to 12 teams would only push the schedule cycle from four years to five years. According to McLeod, league officials decided at the meeting to operate under a schedule of three and four team pods, to help preserve rivalries.

“Right now we are talking about three pods of four with a traditional partner and the other teams moving within the pod,” McLeod said. “Five years with the imbalanced model for that to work out for everybody.”

In the lead for one of the two bids is Bemidji State University. A member of this year’s Frozen Four, the Beavers presented their application Monday but were put on hold after the league decided to expand to 12 instead of 11 teams.

“The WCHA also wants to note that Bemidji State University’s presentation to the league at the annual meeting on April 27 was very professional and well received,” McLeod said in a statement. “The BSU student body, faculty, alumni, and the entire community should know that the league membership came away impressed with the University’s commitment to the student-athlete, both on and off the ice, the long track record of success their hockey program has achieved, the breaking of ground for the new Bemidji State Regional Events Center, and the degree of excitement throughout the community and northern Minnesota for the future of BSU Hockey.”

McLeod will spend the next few months speaking with potential applicant schools, and he said he was hopeful this would be accomplished by midsummer, though no final date has been set. While BSU came to the WCHA seeking a membership from the conference, McLeod will help search to reach 12 schools.

“The direction I got from the Athletic Directors’ is they definitely want me to be more aggressive in my pursuit for No. 12,” McLeod said. “Once I get an indication from [other teams] hopefully I can find a way to ethically work through the proper channels to encourage them.”