The college hockey landscape as we know it may never be the same. According to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha, Denver, Colorado College, and Minnesota-Duluth from the WCHA will join Miami from the CCHA in forming a new 'Super Conference' that is set to start play in 2013. That is the same season that Wisconsin and Minnesota will break away from the WCHA to join Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State in the new Big Ten Hockey Conference.
Speculation as to what the remaining schools would do has been rampant since the Big Ten announced it would start to sponsor hockey as a conference sport in 2013. One of the major players in the discussion, Notre Dame has yet to announce where they will play when the dust settles. Schlossman mentions that they are still a possibility to join the 'Super Conference' but there has also been talk of them becoming members of the Hockey East conference with Boston College, Boston University, Maine, and New Hampshire, etc. Western Michigan has also been rumored as a possible team to join the new conference.
The biggest losers in all of this are the schools left behind in the WCHA and CCHA which include St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska. Alabama-Huntsville is currently playing as an independent and could potentially join up with the remaining schools in some fashion.
Schlossman tweeted out this afternoon that he expects an official announcement to come sometime next week, possibly Wednesday. Additionally former Badger hockey beat writer Todd Milewski noted that the teams from the west who were left out of the 'Super Conference' are having a conference call today to discuss their statuses.
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