CCHA to Remain at 11 Teams, Rejects Alabama Huntsville's Application
by Maize n Brew Dave on Aug 12, 2009 12:20 PM CDT
in Michigan Hockey
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PrintIf you've read this blog for any period of time, you know that we're fairly passionate about our hockey here. That's why this news is fairly distressing to us. Yesterday, the CCHA denied the University of Alabama Huntsville's application to join the league. What it means is the CCHA will remain an 11 team conference for the foreseeable future and yet another college hockey program is left on life support. As Yost Built points out there may be some behind-the-scenes reasoning for the denial that we're not aware of...
[T]he conference [may] know something we don't about the future of the Bowling Green program and they didn't want to go up to 12 only to be back down to 11 a year later.
For those who don't know, UAH won the DII national championship in 1994 and moved to D1 in 1998-1999. Despite having a conference made up of transitioning DII teams, the Chargers have shown they belong at the major college level of hockey. The local papers have some details on the denial:
In an e-mail, Anastos said major issues of concern for the CCHA Council included economics, facilities and location.
Yost Built takes exception to some of these arguments:
The Chargers have a 6,600 seat arena, and Huntsville is no further than Omaha was. I'd love to know what the true story is....and what the plan is moving forward. It's hard to believe the conference would be happy sticking with 11 teams. [Also] But BGSU just got $4 million for arena improvements, so that doesn't make much sense either.
Who knows. It's really bad news for the sport in general that UAH was denied. The amount of attention that College hockey has received over the last few years has been astonishing to any fan of the game who's watched iit for more than a year. National attention. Players at the college level are turning into superstars at the next levell. Public and professional attention has never been higher. And now the CCHA has basically signed the death certificate of a team with a national championship (DII). What's frustating at a MIchigan level is the loss of the potential exposure for hockey and Michigan in a corner of the world that doesn't get to see the winged helmet all that often. Imagine having southern kids saying they saw the winged helmet for the first time at a Hockey Game! It really would've been a good thing.
the bottom line is I can't bear to see another hockey program go by the wayside. Unless there's something we don't know about, the CCHA's decision makes little sense. I'm with Western College Hockey Blog on this one, this move effectively kills UAH's hockey program. This is not a good day for college hockey.
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Let’s go back to the days of every team being an independent!
by formerlyanonymous on Aug 12, 2009 12:36 PM CDT reply actions
Surprised...
I will say I’m surprised they got turned down, especially since they just let UNO slip through the cracks. However, I will disagree and say I’m not disappointed.
I know, I know…losing a team is bad, blah blah, less exposure, blah blah, they won a DII title 15 years ago, blah blah… But UAH is a program that has been on a major decline over the past three years. The past two years they have won five games and six games respectively.
I’m not saying they can’t turn around and be decent, though it might be a bit of a challenge. But you have to ask, from a conference standpoint, is it really a positive to the CCHA as a whole to bring a team like that in to the fold? Right now you’re looking at a potential perennial bottom feeder. How is that going to benefit the league? Why add a 12th team that will water down the league’s profile? Perhaps it’s better to go with 11 teams who are stronger and added a few more good non-conference opponents or face a few more teams within the league a couple more games.
Or maybe the CCHA has something else up their sleeves. Ship UAH to Atlantic Hockey and take a team like Mercyhurst, which has had a consistently strong record since joining D-I in 2000 and is located much closer to CCHA territory in Erie, PA. I’d much prefer that option over UAH.
What makes you think Mercyhurst is any better than UAH? Seriously, UAH is a 18 scholarship team and the AHA is a 11 scholarship league, there is the false perception out there that the soon to be defunk CHA is behind the truth is that in it’s hay day before the bleeding of team the CHA was a much stronger league. NU and RMU has to cut scholarships to join the AHA, they are taking a step down.
CCHA rejects UAH
UAH won 2 Division II national championships (1996 and 1998, which is not 15 years ago) and was runnerup in 2 others. They won just a few games over the last two seasons because their outgoing coach slipped on recruitment and the current coach had just 2 seniors his first season and 4 last year. By the way, 3 years ago they took No. 1 Notre Dame to 3 OTs in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Will UAH “water down the league’s profile?” That remains to be seen but maybe the first test will be the weekend of Oct. 9 when UAH visits Notre Dame.
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