College sports fans will mostly remember the summer of 2010 as the summer of conference realignment. Schools broke with tradition, new controversies were created seemingly each day and some athletic programs were left wondering where they would find a home.
Though not as widely publicized as the college football shakeup you may be thinking of, the move to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association by UNO hockey can be considered dramatic and exciting as well.
Breaking away from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (the only conference they’ve ever known), the Mavs will be dropping the puck against WCHA foes this fall and winter. Big name opponents such as Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame are being replaced with the likes of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. With the move UNO hockey joins the most prestigious hockey league in the nation.
WCHA teams have won a record 36 men’s national championships and had a runner-up in the championship game 28 times. The most recent national champion to emerge from the WCHA was the University of Wisconsin in 2006. Such consistent national success attracts a crop of players unlike any other in college hockey.
Last year alone, 96 former WCHA players appeared in at least one NHL game.
The most recent data available from the CCHA indicated that 76 former players had seen ice time in the 2008-2009 NHL season.
“The league provides more high-end athletes,” said UNO Director of Hockey Operations and Assistant Coach Nick Fohr. “You see that in the draft picks out of the WCHA every year. There are a lot of definite high-end kids.”
Mavericks head coach Dean Blais brings a special appreciation for the WCHA, having served as the head coach for North Dakota for 11 seasons, during which he earned honors as Conference and National Coach of the year, as well as two National Championships. Fohr feels this relationship could lend itself to an immediate conference rivalry.
“You can never be sure how these things develop, but on paper, North Dakota looks like a rivalry right off the bat,” he said.
Some of the potential for rivalry exists because many of the players on the UNO roster have 10, 20 or more friends or former teammates on WCHA squads.
Junior defenseman Nick Von Bokern counted more than 40 that immediately came to mind.
The move is a source of gratification for the team and Von Bokern.
“Most of us grew up watching the WCHA,” he said. “The biggest thing is we’ve played with a lot of these guys. We understand more of the opponents we’re playing.”
“It’s not that it will make us play harder, but it adds a little bit of pride. I lived 10 minutes from Mariucci Arena. For someone like me from Minnesota that’s a place you want to be able to say you played in and hopefully won in.”
From a regional standpoint the move makes a lot of sense. Most CCHA members are located in the Eastern time zone and close to or more than 750 miles from Omaha. By comparison, the WCHA only has two schools more than 600 miles from Omaha – Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage.
“Our shortest bus trip in the CCHA was 10 hours,” said Fohr. “Our shortest bus trip now is four and a half hours. The easiest and true benefit of the WCHA is travel. We’re going from having to fly everywhere to only having to fly a couple times a year.”
Travel is not the only benefit the Mavericks hope to have on their side. Half of the teams in the WCHA play on Olympic-size hockey rinks that are 13 feet wider than the NHL-sized rinks most other college teams play on.
The extra space makes for fast teams that push the play and play an open, free-flowing style of hockey.
“One word with coach Blais is speed,” said Fohr. “Playing in those buildings will help us in that way.”
Von Bokern said he felt it’s more about the team’s execution than it is the size of the rink.
“Big rinks can help or hurt,” he said. “I don’t think either hurts or helps us. We’ll have an advantage on either because of our conditioning. It’s more about how we play approach. If we do what we do and we do it well we shouldn’t have to change anything.”
The transition of college hockey conferences probably began almost two years ago when it appeared College Hockey America, a four-team conference, was approaching extinction. Bemidji State University, a member of the now defunct CHA, seemed a natural fit for the WCHA due to its vicinity to other WCHA schools.
Yet there were initial concerns about an 11-team conference. An uneven number of teams means someone has to sit out every weekend of conference play or find a non-conference opponent to fill in.
Finding a non-conference opponent during conference play is difficult when all the other conferences have an even number of teams. In addition, 11 teams make setting up a post-season conference tournament somewhat of a challenge because of the odd number.
This concern seemed to have a ready-made solution in acquiring UNO along with Bemidji State.
However, UNO had concerns for jumping out of the CCHA as well. According to a New York Times article last summer, WCHA policy includes rules that do not allow new teams to share in playoff revenue immediately upon entry into the conference. There is also a fairly substantial expansion fee for any school joining the WCHA.
Through the work of Maverick Athletic Director Trev Alberts, UNO was able to negotiate with Bruce McLeod the WCHA Conference Commissioner, and the rest of the conference, to allow the Mavs some share of playoff revenue the first two years as a conference member.
UNO’s acceptance into the Western College Hockey Association became official July 1.
When asked what UNO fans could expect to see different from the team, Fohr indicated there wouldn’t be a lot of noticeable differences.
“There won’t be anything new from us,” he said. “The WCHA has a lot of really good programs. They’ve won the majority of the national championships over the last decade. The caliber of opponents is very high. But we’re going to continue to play our game.”
The move for Von Bokern is bittersweet.
“Some of our fans have built up camaraderie with other CCHA fans and built up memories with these places,” Von Bokern said. “So it’s somewhat sad in that sense, but we’re looking forward to building new rivalries and memories. We’re excited for the opportunity to make a lot of firsts. We’ll be the first guys who’ll ever do any of these things in the WCHA for UNO.”
Conference changes, though, are rarely made seamlessly and without any negative effects. Recruiting is an initial concern that many Maverick hockey fans might have about a new conference.
Success in a conference that on paper, also seems more difficult, provides some anxiety as well.
“Coach Blais brought the recruiting aspect all on his own,” Fohr said. “We now have access to a lot of really good kids who grew up watching the WCHA.”
Will it be harder to win in the WCHA?
“Time will tell,” Fohr said. “We’ll have 11 freshmen this year and we’re pretty young, so it’s very difficult to say at this point.”
Von Bokern sees the new conference as a challenge to learn the ways other teams play the ice.
“There are a lot of big boys that play physical,” he said. “It’s a little more offensive. You knew with a team like Michigan who had skilled players that they were going to spread out the ice. WCHA teams have their own styles. Most, like Minnesota, are a lot more free flowing.”
One thing fans won’t see in WCHA league games like they did in the previous conference is a shootout. CCHA rules allowed for a shootout if teams were still tied after an overtime period. No such resolution exists in the WCHA. If teams are tied after overtime it goes down on the record as a tie.
When asked if he or his teammates had done anything different or special to play in the new league, Von Bokern indicated that it’s been a very physical summer.
“We emphasized getting big, strong and fast,” he said. “We’ve been trying to put on a lot of size and speed. It’s been four days a week for four months.”
Break-ups are rarely easy and without incident. UNO’s move to the Western College Hockey Association however, seems like a match made in heaven for a growing hockey program with its eyes on establishing itself as an annual championship contender.
UNO Hockey beings the 2010 campaign Oct.8 at home against Clarkson College and will have its first WCHA match-up just a week later when they travel to Minnesota to face the Golden Gophers on Oct. 15.