The WCHA has scheduled a 5 p.m. teleconference today to break some big news. The University of Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State will be joining the 10-team conference in the 2010-11 season, according to a story in the Duluth News-Tribune.

The Beavers applied to the WCHA in April, but a vote on adding one team was tabled. Instead, commissioner Bruce McLeod made it his mission this summer to find a 12th team.

Apparently, he did in UNO. The Mavericks are members of the CCHA now. But earlier this month, Nebraska-Omaha hired a coach well-known in WCHA circles in Dean Blais.

Blais won two NCAA titles coaching at North Dakota. Many considered his hiring a sign of which way UNO was leaning as the WCHA openly courted the Mavericks.

With Bemidji State, the number of Minnesota teams in the WCHA will grow from four to five. The University of Minnesota was one of the Beavers’ strongest supporters on the issue of whether to admit them.

BSU belongs to the four-team College Hockey America conference, but that is disbanding after this coming season. So the timing is perfect for the Beavers to join the WCHA in 2010-11.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.