WCHA commish Bruce McLeod said Wednesday that he expects the conference to release details soon of what the 2010-11 schedule will look like and how the conference playoffs will work.

“Within two weeks, we should have news on both,” he said.

The WCHA will grow to 12 teams in 2010-11 with the addition of Bemidji State and Neb.-Omaha.

Most college hockey people expect the WCHA to go to a Final Six in 2011, with all 12 teams playing in the first round and the six winners advancing to the Xcel Energy Center.

In St. Paul, there would be two quarterfinals on Thusday instead of one, two semifinals Friday as is the case now and a championship game on Saturday. The third-place game would probably be eliminated.

As far as the regular-season schedule with 12 teams, here is one way to keep the 28-game conference schedule:

* Create three pods of four teams. Play one two-game series against every team (22 games) and the three teams in your pod in two series, one home, one away (six games). That’s 28 games.

* One of the teams in each team’s pod would be your arch-rival. In Minnesota’s case, that is considered to be Wisconsin. The other two teams would rotate in. So it will take five years for every team to be in the Gophers’ pod.

PROPOSED AMATEUR RULE SCARY FOR PUCK  

The NCAA committee on amateurism is looking at a key rules change, McLeod said, being advocated by tennis.

“We just get caught up in that,” McLeod said. “NCAA bylaws are not specific to any sport, so it could have a major effect on us. It’s a pretty big deal.”

It’s the tainted issue. A college athlete who plays with pro players is now considered a pro. The new proposal would allow college players to retain their eligibility if they play with or against pros as long as they remain amateurs.

Major Junior A hocky in Canada has players who have signed with NHL teams. Now players who want to play college hockey can’t play in that league.

But the proposed rule change, McLeod said, would remove the tainted issue. A hockey player who wants to keep his college options would be able to play major juniors in Canada for one season beyond high school and remain an amatuer.

College hockey is overwhelming against the proposed change, McLeod said.

It would mean colleges would either lose players or have them for one less year.

The USHL would also be affected. High School players would be able to play only one season. After that, with every extra USHL season, players would lose a year of college eligibility.

This legislation is in the pipeline, McLeod said, with the next meeting of the committee on amateurism set for late August.

The commissioners of the six college hockey conferences are trying to get their sport excluded from the new proposal. “We’ve talked to the NCAA, we are working on it,” McLeod said.

The U.S. national development program in Ann Arbor, Mich., also would be hurt by removing the tainted tag. “If [young] players could play 80 games without any ramifications, they might want to play in Canada,” McLeod said.

EARLY EXODUS SLOWS

Do the math. Nine WCHA players opted to leave college with eligibility by signing pro contracts.

Some were big names such as forward Ryan Stoa of the Gophers and defenseman Jamie McBain of Wisconsin.

But only nine have left so far. “We are kind of down,” McLeod said. “We have had as high as 18. I don’t know if our kids are not as good this year, but we are definitely down in the numbers [leaving early].

“We are very happy with that. And some prime prospects, like several at Denver, stayed. We are making a little progress with kids staying in school and playing college hockey first.” 

The nine early departues:

Minnesota: Ryan Stoa, F, jr.

Alaska-Anchorage: Paul Crowder, F, jr. 

Colorado College: Richard Bachman, G, so.; Brian Connelly, D, jr.

Denver: Tyler Bozak, F, so.

Minnesota State Mankato: Trevor Bruess, F, jr.

UMD: Alex Stalock, G, jr.; Evan Oberg, D, so.

Wisconsin: Jamie McBain, D, jr.

Minnesota: Ryan Stoa, F

Wisconsin: Jamie McBain, D

NO COMMENT ON CCHA

McLeod chose to say anything about the CCHA’s recent decision to deny Alabama-Birmingham’s request for admission.

“It’s a pretty sensitive situation,” he said.

Forrest Karr, Alaska Fairbanks athletic director, said a lot of criteria were discussed Tuesday about Alabama-Huntsville’s application, particularly the UAH campus and the Chargers’ home arena.

“Some people had concerns about a lack of commitment, a firm agreement with the facility down there and low attendance in recent years,” Karr said, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

UAH averaged 2,688 fans last season in an arena which seats 6,602.

Other concerns, Karr said, included “the institution not being in a major recruiting market, the general economic climate across the country and the student-athlete welfare (of other CCHA schools) because of missed class time due to long bus trips.”

ELSEWHERE

The U.S. team beat Finland 3-2 in the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial in Piestany, Slovakia. Kevin Hayes had two goals and Charlie Coyle scored the game-winner on a penalty shot with under seven minutes left.

Eric Rud, a St. Cloud State assistant, is the head coach of the team.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 3:57 pm and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.