It’s no longer a shock to the powers that be in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Collegiate Hockey Association that its membership was rocked by the new league, which introduced itself Wednesday in a press conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will drop its first puck in the 2013-14 season.
The Nat —which sounds better on second reference than “NCHC” — features Miami (Ohio) of the CCHA and WCHA teams North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota-Duluth, the reigning D-I national champion.
The Nat is a response to the Big Ten Hockey Conference, which was born earlier this year and will hit the ice in 2013-14 with current CCHA teams Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State; WCHA teams Minnesota and Wisconsin; and the new program at Penn State.
This group of six also has the guarantee of cable television exposure on the Big Ten Network.
Now for the remaining teams each in the WCHA and CCHA, they have to respond to the changes. Among those seeking a way to stay above water amid college hockey’s latest metamorphosis are the CCHA’s Alaska Nanooks and the WCHA’s Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.
Athletic directors from the WCHA’s remaining five — UAA, Michigan Tech and Minnesota schools St. Cloud State, Bemidji State and Minnesota State-Mankato — are scheduled to meet Friday in Minneapolis to determine their future.
Meanwhile, the CCHA and officials from its remaining teams — the Nanooks, Bowling Green, Notre Dame and Michigan programs Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan and Western Michigan — haven’t scheduled a meeting but they know something needs to be done before 2013-14.
There’s a sense of urgency, too, for the CCHA because Notre Dame and Western Michigan may decide to bolt for the Nat.
It’s obvious that the Nat founders know that a household name like Notre Dame adds prestige to their neighborhood.
If Notre Dame and Western Michigan decide to become the seventh and eighth members of the Nat, that leaves the CCHA and WCHA with five teams apiece.
It also leaves the possibility of a new 10-team conference.
A name at the moment is irrelevant, but possibilities are the Horizon Hockey Association, or New Frontier Conference, or CenWest College Hockey because it would be cool to refer to its members as Cenners on second reference.
The 10-team group also could become a 12-team super league by rescuing Alabama-Huntsville from its independent status and adding Minnesota State-Moorhead if the interest its administration showed two years ago in having varsity college hockey is still alive.
However, money is going to determine what directions will be taken by the Nanooks, UAA and the remaining members of their respective conferences.
Travel costs, whether for a program going on the road or to bring in an opponent, will be taken into consideration, particularly by the Alaska schools.
You can only wonder, too, how the NCAA will deal with this chameleon nature of college hockey.
For example, will it reduce the number of required regular season games — now at 34 — if some schools can’t afford to play that many? Will the NCAA Tournament be expanded or reduced from its current 16-team field?
It used to be that college hockey teams could focus on offseason conditioning at this time of the year.
Now several programs have to concern themselves with if they’re taking off to a new conference, or if they’re taking off forever.
Contact staff writer Danny Martin at dmartin@newsminer.com or 459-7586.
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