Just a heads-up that the NCAA convention is next week in Washington, D.C., and during it, the WCHA will hold meetings that could change the college hockey landscape.
The league meetings on Thursday include a discussion of the moratorium on expansion that has been in place since Minnesota State joined in 1999. Six of the league’s 10 schools have to be in favor of its elimination for it to disappear. That’s a lot easier proposition than admitting another team, which takes eight votes.
Thursday’s meeting could be viewed as a critical moment in the process of any future conference movements. The first thought is of Bemidji State, which has staked part of its future on getting admitted into the WCHA men’s league (its women’s program is already a member).
Based on what I’ve heard and my own thoughts, I’m guessing that a vote to eliminate the moratorium will be a close one, and if it passes, it won’t be by much. That means that even if it does passes, Bemidji State still has an uphill climb to get eight WCHA schools to approve admission.
This strikes me as a dominos kind of thing — with one move, a whole set of things could happen.
