WCHA, CCHA meet

Officials from the WCHA and CCHA met on Tuesday to discuss the future of those conferences once the Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conference start up in 2013. Officials from all of the so-called "leftover" schools — except for Notre Dame, which appears to be heading to Hockey East or the NCHC —attended the meeting.

In a press release, commissioners Bruce McLeod and Fred Pletsch said:

 "This was an important and productive meeting, for all involved parties. We asked everyone in attendance to be open, honest and frank in discussing their concerns, hopes and visions for the future of their respective programs. We recognize that where there is change there is also opportunity. We plan to continue our discussions in the future and to continue to explore all options.

"One crucial thing that came out of the joint meeting today was the word 'commitment'. All of these institutions are totally committed to fielding the most competitive and successful programs possible and to provide the best possible experience for their student-athletes."

The St. Cloud Times' Mick Hatten caught up with McLeod and got a bit more info on the meeting.

Among the topics discussed were: sharing of institutional and hockey program information (including financial, facilities, community support, staffing and travel), scheduling and championship scenarios, and membership and league affiliation (including league size, automatic qualifiers, etc.).

The WCHA has already accepted Northern Michigan into its league for 2013, and McLeod has been to Fairbanks, Alaska, to talk to officials there. Still, this sure looks like the idea of a merger is at least being studied.

As it currently stands, the two conferences will look like this in two years:

WCHA: Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan

CCHA: Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Alaska

Questions and issues: The CCHA needs one more team to have the minimum six required to keep its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament (Do the two conferences want to give up one of those bids by merging?) ... What if Alaska goes to the WCHA? ... Western Michigan has hinted that it would like to go where Notre Dame goes. Is that still a possibility? ... The CCHA has also met with Atlantic Hockey and some of its members, including Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Robert Morris. ... And is there a place for Alabama-Huntsville in all of this?