"Really sneaky back-door deal"

The harshest (public) criticism of the so-called "Super League" has been cast by Alaska-Anchorage athletic director  Steve Cobb who called it a "really sneaky back-door deal." Read more in this piece by the Anchorage Daily News' Beth Bragg. Cobb says that WCHA teams seemed united during their April meetings and the OK was given to invite Notre Dame and Miami into the league.

"Nobody said they were unhappy," Cobb told the Daily News. "We left the April meeting and basically some of them contacted Notre Dame and Miami and said, 'Don't take the WCHA invitation; we're going to invite you to join our super league.'

"I blame everybody for being less than honest with their own league members. It's a really sneaky back-door deal."

Cobb said he will be flying to Minneapolis next week to meet with ADs from the other WCHA leftovers, including Minnesota State, to discuss their future.

Meanwhile, St. Cloud State has said it will not be joining the Super League (there have been rumblings of them being a bubble team as the breakaways await word from Notre Dame). According to the St. Cloud Times' Mick Hatten, SCSU president Earl H. Potter III said the school expected to be involved in Super League talks ... "But as we looked at it we intended to say no." Potter said SCSU wasn't invited to the league but it sounds like officials had access to, as the story says, balance sheets, attendance projections, strength of rivalries and several other items.

"We intend to stay in the WCHA and take a leadership role to continue the legacy of the WCHA," Potter said.

Back to Cobb, the next two years in the league are going to be interesting after reading this quote:

"I'm not offended at all they want to start a conference. I'm very offended at the way it was handled. We've got two years left, and I assume it's going to be very tense and very uncomfortable."

McKelvie hired at Lake Forest

Former Minnesota State hockey player Ryan McKelvie has been hired as the head coach at Division III Lake Forest College in Illinois. McKelvie spent the last season as an assistant at Alaska-Anchorage. Before that, he was the associate head coach for the Wenatchee Wild junior team in the North American Hockey League for two years and a graduate assistant at Bemidji State prior to that.

McKelvie was at Minnesota State from 2002 to 2006 and was a three-year assistant captain.

He takes over a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2005-06. The Foresters went 5-21-1 last season, playing in the MCHA with Adrian, Concordia (Wis.), Finlandia, Lawrence, Marian, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Northland.

While with the Seawolves, McKelvie helped UAA to one of its best seasons in several years and its second trip to the WCHA Final Five.

"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to lead the Lake Forest College men's hockey program," McKelvie said in a school press release (read the entire release here). "It was clear throughout the interview process and during my visit to campus that my coaching goals align with those of the college. Recent enhancements to the rink and other athletic facilities at the college also strengthen my believe that Forester hockey has the potential to be very successful."

Alaska-Anchorage also had a release about McKelvie's departure. Said coach Dave Shyiak: "Ryan has been an integral part of our success this year. He has worked very hard in his responsibilities and recruiting efforts. This is a great opportunity for him at Lake Forest College and we wish him all the best and thank him for all he has done."

For more, check out Doyle Woody's blog.

Friday morning skate

Pat Christman photo

This is it. The final week of the regular season. The final home games in Mankato for the year. The final home games for Kurt Davis, Ben Youds, Rylan Galiardi, Channing Boe and Andy Sackrison -- and Brett Peterson (who, apparently, will play on Senior Night).

For the Mavericks, those seniors, who collectively have played 671 games in an MSU uniform, would like to leave the Verizon Wireless Center with a few more memories of their careers. 

Minnesota State will host Alaska-Anchorage and on the line are higher spots in the standings, better seedings for the WCHA playoffs and general preparedness for the postseason. You can read more about the Seawolves here.

Going around the rest of the WCHA, the next two nights are going to decide the pairings for the WCHA tournament, so there will be plenty of scoreboard watching. Here are the matchups:

Minnesota at Bemidji State: A lot of fans around the league have enjoyed the demise of the Gophers, but look out  now. The Gophers are 4-0-1 in their last five games and sitting pretty for home ice. One reason for that turnaround is the play of Jacob Cepis, something the senior credits to a talk with his coach. For the Beavers, they are hoping to improve their playoff position and get out the 10th-place tie with MSU.

Colorado College at Wisconsin: Interesting series here. CC sits one point ahead of Wisco in the standings, and the difference their spots is the difference between home ice and a road trip for the first round. For the Badgers, they're also trying to snap a six-game winless streak in which they suddenly can't score goals and have seen their once-great goaltending slip. The Tigers, meanwhile, are enjoying the return of freshman Jaden Schwartz, but not to be discounted is the play of his big brother, Rylan.

Nebraska-Omaha at Minnesota Duluth: Another matchup with implications for the final standings. This series may determine who draws MSU for the playoffs. There's also the chance to finish second in the WCHA, something the red Mavericks couldn't have imagined back in October. For the Bulldogs, this will be the first time coach Scott Sandelin will be facing his old coach, boss and mentor, Dean Blais, in seven years.

St. Cloud State at Denver: Denver is in second place and would like to keep that spot. The Pioneers also have a chance to see star forward Jason Zucker become the second freshman in WCHA history to win the league scoring title. Zucker has a one-point lead over Duluth's Jack Connolly. The Huskies, meanwhile, have been on a tear of late, losing just one of their last six games. Senior Garrett Roe has been very good and needs just eight points to become St. Cloud's all-time leading scorer.

North Dakota at Michigan Tech: The only first-round matchup that's set for next week is league-champion North Dakota hosting last-place Michigan Tech. The two teams will get a warmup series against each other in Houghton this weekend first. One thing the Fighting Sioux won't be doing this weekend, apparently, is resting their players for next week. They want to keep their seven-game unbeaten streak alive. For the Huskies, this series marks the end of what's been an exasperating season.

More WCHA predictions continue to trickle in. Here's another from College Hockey News, along with some conference award voting. Read the USCHO weekly preview here. (By the way, nice to see both CHN's and USCHO's coverage comes from former Free Press stringers Dan Myers and Tyler Buckentine. Good work, boys!)