MSU's off! ... Leitner's in ... Notre Dame decides

The Minnesota State men's hockey team left town early Thursday for their season-opening series at RPI in Troy, N.Y. The Mavericks have never played the Engineers before, but it shapes up to be a competitive series (more on that on Friday). ...

One of the players on the trip is freshman Matt Leitner, who missed all of last season while getting his academics in order. He was a student at MSU but did not practice or work out with the team. Monday's exhibition game against British Columbia was Leitner's first game action in almost 18 months, he said.

Leitner said he achieved a 3.2 GPA in his first year of school, which is great for him and the Mavericks. He has a chance to be the kind of top-line center MSU has lacked in recent years.

You can read more about his thoughts and other MSU happenings (like Mavs women's standout Kathleen Rogan being named WCHA offensive player of the week) in The Free Press' weekly college hockey notebook here. ...

Meanwhile, Notre Dame made it official on Wednesday, announcing that it will join Hockey East in 2013-14. The Irish also announced that all of their home games will be broadcast nationally on Versus (now the NBC Sports Network), a move that, ironically, caused the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to back away from its desire to get Notre Dame.

(This all begs the question: If the NCHC didn't get Notre Dame and didn't get a national TV contract, what the heck did it get to make it worth breaking up the WCHA this summer?)

For now, that appears to be the final domino to fall since Penn State's announcement that it was adding hockey a little more than a year ago — at least in the West. There is speculation that we might see some shuffling in the East, as Hockey East looks for a 12th team. RPI could be a possibility or maybe a new D-I team. Stay tuned. ...

As for the WCHA, I wrote on Wednesday that it and MSU needs to start selling the future. But Kevin Gordon of the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune has already started looking into it. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told him that the league is no hurry to expand further (although 10 teams would be preferable to nine/check out the poll to the right) and will continue to play a 28-game league schedule.

McLeod also said the league is looking into how to fit two Alaska teams into the schedule.

Here's where the western teams will be in 2013-14 (as of right now):

WCHA
Minnesota State
Bemidji State
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior State
Ferris State
Bowling Green
Alaska-Anchorage
Alaska

BIG 10
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State

NCHC
North Dakota
Denver
Colorado College
Minnesota Duluth
St. Cloud State
Nebraska Omaha
Miami
Western Michigan

Notre Dame to Hockey East ... Air Force in Atlantic Hockey ... Alabama-Huntsville still independent

It's gameday!

Minnesota State will take the ice for the first time in 2011-12 tonight when they host British Columbia in an exhibition game.

This will be the third game in as many days for BC, which lost to Nebraska-Omaha 4-1 on Saturday and Minnesota 3-0 on Sunday. This is the final exhibition game for WCHA teams, which went 8-0-1 in preseason action over the weekend.

Of course, PucKato will be live blogging from the game, so check back later for that. Lines will be posted when available.

If you're looking for a little Monday Morning Skate, check out my story on the Mavericks kicking off the season with a lot of last season's close losses — including a pesky playoff stretch totaling 2 minutes, 25 seconds — still in their heads.

In other college hockey  happenings, it appears Notre Dame apparently has made a decision and will go to Hockey East in 2013-14. At least that's what the South Bend Tribune is speculating, and why not? The Irish haven't announced it officially, yet but the National Collegiate Hockey Conference is planning on it, announcing over the weekend that it will be an eight-team conference when it starts up.

That, of course, leaves Bowling Green, which has a deadline of Friday to decide on its invitation to the WCHA.

In women's hockey, the Minnesota State women's team opened the season with a sweep of Lindenwood. The Mavericks won 4-3 and 10-2. Sophomore Kathleen Rogan picked up where she left off last year and scored five goals in the series, including four on Saturday. Lauren Barnes, the sophomore transfer from Mercyhurst, had a goal and four assists. Her goal was Friday's game-winner.

WCHA's future coming into focus (updated)

MSU played Bowling Green in 2009. Could the
Falcons be a WCHA rival for the Mavericks in 2013?

Don't call them the "leftovers" anymore.

In two years, the hockey teams left behind following the departure of schools to the Big Ten and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference could be forming their own "super league." On Thursday, the WCHA's remaining teams invited the five remaining CCHA teams to join forces for 2013-14.

Alaska and Lake Superior State already have accepted the offer, and Ferris State appears close to making a decision, (UPDATE) as has Ferris State. Bowling Green has yet to issue a statement yet, and Western Michigan says its exploring all of its options. WMU has made no secret that it is waiting to see what Notre Dame decides to do. Notre Dame was not among the CCHA schools invited to the WCHA because it's clear that the Irish are moving on.

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told the St. Cloud Times that this is not a merger of the WCHA and CCHA. This is an invitation to join the WCHA. No matter what you call it, it's the end of the CCHA, which has been around for 40 years.

As it stands current, the WCHA will have eight nine teams in 2013-14 — Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Lake Superior State and Ferris State — and likely nine once Ferris State jumps aboard. That number could rise as high as 11, depending on what the other three schools decide.

Interestingly, the nine schools are all Division II schools that have Division I hockey programs. Western Michigan and Bowling Green are Division I across the board. An MSU official recently told me that it would be nice to have a DI school in the WCHA, as it would give the league a vote during NCAA DI meetings.

The decision appears to be a good one for the health of college hockey. And, in light of the potential damage done to the sport by the Big Ten and the NCHC it was good of the WCHA school presidents to invite everyone, rather than just pick and choose from the scraps (still, this makes me curious about the future of Alabama-Huntsville).

There are many things to work out, of course. Scheduling should be interesting, with two Alaska teams, three in Upper Michigan and one in the lower part of the state. There will be talks about a conference tournament format, bylaws and finances. Also, fans of the current WCHA teams will have to learn about their new rivals. One bad thing about the death of the CCHA will be the loss of an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The extra at-large bid might be tough for the WCHA to cling to, while the Big Ten and the NCHC will be licking their chops for it.