Another breakaway — St. Cloud State?

Well, it appears Western Michigan finally made up its mind, and it's decided to go to the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference instead of the WCHA. That is not a big surprise.

But "The National" is not getting its most coveted school, it appears — Notre Dame — so it looks like it's dipping back into the WCHA for more and inviting St. Cloud State to join the breakaway league. Reports out of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Grand Forks, N.D., say that St. Cloud is expected to accept the offer.

Since North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha announced they were leaving the WCHA to form the new league with Miami over the summer, St. Cloud State has been a part of the conversations to help keep the WCHA together. That included getting CCHA leftovers Northern Michigan, Alaska, Lake Superior State and Ferris State to join the league. Western Michigan was also invited, as was Bowling Green (there's probably a good chance Bowling Green will be in now).

After the NCHC's initial press conference, St. Cloud State president was vocal about his school not being part of the new league, saying: "The NCHC doesn't look like such a sweet deal for all of these teams." And: "We expected to be in conversations about (the NCHC). But as we looked at it ... we intended to say no."

This is a big blow to the remaining WCHA. St. Cloud State would have been a good rival for Minnesota State and Bemidji State and would have been a good balance, especially travel-wise, for a conference that would have had three Minnesota schools, two Alaska schools and four Michigan schools.

When all is said and done, the WCHA will be left with four current members in two years — MSU, Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage and Bemidji State.

This also begs the question: If the NCHC is taking away six of the WCHA's remaining 10 teams (after the formation of the Big Ten) and if the WCHA commissioner had permission to expand and invite Miami and Notre Dame (presumably while several schools already were conspiring to form a new league), what exactly is the point of the new league? To change leadership? To bump off the little guys — MSU, Tech, Bemidji and Anchorage? To be "National"?

So, if all goes down as predicted, here's what the western conferences will look like (remember this all started almost exactly one year ago when Penn State announced it was adding hockey!).

WCHA

Minnesota State

Bemidji State

Michigan Tech

Northern Michigan

Lake Superior State

Ferris State

Alaska-Anchorage

Alaska (Fairbanks)

Bowling Green

NCHC

Denver

North Dakota

Colorado College

Minnesota Duluth

St. Cloud State

Nebraska-Omaha

Miami

Western Michigan

BIG TEN

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Penn State

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.