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?

Backes among Hockey Hub's top 100

There's a pretty cool thing going on on the website Minnesota Hockey Hub right now. They're counting down the top 100 Minnesota high school hockey players. The countdown began this week, with Herb Brooks as No. 100. They're naming one player per day, leading up to the start of the 2011-12 high school hockey season. This is quite the undertaking, and undoubtedly will stir up great memories as well as a more than a few arguments.

On Friday, No. 96 was unveiled and it was none other than one of Minnesota State's top players, David Backes of Spring Lake Park.

The write-up on Backes praises him for staying in high school and staying at Spring Lake Park, specifically.

"He is all of what you look for in a high school hockey player," his coach, Tom Benson said. "He was committed to a small program like ours, both as a hockey player and baseball player.

"He was loyal to his school, very proud."

Who else from Minnesota State could be on the list? Anyone? Who do you think will be in the top 10? What about No. 1?

What do you think?

Mavs add another forward

PucKato is back from vacation, and, of course, there was MSU hockey news while I was gone.

The Mavericks added Rochester native Charlie Thauwald to the roster. Thauwald, 20, is a 6-foot-3, 225-pound forward who played at Rochester Mayo through 2007-08. The following year was his senior year but he opted to play junior hockey.

During '08-09, he played 23 games with the USHL's Chicago Steel, totaling one goal and two assists. A year later, he played 28 games in Chicago (one assist) and 14 in Owatonna with the NAHL's Express where he had four goals and four assists. Last year, he went to Alaska and joined the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL where he had 12 goals, 21 assists and 140 penalty minutes and helped the team win the Robertson Cup as the league's playoff champion.

Thauwald is the younger brother of former Colorado College player Scott Thauwald (2003-2008).

The addition of Thauwald brings MSU's roster to 27 players, including 16 forwards. He will wear No. 20 (Chase Grant is switching to No. 21 — not sure if I had that change on my post about new players and new numbers).

Youds signs pro contract

Former Minnesota State defenseman Ben Youds signed a one-year contract with the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs. Rockford is the primary minor-league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. Youds participated in the Blackhawks' prospects camp the last two summers.

"We're very excited about the addition of Ben Youds as he impressed all of our staff at the past two prospect camps in Chicago and is coming off an excellent college career," said Mark Bernard, Blackhawks general manager of minor league affiliations, in a press release. "We look forward to watching his development over the next year."

Alums in town

PucKato stopped by the Mankato Golf Club on Monday at the end of the annual Dan Myer Golf Classic, which raises money for the MSU Blue Line Club. It was nice to see a few old faces there, including alumni David Backes, Travis Morin and Andy Hedlund. Recent grads Rylan Galiardi, Ben Youds, Channing Boe and Andy Sackrison were also there playing, while current players Michael Dorr, Adam Mueller, Mike Louwerse, Josh Nelson and Evan Mosey were present.

Getting in the Pod

My Free Press colleague Tanner Kent and I set out to on the newspaper's first Podcast adventure on Thursday. You can listen here (yes, there's hockey talk). Enjoy.

It's hot, let's talk hockey

Getting caught up on a few hockey stories from the week so far ...

Let's start with some non-realignment stuff. The Calgary Flames posted this video of former Maverick Tim Jackman talking about last season. He had his best year in the NHL, playing in all 82 games and compiling 10 goals, 13 assists and 86 PIMs.

Looks like Eric Rud is going back to being a WCHA assistant coach. The former Colorado College standout is returning to his alma mater to be an assistant for Scott Owens. He's already served one stint as an assistant there before going to the St. Cloud State bench for five years. Most recently, he worked as the head coach of the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers (coaching a couple of Minnesota State recruits). It seems like an interesting career path for Rud, whose name had been linked to head coaching gigs at Michigan Tech and Western Michigan, unless this means he's the heir apparent at CC.

I wonder how Minnesota State feels about the consulting fees being thrown around by other MnSCU schools. Minnesota State-Moorhead is paying $60,000 for a consultant to help with its run to get Division I hockey. Earlier this year, St. Cloud State hired Gino Gasparini for $90,000. By the way, that $90K is getting a little more scrutiny now that the Huskies are among the leftovers not going to the new NCHC.

As for the possibility of Moorhead ever getting into the WCHA if it indeed meets its goals, Bruce McLeod says that it's way too early to make a commitment.

The WCHA is expected to formally add Northern Michigan for 2013-14 on Wednesday. The league needs to get a vote of all 12 teams (yes, including those who are leaving) to approve a motion to allow the remaining teams — MSU, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage — the ability to conduct business as it pertains to issues after the 2012-13 season.

McLeod said getting a sixth team was a must but that eight teams would be ideal. In a New York Times story, he said that two other programs have made inquiries. However, he declined to name them. It seems likely that Alaska (Fairbanks) would be one of them. I'm speculating here, but it seems like Western Michigan would make some sense — although, publicly, WMU officials have said they'd like to do what Notre Dame does (will they eve have that option?).

As for some other leftover teams, it looks like the CCHA is having discussions with Atlantic Hockey about the future. College Hockey News reports that Atlantic Hockey schools Robert Morris, Niagara, Canisius and Mercyhurst are exploring joining the CCHA, which will have Bowling Green, Lake Superior State and Ferris State remaining (providing, of course, that Alaska, Western Michigan and Notre Dame are heading out).

More PucKato guesswork here, but if that move happens, Air Force, which currently plays in Atlantic Hockey, will be looking for a home. It seems like that would be a good fit for the WCHA. Also, what's to become of Alabama-Huntsville? It seems like someone ought to bring them in now.

To listen to some good talk about the sport's changes, listen to this podcast on Inside College Hockey (special thanks to the INCH fellas for plugging my column from last week; by the way, here's a link to this week's column).

Finally, I'm not sure where else they would be going or if this was even a question but Minnesota State last week reaffirmed its commitment to the WCHA. So they've got that going for them.