hockey expansion: PSU next year, IU someday?
via INCH twitter this morning:
Whaaa??? Toronto Star scribe Damien Cox piece w/ Paul Kelly says Indiana considering adding hockey. http://bit.ly/bGNY2X
the article goes on to say
Penn St. is starting a program in September 2011, Indiana University is considering doing the same and there’s hope that some of the 421 U.S. colleges that have club teams in the American College Hockey Association may consider converting those to full-scholarship, Division I programs.
we knew that the PSU transition to varsity was probably just a matter of time. 2011 seemed really soon, but then i realized that "starting a program" doesn't necessarily mean "start playing". they gotta build the arena after all.
Indiana is the surprise...anybody know anything about their club program?
August 25th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
That is interesting. If that happens, the chances of a Big Ten Hockey conference goes up ten fold in my opinion.
The men's ice hockey team has existed as a non-NCAA sport since the 1968 and currently competes at the Division I level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and is a member of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League (CSCHL). The team plays off-campus at the historic Frank Southern Ice Arena. The team holds the 1971 and 2001 Big Ten Hockey League championships, 8 Midwestern Collegiate Hockey League (MCHL) championships during the 1980s and 1990s, and the 2002 Great Midwest Hockey League (GMHL).[4] The Hoosiers men's ice hockey team was the national runner-up in the 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2008 ACHA DII National Championships. In 2009 the program left the GMHL and ACHA Division II to join the ACHA Division I level, after playing one season as an independent team the team joined the CSCHL for the 2010-11 season. www.iuhockey.org
That is from wikipedia along with the website to their home page. I do not think they look as solid as a candidate as Penn State, but if Indiana can make the jump, expect Illinois to also make the jump at that point because they have had a much more successful run of late and would seem to be ready, like PSU, for division I hockey.
Illinois' recent records via Wikipedia
- ACHA National Championships; (2) : 2005, 2008
- ACHA Final Four Appearances; (9) : 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- ACHA National Tournament Appearances; (15) : 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- CSCHL Regular Season Championships; (2) : 2003, 2008
- CSCHL Tournament Championships; (6) : 1986, 1988, 1992, 2003, 2006, 2008
- Undefeated season in 2007-2008. Record of 38-0-0.
- 48 game winning streak spanning from September 28, 2007 to October 25, 2008.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
I'm all for adding them to the CCHA, but I'm not in favor of a Big Ten hockey conference. That would really hurt the non-Big Ten members of the CCHA. They probably wouldn't find a major conference to latch onto, so their programs would decline in importance. We want to grow the sport of college hockey, not see it retract.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
Interesting site... team was 16-20-2 last year
Split two games with our team... at the beginning of the year.. beating us 6-2 and UM beat them 8-5 the next day.
I would love it if we could get a Big 10 hockey conference... I know it's tradition, but it still seems a bit strange everytime I put as much passion as I do into hating MIami of Ohio.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
I do not believe we played them last year. They may have played Dearborn, although I couldn't find a record of the game on their website either. I don't think they played MSU either last year. I think they are listing these teams when they are really playing their satelite campuses, although I was unaware MSU had a satelite campus.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
Club teams.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^
That would be awesome. Hurray for the BigTen Network, more expendable income for Indiana!
August 25th, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^
There should be some Canadian schools that we could compete with. I don't know which ones, but wouldn't that be logical, since they obviously are sorta big on hockey (/understatement)? I know they mostly aren't in the NCAA, but didn't the NCAA expand to Canada, like Simon Fraser in basketball or something? I don't really remember.
I would support a Canadian school on our OOC schedule. There are obviously a lot of roadblocks to this, like traveling there and whatnot, but we are pretty darn close to Canada, and there must be a school or two that would be a good matchup other than a preseason game.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
Knowing the athletic and academic atmosphere at the University of Toronto I always thought they would make a good fit into the Big Ten.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
id be in favor of maybe doing that and then getting rid of western ontario/windsor/etc in the preseason games. if we're just going to schedule a win-on-paper then i'd much much rather play a good D-I club team
it would make the preseason games so much more interesting to see if we got to play someone like penn state, illinois, IU, or maybe even virginia tech, delaware or liberty
August 25th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
I graduated in 08 and played club all 4 years. We probably went .500 against them overall. IU was always competitive in our league but never a powerhouse. Senior year (2008), they made a run to the national championship but lost to perennial powerhouse Davenport (Grand Rapids).
I could see them joining the a big ten hockey conference eventually, but not for 3+ years. Their home rink is one of the worst rinks I have seen in my 20+ years of playing hockey. "The Frank" is god-awful.
edit: Illinois is a much better candidate IMO. They have a huge fan-base, are Division 1 club (like PSU, unlike Indiana) and are a always a contender for the national championship. We played them in them barn when I was a freshman and stole the first game 3-2. Lost the following night by 10+. I think we were their only loss for a better part of the entire season (~35 games).
August 25th, 2010 at 8:26 PM ^
Sorry, but maybe they should get football figured out before they embarrass themselves in a new sport.