It’s official: The University of Denver and Colorado College hockey teams will have a new home beginning in 2013-14. That means the two schools will be leaving the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
In a joint statement released today, the athletic directors of six schools announced the formation of the new NCAA hockey league.
“We are pleased to announce that six top NCAA Division I ice hockey programs will become founding members of a newly formed hockey conference, which will begin competition for the 2013-14 season,” said the press release. “The six institutions are Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Nebraska Omaha and University of North Dakota.”
The schools said details of the league will be provided at a news conference in Colorado Springs on Wednesday. The statement didn’t mention Notre Dame, which was rumored to be considering joining the new league.
College hockey’s landscape was already significantly altered this year when the Big Ten announced a plan to form a hockey conference in two seasons. The new Big Ten hockey league will take Minnesota and Wisconsin from the 50-year-old WCHA to play with Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State of the CCHA and the startup program at Penn State.
Once DU and C.C. leave for the new hockey league, the WCHA will have only five teams: Alaska Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State in Mankato and St. Cloud State. None of those remaining WCHA programs have the tradition or revenue-producing ability of schools like Minnesota, North Dakota or Denver.
Officials from the five remaining WCHA schools are expected to meet next week to discuss their future.
Reports of the new league surfaced last week.
At that time, DU Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said: “We want to be aligned, and want to be continued to be aligned, with schools of like-minded thinking (that) operate as we do. If that means the WCHA schools, that’s great.
“As I said before, there have been (realignment) discussions, but our intention is to continue be a strong partner with the other members of the WCHA while the process continues.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report
