The University of Minnesota men’s hockey team is in preliminary discussions with St. Cloud State, Bemidji State and Minnesota State-Mankato about playing nonconference games and a tournament both on an annual basis, according to Gophers coach Don Lucia.
Lucia said he has talked with Huskies coach Bob Motzko, Beavers coach Tom Serratore and Mavericks coach Troy Jutting about the Gophers playing games against their programs beginning in 2013-14, which is the first season that the Gophers and Wisconsin leave the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the Big Ten Conference.
Lucia also said that he plans to talk with Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin about the same arrangement with the Bulldogs, who also leave the WCHA after the 2012-13 season and will join the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
“We have 14 nonleague games to work with and our goal is to play those (four) teams every year,” Lucia said. “It would be good for our program, all the other programs and for the state of Minnesota.
“I think it’s a win-win for everyone, for our fans and the proximity of playing each other. We should continue playing each other.”
Motzko said he is excited about working toward continuing to play against the Gophers.
“It’s a great rivalry and this is important to all of us,” Motzko said of the schools involved.
“The details will all be worked out, but there will be games in our building and in their building (in the series).”
The proposed tournament would be played on the same weekend every year at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, which has been the annual site of the WCHA Final Five Tournament.
It would be a four-team tournament, meaning there would be a rotation and one school a year would not play in the tournament.
“That’s something we’d be obviously be interested in and we’re talking some concepts right now,” Lucia said. “If we were all still in the same league, maybe it wouldn’t happen.
“If it’s the same weekend every year, it becomes a destination for four schools every year, people can book reservations for a great weekend of college hockey.”
Motzko said that there has been talk of a possible tournament for a number of years, but cautioned that there a lot of details to be worked out before it becomes official.
“It’s a long, long way to go before all that is done, but it makes a lot sense for everybody involved,” Motzko said. “The potential is there for just a big-time event.
“I hope that there’s no snags and everything can come through.”
Lucia said that the departure of five schools from the WCHA — Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota — to form the NCHC helped spur the discussions.
“In light of what’s happened the last couple weeks, we decided it was time to get proactive on how we can make hockey great in our state down the line,” Lucia said.
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