Good event tonight. Coach Luongo had nothing definitive to release, but he say that several sources have told him that the Big Ten Hockey Conference will happen. Certainly, this surprises no one reading USCHO this summer, but some in our fan community don't obsessively read the forum, you know? Lou said that UAH would likely be more "valuable" to the CCHA in a world where UMich/MSU/tOSU have left for greener pastures, and I have to agree. His focus was that the program continue to grow and prosper to the point where it makes a lot of sense for the CCHA to pick up the Chargers.
Here's what I have to wonder about: does an eight-team CCHA want to stay with an even number of teams? If so, the obvious team to round it out to ten would be Niagara.[1] Michigan teams can simply drive through southwestern Ontario to get to Monteagle Ridge, and the Ohio schools could just head through Cleveland like UAH always did.
The mechanics of this situation are interesting. PSU has publicly stated that they will start their program in '12-13 and be independent until '14-15, which indicates that they won't join the CCHA at all. The CCHA has indicated that they're okay with being an 11-team league for now. I am curious to see if non-Big Ten CCHA member schools will want to lash the Chargers to their ship for stability, and if that would change any minds in a future consideration of a UAH application. After all, it was the small schools who sunk the Chargers' chances in 2009.
GFM
[1] No, Michigan Tech is not going to leave the WCHA for the CCHA. Move along.