Not for nothing, but is The Bank even big enough for Hockey East? I'd miss the rivalry with Yale tremendously because those are the most fun games on the Quinnipiac campus, but it's hard to say no to Hockey East.
Merrimack appears to have a building with a capacity of 2,549, but they're a bottom-feeder in the conference. The next-lowest capacity in Hockey East is Providence at 3,030. Everyone else appears to be above 4,000, with the average capacity in the league closer to 5,000. (These are just raw numbers based off a quick look). Hockey East is a terrific conference -- six teams in the NCAA Tournament is no joke. I think Quinnipiac would be an asset to Hockey East. But I also think Quinnipiac kind of fits the ECAC better from a pure hockey standpoint -- Obviously not including academics. Quinnipiac is obviously a more Hockey East-type school when it comes to University profile.
I do wonder how Lahey really feels about it. Obviously he's going to say all the right things about being in the ECAC, but I wonder if that's truly how he feels, or if Hockey East has always been our end-game. Obviously we'd lose the terrific rivalry games with Yale, but we'd gain a great foothold playing so many games in the Boston area where so many QU alums are located. It's one of those decisions where you really can't go wrong no matter what you decide.