FlagDUDE - a couple of points.
1 - Shootouts exist in holiday tournaments as well. Some of the belts here can be on the line in those tourneys.
2 - When the conferences change in a year, there could be many alternative belts floating around.
3 - What is the Union Rule? Is it something like "All conference teams qualify for the conference tourney?"
and, 4 - I thought the rule for shootouts already was, "Alternate Belt if the challenger wins in shootout." Reason being: No belt changes hands in a tie. Game ends in a tie, so no belt change. Then, shootout is played to satisfy holiday tourney rules, or CCHA rules. NCAA does not count results. But, challenger wins shootout. Alternate Belt.
I thought Ralph was thinking about a situation where, say, NoMich has an alternate CCHA belt, and then loses a shootout to, say, Bowling Green. No need for a 2nd alternate belt here, because NoMich has the alternate belt as a result of winning the SO already. So, for that alternate belt, SO wins change the belt. So, if NoMich loses a shootout, they have to lose the Alternate Belt as well.
If that makes sense?