Penn State announcement coming on Friday

[clutterbuck22]

According to sources, Penn State has set up a press conference at 11:30 est tomorrow. There are many rumors flying around that this is a conference to announce that Penn State will have a new men's Ice Hockey team. They will play in the Big Ten hockey conference. They already have a division II program, but this makes the school have all sports in DI I think. What does this do to college hockey if anything?

[MNHockeyFan]

According to sources, Penn State has set up a press conference at 11:30 est tomorrow. There are many rumors flying around that this is a conference to announce that Penn State will have a new men's Ice Hockey team. They will play in the Big Ten hockey conference. They already have a division II program, but this makes the school have all sports in DI I think. What does this do to college hockey if anything?

Clutterbuck, this may shed some light on what's going on with Penn State:

From Roman Augustoviz's Gopher hockey blog in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

College hockey world focuses on Penn State

Did you know Penn State was a men's hockey power?

Not in Division I hockey, but in club hockey. And now there is a buzz that the Nittany Lions will start a Division I program soon in men's and women's hockey.

INCH (Inside College Hockey), relying on anonymous sources, said an announcement could be coming as soon as Friday.

The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper on the University Park, Pa. campus, asked AD Tim Curley for comment on the speculation on Monday. He declined.

On Tuesday, the Daily Collegian reported that a source close to the club team, nicknamed the Icers, said something on when an announcement was coming would come out Wednesday.

Stay tuned, it seems, as this story unravels.

But back to the Icers. They were founded in 1971-72 and have become a power in Division I of the American College Hockey Association, that the governing body of the club teams and should not to be confused with the NCAA.

The Icers have won seven ACHA national titles, including four in a row from 2000-03. They also have been national runners-up nine times.

But they play in an arena called the Ice Pavilion, which seats, 1,350. Much too small for a Division I program. So before adding hockey, PSU needs a new arena. Last month the Altoona Mirror reported Penn State was planning to build an arena which would seat 6,000 to 8,000.

On the main campus alone, Penn State has 45,000 undergrads.

Last season Penn State's club team, seeded No. 2, lost in the quarterfinals of the national tournament, finishing with a 32-4-2 record under coach Scott Balboni. The Icers were No. 5 in the final national rankings. Oddly enough, Illinois, another Big Ten team, was No. 6 with a 27-10-2 mark.

Obviously, it would take a while for Penn State to get its men's and women's programs off the ground. The start-up season most commonly mentioned has been 2014-15.

But if Penn State adds hockey, it certainly could shake up two existing conferences, the WCHA and the CCHA.

With the Nittany Lions, there would be six Big Ten schools with hockey, the minimum needed for a conference to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Big Ten Network would be drooling over the prospect of having conference hockey games to fill around its basketball coverage after the football season ends.

That's extra TV money and exposure for Big Ten schools. Always nice.

If Minnesota and Wisconsin joined the Big Ten Conference, the WCHA would be back to 10 schools which it had before adding Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State this season.

Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are the other three Big Ten schools with hockey programs and all are in the CCHA. Their leaving would reduce the number of teams in the CCHA to eight.

Of course, none of this is a done deal.

A six-team conference spread from Penn State to Minnesota might mean more travel for Big Ten Conference teams, depending partly on non-conference schedules. With a six-team league, every team would probably play the five other teams twice, in a home series and an away series, so that would be 20 conference games.

Each team would still have to schedule an additional 12-14 games. For Minnesota, that would almost have to include a series against North Dakota, a huge Gophers rival, and several other Minnesota teams.

[clutterbuck22]

According to sources, Penn State has set up a press conference at 11:30 est tomorrow. There are many rumors flying around that this is a conference to announce that Penn State will have a new men's Ice Hockey team. They will play in the Big Ten hockey conference. They already have a division II program, but this makes the school have all sports in DI I think. What does this do to college hockey if anything?

Clutterbuck, this may shed some light on what's going on with Penn State:

From Roman Augustoviz's Gopher hockey blog in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

College hockey world focuses on Penn State

Did you know Penn State was a men's hockey power?

Not in Division I hockey, but in club hockey. And now there is a buzz that the Nittany Lions will start a Division I program soon in men's and women's hockey.

INCH (Inside College Hockey), relying on anonymous sources, said an announcement could be coming as soon as Friday.

The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper on the University Park, Pa. campus, asked AD Tim Curley for comment on the speculation on Monday. He declined.

On Tuesday, the Daily Collegian reported that a source close to the club team, nicknamed the Icers, said something on when an announcement was coming would come out Wednesday.

Stay tuned, it seems, as this story unravels.

But back to the Icers. They were founded in 1971-72 and have become a power in Division I of the American College Hockey Association, that the governing body of the club teams and should not to be confused with the NCAA.

The Icers have won seven ACHA national titles, including four in a row from 2000-03. They also have been national runners-up nine times.

But they play in an arena called the Ice Pavilion, which seats, 1,350. Much too small for a Division I program. So before adding hockey, PSU needs a new arena. Last month the Altoona Mirror reported Penn State was planning to build an arena which would seat 6,000 to 8,000.

On the main campus alone, Penn State has 45,000 undergrads.

Last season Penn State's club team, seeded No. 2, lost in the quarterfinals of the national tournament, finishing with a 32-4-2 record under coach Scott Balboni. The Icers were No. 5 in the final national rankings. Oddly enough, Illinois, another Big Ten team, was No. 6 with a 27-10-2 mark.

Obviously, it would take a while for Penn State to get its men's and women's programs off the ground. The start-up season most commonly mentioned has been 2014-15.

But if Penn State adds hockey, it certainly could shake up two existing conferences, the WCHA and the CCHA.

With the Nittany Lions, there would be six Big Ten schools with hockey, the minimum needed for a conference to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Big Ten Network would be drooling over the prospect of having conference hockey games to fill around its basketball coverage after the football season ends.

That's extra TV money and exposure for Big Ten schools. Always nice.

If Minnesota and Wisconsin joined the Big Ten Conference, the WCHA would be back to 10 schools which it had before adding Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State this season.

Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are the other three Big Ten schools with hockey programs and all are in the CCHA. Their leaving would reduce the number of teams in the CCHA to eight.

Of course, none of this is a done deal.

A six-team conference spread from Penn State to Minnesota might mean more travel for Big Ten Conference teams, depending partly on non-conference schedules. With a six-team league, every team would probably play the five other teams twice, in a home series and an away series, so that would be 20 conference games.

Each team would still have to schedule an additional 12-14 games. For Minnesota, that would almost have to include a series against North Dakota, a huge Gophers rival, and several other Minnesota teams.

Wow, do you really think the Gophers would move to the big ten in hockey? Wonder if WCHA knew this could happen, if that's why they added Nebraska-Omaha. Never thought I'd see the gophers and Badgers even think about leaving WCHA of course this article is just speculation, but it's weird to think about.

[clutterbuck22]

Just read from a source online. "Wisconsin to the big ten all but done." Sounds like gophers could be heading to that direction too. Who would've seen this coming.

[MNHockeyFan]

ESPN article - it's official:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5583790

[JSR]

Just read from a source online. "Wisconsin to the big ten all but done." Sounds like gophers could be heading to that direction too. Who would've seen this coming.

Everyone who's listened to Delaney over the last four years. This would also likely be the spring board to Illinois becoming a D1 team a year or two after PSU and could also be yet another piece of the puzzle in luring Notre Dame to become a full time conference member. This has huge ramifications and could be fantastic for Minne and Wisc, the Big Ten and college hockey overall.

Also, I guess I need a btter subject line for my threads consdiering I posted this same subject two days ago:
http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24088

[Goldy Gopher]

According to sources, Penn State has set up a press conference at 11:30 est tomorrow. There are many rumors flying around that this is a conference to announce that Penn State will have a new men's Ice Hockey team. They will play in the Big Ten hockey conference. They already have a division II program, but this makes the school have all sports in DI I think. What does this do to college hockey if anything?

How many years in a row have they won the D2 national championship? I don't see them having much competition since all other schools in the country are either D1 or D3.

[JSR]

According to sources, Penn State has set up a press conference at 11:30 est tomorrow. There are many rumors flying around that this is a conference to announce that Penn State will have a new men's Ice Hockey team. They will play in the Big Ten hockey conference. They already have a division II program, but this makes the school have all sports in DI I think. What does this do to college hockey if anything?

How many years in a row have they won the D2 national championship? I don't see them having much competition since all other schools in the country are either D1 or D3.

They are not D2. They are ACHA D1, which is the highest level of club hockey played in the country. It is not NCAA D1 but it isn't terrible hockey either. Once they are a sanctioned NCAA D1 school with the ability to give scholarships PSU will become competitive in a very short operiod of time.

[huville]

If Illinois is able to get a Division I hockey team look out. They would be able to recruit most of the top prospects out of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri which have a good amount of top notch players.

[JSR]

If Illinois is able to get a Division I hockey team look out. They would be able to recruit most of the top prospects out of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri which have a good amount of top notch players.

I'm not sure that is true. Minnesota has 5 D1 hockey schools and between all five they still don't get all of Minnesotas top talent. Further do you really think a top end kid, I mean really top end, is going to choose a brand new D1 school over the likes of Wisconsin, UND, Michigan or other top schools? I like the idea of college hockey expanding, I like the idea of Illinois joining the ranks someday, but I disagree that their addition would somehow be a huge recruiting advatnage over the aformentioned schools

[Night Train]

Didn't take the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) long.

[no97]

Didn't take the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) long.

To do what? Finish middle of the pack in the CCHA ever year over the last 10+ years? Or are you proclaiming them National Champs by sweeping a bad UMinn team in October?

[JSR]

Didn't take the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) long.

Waht no97 said. But also, I wasn't saying Illinois would be horrible bottom feeders forever. I merely said I don;t think just by them entering D1 hockey that they'll some how put a wall around the state of Illinois recruiting wise either and further how is UNO even analogous to that situation?