Less than a week after Penn State announced it intends to add Division I men's and women's hockey programs, the murmurs about a new Big Ten conference are growing louder.
When they enter the Division I ranks in the 2012-'13 season, the Nittany Lions will become the sixth Big Ten team with a top-level men's hockey program, joining Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Since six is the both minimum number of teams for a Big Ten championship and the number of teams needed for a conference to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, many experts have speculated that a Big Ten hockey conference is inevitable.
Men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves said the deal is far from done, but there are serious indications that Big Ten hockey could become a reality. On Tuesday, Eaves seemed to speak as if the Badgers were more likely to join the Big Ten than stay put.
""I think it would be a wonderful thing,"" said the eight-year head coach.
""It looks like it's moving in that direction. If they can continue to take care of details it could become a reality,"" he added.
Wisconsin is no stranger to its Big Ten hockey foes. As members of the WCHA, the Badgers meet Minnesota each year in conference play, and though Michigan and Michigan State are in the CCHA Wisconsin face off them each year in the College Hockey Showcase.
Eaves said fans often show up in big numbers for games against Big Ten schools even though they are not in the same conference, and he would be excited to see those teams more regularly.
""They might not know about hockey, but they might know Michigan, Michigan State and say, ‘Let's go see the Big Ten rivalry,'"" he said.
If the Badgers left their current home in the WCHA, they would lose their guaranteed matchups against some of their more famous hockey rivals, such as Denver or North Dakota. But Eaves said if the move to the Big Ten happened, Wisconsin would make sure they played some of their historic WCHA foes.
""I don't think they're completely going to go away,"" Eaves said. ""We're going to have to make arrangements to try to keep ties with our WCHA rivals and teams in the WCHA.""
When asked about the feasibility of bringing WCHA programs into the Big Ten, Eaves said the conference would look to create new programs from within rather than bringing in established ones.
""If in fact we were going to move in that direction where we wanted to increase the size of the Big Ten, I think we would take a look at other Big Ten schools,"" he said. ""I know that Indiana and Illinois both have pretty strong club sports right now. If they see the success that Penn State is having, who knows if they'll maybe try to find somebody who can make a donation.""
Athletic Director Barry Alvarez told the Wisconsin State Journal earlier in the week he thought the Big Ten would move toward a hockey conference, saying the main barrier would be teams getting out of their current conferences. Eaves seemed to share that opinion, but said the schools are a long way from making a decision about what to do.
""There's some very strong talk about it, [but] I think there are still some hoops that have to be jumped through,"" Eaves said. ""When people say, ‘Well we're about 95 percent there,' sure enough that 5 percent can come and bite you in the fanny.""
