There has been all kinds of talk about what direction that Ferris State University should take its hockey program in the wake of what has happened with the Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conference damaging - to a greater or lesser degree depending on your perspective - the long-term health of the sport with their moves.
Ferris moving its program to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2013-14 is a sound decision that makes sense. Honestly, it was the best option for the Bulldogs to stabilize the program. Now, it was not just the best option for Ferris. It was the best option for all of the schools left in the WCHA and the schools that are making the move from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (so far: FSU, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and Lake Superior State University).
Ferris' program is now on stable footing, but it will not be complacent. To stay competitive with its future peers/foes in the WCHA, FSU must continue to upgrade and enhance its program and its facility: Ewigleben Ice Arena. I am sure Ferris will as its commitment to hockey has been illustrated this week with the move to the WCHA.
Moving to the WCHA, as of right now, maintains rivalries with in-state rivals Lake Superior and Northern Michigan University and renews a rivalry with Michigan Tech University. That is very healthy for FSU and for those schools as well. In these challenging times, with te University of Michigan and Michigan State University likely to avoid heading on the road much in the state, the so-called small schools must band together and protect each other. If this turbulent hockey summer has taught us anything, it's that there are increasingly more and more people motivated by arrogance and money.
Ferris has come out in solid shape under challenging circumstances. It will never be the same, but this may be the best case scenario in what looked like a scary situation not all that long ago.
Sandy:
ReplyDeleteI am happy and relived for Ferris and happy that LSSU is also in a good spot now. I understand why the Big Ten went in the direction they did after Penn State made the jump.
What I don’t understand is why there even is an NCHC. Is North Dakota going to fill their arena with more people because UN Omaha is coming to town and not Saint Cloud State? Or are the ratings going to be higher on Verses when Miami of Ohio plays Colorado College as apposed to Bowling Green?
Schools are fighting over peanuts, nobody watches the NHL. Hockey is a cult sport and the big dollars college football and basketball get are not all of the sudden going to be coming to college hockey.
As for that powerhouse in Kalamazoo, put two winning seasons back to back before you start thinking of your self as an elite division one hockey program.