Apparently, NAU wants to keep up with Ariz St (and UNLV and Arizona by extension). Granted, this rinks 2500+ seating capacity would be borderline acceptable for DI, but a rink that size could be acceptable. Hockey could be NAU's ticket to compete in a DI league with PAC12 or MWC schools, and it has had DI hockey in the past. NAU fans will be more enlivened at the prospect of competing with in-state schools rather than Big Sky ones.

azrubberhockey.com/nau-will-see-dream-realized-with-new-on-campus-rink-in-2018/

I was at NAU when we had hockey - the rink was in the dome, but the ice making broke, and it was a Million to fix (in 1986).

NAU has strong support for hockey, and many people have wanted it back.

The High Schools have club teams, but there is very little ice in the city. The FieldHouse is very centrally located on campus - played a lot of basketball there when I was a student.

(04-26-2017 01:46 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  I was at NAU when we had hockey - the rink was in the dome, but the ice making broke, and it was a Million to fix (in 1986).

NAU has strong support for hockey, and many people have wanted it back.

The High Schools have club teams, but there is very little ice in the city. The FieldHouse is very centrally located on campus - played a lot of basketball there when I was a student.

Hope that it is successful and that NAU can compete well, even if it stays club. Looks like in the very least NAU will move to top line club like Arizona and UNLV.

(04-26-2017 01:46 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  I was at NAU when we had hockey - the rink was in the dome, but the ice making broke, and it was a Million to fix (in 1986).

NAU has strong support for hockey, and many people have wanted it back.

The High Schools have club teams, but there is very little ice in the city. The FieldHouse is very centrally located on campus - played a lot of basketball there when I was a student.

even w/ ASU just starting up hockey, Zona still produced the top player in the NHL draft and will get rookie of the year in Auston Matthews.

(04-26-2017 02:21 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  

(04-26-2017 01:46 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  I was at NAU when we had hockey - the rink was in the dome, but the ice making broke, and it was a Million to fix (in 1986).

NAU has strong support for hockey, and many people have wanted it back.

The High Schools have club teams, but there is very little ice in the city. The FieldHouse is very centrally located on campus - played a lot of basketball there when I was a student.

even w/ ASU just starting up hockey, Zona still produced the top player in the NHL draft and will get rookie of the year in Auston Matthews.

And California is producing more than enough NHLpotential level talent to fill a couple DI hockey teams. The Kings, Ducks, and Sharks have sparked some real youth development efforts.

I'm thinking there's probably a 5-ish year time frame on Western Hockey expansion. Utah has Lacrosse penciled in for 2018 with hockey rumored to be next on deck. Sounds like there might be close to enough schools in the region to make a conference.

(04-26-2017 11:20 PM)jrj84105 Wrote:  I'm thinking there's probably a 5-ish year time frame on Western Hockey expansion. Utah has Lacrosse penciled in for 2018 with hockey rumored to be next on deck. Sounds like there might be close to enough schools in the region to make a conference.

Yeah, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and UNLV all have nearby facilities that are right sized for DI hockey. If UND gets a B1G invite, Denver and CC could be looking too.

Cool building but it doesn't look good for seating, viewing or expansion.

It looks like they could add a bunch of seats if needed with the open spaces.
The plan to turn the fieldhouse into a 4500 seat arena looked good.
The hockey plans seem cheap but leave room got more if D1 becomes possible.

Schools west of the Mississippi that have men's club hockey that could go varsity are?

Iowa State
Lindenwood
Central Oklahoma
Colorado
Oklahoma
Colorado State
Arizona
Missouri State
Arkansas
Saint Louis
Minnesota State-Mankato
Utah State
Northern Colorado
UTEP
Weber State
San Diego State
Cal. State-Northridge
Metro State
BYU
Wyoming
Texas A&M
Bradley
Nebraska
Colorado Mesa
Colorado Mines
New Mexico
Colorado Christian
Colorado-Colorado Springs
Creighton
Dordt
Fort Lewis
South Dakota State
Kansas
Washington, MO.
Western State
North Dakota State
Saint Mary's, Minn.
Saint Thomas
Waldorf
Winona State
Boise State
Cal. Lutheran
Long Beach State
Fullerton State
California
Dallas Baptist
East Texas Baptist
Eastern Washington
Gonzaga
Grand Canyon U.
Loyola-Marymount
Montana State
North Texas
Portland State
San Francisco State
San Jose State
Santa Clara
SMU
Stanford
TCU
Texas State
Texas Tech
UC-Santa Barbara
UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on ice.
UC-Davis
UCLA
Montana Tech
USC
Minnesota-Duluth
Idaho
Oregon
Texas
Washington
Utah Valley
Washington State
Western Washington
Minot State
Jamestown
Oklahoma

Women's
St. Scholastica


Takes any of the bolded schools and turned them into Varsity, and then you can form a west coast hockey conferences for men and women's. You get both Alaska schools, and maybe a Simon Fraser that wants to join the D1 rank in men's hockey.

(04-28-2017 07:28 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  Schools west of the Mississippi that have men's club hockey that could go varsity are?

Iowa State
Lindenwood
Central Oklahoma
Colorado
Oklahoma
Colorado State
Arizona
Missouri State
Arkansas
Saint Louis
Minnesota State-Mankato
Utah State
Northern Colorado
UTEP
Weber State
San Diego State
Cal. State-Northridge
Metro State
BYU
Wyoming
Texas A&M
Bradley
Nebraska
Colorado Mesa
Colorado Mines
New Mexico
Colorado Christian
Colorado-Colorado Springs
Creighton
Dordt
Fort Lewis
South Dakota State
Kansas
Washington, MO.
Western State
North Dakota State
Saint Mary's, Minn.
Saint Thomas
Waldorf
Winona State
Boise State
Cal. Lutheran
Long Beach State
Fullerton State
California
Dallas Baptist
East Texas Baptist
Eastern Washington
Gonzaga
Grand Canyon U.
Loyola-Marymount
Montana State
North Texas
Portland State
San Francisco State
San Jose State
Santa Clara
SMU
Stanford
TCU
Texas State
Texas Tech
UC-Santa Barbara
UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on ice.
UC-Davis
UCLA
Montana Tech
USC
Minnesota-Duluth
Idaho
Oregon
Texas
Washington
Utah Valley
Washington State
Western Washington
Minot State
Jamestown
Oklahoma

Women's
St. Scholastica


Takes any of the bolded schools and turned them into Varsity, and then you can form a west coast hockey conferences for men and women's. You get both Alaska schools, and maybe a Simon Fraser that wants to join the D1 rank in men's hockey.

Minnesota State-Mankato is already varsity in the WCHA, Minnesota-Duluth is already varsity in the NCHC and 2017 National Championship game loser, UC-Santa Cruz has been on the edge of dropping sports completely for a few years, and as had been previously stated that Colorado Mesa does not have funding. Dordt, Waldorf, Montana Tech, and Jamestown are NAIA so they can't have NCAA D1 hockey. NAIA is about to start ice hockey sponsorship. The D3 schools will have to play in that division. Simon Fraser will not be allowed until D1 decides to accept international members.

Ice hockey is one of the most expensive NCAA sports and a majority of these schools do not have the funds for the team or a D1 acceptable facility. The local towns are not likely to help either. Grand Junction, CO defeated a measure to increase sales tax by 67%-33% just three weeks ago; they were seeking to bring two minor league teams to town. There is also the Title IX issue. More funds are needed to add women's teams. Arizona State had to add two women's teams to balance the new men's ice hockey team. D2 discontinued its ice hockey championship because there were not enough teams and couldn't get any schools to add the sport. You can't just add a sport.

Waiting for this to be followed up by the AD referencing Pegula when someone asks if D1 hockey will happen. That's how it's worked the last several times this conversation came up, right?