About a month ago, the Big Ten added Notre Dame to the conference in hockey, starting in the 2017-2018 season. With that addition they added a quality program that will earn the conference better television ratings and also improve the level of play in the Big Ten Hockey Conference. When Notre Dame joined it put the conference at seven teams, an odd number and an uncomfortable number for a conference that small. Within a few days rumors began to swirl that Arizona State would be joining the Big Ten but a report has come out of a CBS affiliate in Minnesota that this will not be the case.
Although, the Big Ten is essentially off the table for the Sun Devils, a conference decision is expected to come from them within the next two months. They are expected to officially join a conference in either 2017-18 or 2018-19.
The choice is now between the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) or the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). The WCHA currently has 10 teams, while the NCHC currently has eight.
The closest teams in the NCHC for Sun Devils would be Colorado College and Denver while the furthest they would have to travel is to Western Michigan and Miami of Ohio. In the WCHA they would be the furthest southwest but not the furthest west as Alaska Anchorage and University of Alaska both belong to the WCHA.
Obviously, Arizona is not the middle of hockey country and essentially is in the middle of nowhere when it comes to NCAA hockey teams. Joining the Big Ten would not make much sense for the Sun Devils. Travel would be very difficult for the school, and the other schools would have issues travelling to Arizona. Adding a brand new team like Arizona State also would not improve the level of play.
Joining the WCHA would make the most sense for the Sun Devils. Either way travel will be tough for them due to their location but being in the WCHA would lessen the travel distance and put them in a conference that they can compete in much faster. It will be another year until the newest member of NCAA hockey joins a conference so we will have to wait and see how this upcoming season goes. Next season will be their first full year playing D1 NCAA opponents and they will be a revamped team with several USHL commits joining the team.
