Category Archives: WCHA News

A look at the 2013-14 schedule: Welcome to the WCHA!

Posted on by

Today, UAH released its 2013-14 hockey schedule, and it’s a beaut. We’re getting 16 home games to go with a full 28-game WCHA schedule. Here’s some highlights:

  • WCHAlogoWith 38 games scheduled, UAH will set a record for most games played in a season, even if the Chargers do not qualify for the WCHA playoffs. The record is 37 set in the 2001-02 season.
  • What better way is there than to open up the WCHA era at home against rival Bemidji State? UAH has faced BSU 70 times, well more than any other opponent.
  • UAH played the Alaska teams regularly in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The Chargers will visit the 49th state twice, something they did in the 1992-93 season. Anchorage will visit Huntsville for the first time since 1992.
  • Michigan Tech is one of four current Division I programs UAH has never faced. The Huskies will come off that list, leaving Boston University, Dartmouth, and Union.
  • The Chargers will head to South Bend twice: at Notre Dame’s tournament in November and a two-game set against the Irish in January.
  • Nic Dowd’s coming home: The Huntsville native and his St. Cloud State team come down for a non-conference series in November.

Here’s the full schedule in list form. All home games are Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. (* WCHA series.)

October 11-12 at Northeastern
October 25-26 vs. Bemidji State*
November 1-2 vs. Ferris State*
November 8-9 at Alaska-Anchorage*
November 15-16 vs. St. Cloud State
November 22-23 at Northern Michigan*
November 29-30 at Notre Dame Tournament (UAH, Northeastern, Western Michigan)
December 6-7 at Bowling Green*
December 13-14 vs. Minnesota State*
December 27-28 at Wisconsin
January 3-4 vs. Bowling Green*
January 10-11 at Notre Dame
January 17-18 vs. Alaska-Anchorage*
Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Alaska*
February 7-8 at Michigan Tech*
February 14-15 at Minnesota State*
February 21-22 vs. Lake Superior State*
Feb. 28-March 1 at Bemidji State*
March 7-8 vs. Northern Michigan*
March 14-16 WCHA first round playoffs (at campus sites)
March 20-22 WCHA championship semifinals and final (TBA)

The top eight teams in the league qualify for the WCHA playoffs. The league will announce post-season tournament sites, dates and details on Saturday, March 23.

Let the countdown begin!

WCHA notes: Playoff format, travel partners

Some news about our new league from over the weekend:

  • WCHAlogoThe WCHA athletics directors have approved the league’s playoff format, according to the Mankato Free Press. No longer will all teams make the WCHA playoffs every year: Only the top 8 qualify. The top four seeds would host best-of-3 series in the first round with the winners going to a neutral site for the semifinals and championship. The format must be approved by the school presidents.
  • The league is close to finalizing contracts with Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. (2014 and 2016) and the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (2015 and 2017) to host the championship weekend.
  • The “Alaska Plan,” in which Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage would play each other in the WCHA playoffs every year to cut travel costs, was scrapped. According to the Marquette Mining Journal, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and UAH proposed travel subsidies for the first round as they will during the regular season.
  • The Bowling Green Sentinal-Tribune reports that teams have received lists of the schools they’ll be playing next season, but no dates yet as they try to get UAH a full 28-game conference schedule. Each team will have a travel partner to play four times (two home, two away) per season. UAH’s travel partner is its closest conference opponent, Bowling Green.