A week after many considered the WCHA dead, one school has stepped up to continue the league, while another looks to boost membership. Northern Michigan returns to the conference after a 16 year absence in time for the "great shift" in 2013, while MSU-Moorhead made the rather bold statement Friday of announcing they'd hopefully be ready for the 2013-14 season as they would be fielding a Division I team if they raised $37 million for an endowment to fund the program. According to Moorhead president Edna Szymanski, the university is about 40 percent towards the endowment. If realized, the Dragons would play out of Fargo's Scheels Arena, with a capacity of 5,000, just a smudge smaller than the Verizon Wireless Center which seats 5,280.
I am of the opinion that any growth for the sport is good growth, especially in a market like Fargo-Moorhead where the Force of the USHL has started to build a following and their attendance has grown every season they have been in the league. While the support for hockey is there, is the money? Not every college who wants to start a D-I program is as fortunate as Penn State was, where a check for $88 million from a billionaire alumnus to fund the program and the arena lands on the doorstep. While Moorhead may have the heart, will, desire, and MNSCU support to add D-I hockey, the money, especially in the economy, may not be there, and that would be a shame for not only F-M who would lose on getting D-1 hockey to the area, but also the WCHA would also lose out for adding another hockey rabid market in Fargo-Moorhead.
-Andy Sorensen, CHW Blogger
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