Bring on Alabama Huntsville

With the defection of Nebraska Omaha for the WCHA there the CCHA is mulling over bringing in Alabama Huntsville into the fold starting in the 2010-2011 season. In my opinion the CCHA blundered drastically when they voted not to allow Wayne State in 2007 which essentially forced the Warriors to fold their team following the 2007-08 season. I understand not wanting Wayne State due to the school having no commitment to the team. They played in at 5 different arenas over their 8 years of existence, they was always a rumor of an on campus arena but it never materialized, and they regularly averaged under 1000 fans each game, usually visiting fans outnumbering those rooting for the home team. The one major positive was location. Being in Detroit and CCHA teams regularly playing in the Detroit metropolitan area, where a tremendous number of alumni from CCHA teams reside, would have a positive effect for alumni involvement in the schools and their hockey programs. The bus trip from Lake Superior State University to the University of Nebraska Omaha was 909 miles and 14 hours and 14 minutes, while the trip to the University of Alabama Huntsville is 949 miles, 14 hours and 12 minutes. So the travel costs will not be much different from regularly traveling to Omaha. The Chargers have a strong history of performing well on the ice since being led by former Laker Doug Ross for 25 years. Alabama Huntsville averages over 2500 in attendance for their home games, despite having the completion of a professional team in town, the Havoc of the SPHL, which averaged over 3800 at each home game last season. Community support in Huntsville would be buoyed by admission into the CCHA. Huntsville is not your typical southern city, it’s home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army’s Redstone Arsenal. These institutions have attracted people from around the world to Huntsville; you will additionally find a good number of CCHA alumni that live in the Huntsville area working in various high tech positions. UAH’s strong institutional support, community backing, strong on ice performance, and having similar travel expense to UNO make them a good option for the CCHA to consider for admission into the league for the 2010-11 season.