New NCAA Hockey Conference Serves Death Blow to WCHA, CCHA

Interesting changes in the Division I hockey landscape this summer.  Basically, the long traditions of the WCHA and CCHA are ending.  The power teams in the two conferences will all leave by the 2012-2013 season, when the Big Ten adds hockey with a new team at Penn State, CCHA members MSU, scUM, and Ohio State, and WCHA members Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Now, a new hockey conference will take the remaining power teams from the WCHA (Minnesota-Duluth, Colorado Collage, Denver, North Dakota) and Miami-Ohio and Nebraska-Omaha from the CCHA. That announcement today was the final death blow to the WCHA and CCHA.  Notably, the former commissioner of the CCHA, Tom Anastos, read the writing long ago when Penn State announced the beginning of its hockey program -- and bolted to the opening head coaching position at Michigan State to replace the retiring Rick Comley.

The funerals for WCHA and CCHA will likely be held in those teams that have been left out in the cold, like Michigan Tech, Ferris State, and Western Michigan, all season long beginning this fall.  Welcome to new NCAA hockey in 2012!

First Michigan State, now the rest of the world

Michigan will host Michigan State in hockey at Michigan Stadium in December this year. It's official. But, let us step back for a minute.

Michigan State led the world with the idea, that is, outdoor hockey in the information age. The "Cold War" hockey matchup between Michigan State and Michigan on a frigid fall evening in Spartan Stadium back in 2001 (still a world record attendance of 74,544 to watch hockey) has led to an onslaught of outdoor premier hockey matchups annually ever since.

It's been a huge revenue and promotional machine for pro and college hockey, and you wonder if Mark Hollis is kicking himself for not copyrighting it and getting a piece of the action. Every year, the NHL has its "Winter Classic" (the Red Wings and Blackhawks at Wrigley field last year, the Flyers and Bruins at Fenway Park on January 1 this year). And, next week, Michigan will head over to Wisconsin to play at the Camp Randall Hockey Classic.

Now, Michigan State and Michigan will face off next academic year, December 11, 2010, in Michigan Stadium for the "Big Chill in the Big House."

Everyone who has a chance to see outdoor hockey? Do it! When the ES watched the Cold War, it was a thrilling, amazing experience. Plus, a 7-hour long tailgate ain't bad either. Note to the wise: bring a stadium seat, a wool blanket, and wear long underwear.

MSU beats Michigan, again. Leads scUM 9-6-1 across all sports. NW hoops prediction

OK, we defeated our arch rival, again, last night -- this time in ice hockey. Michigan State racked up a 3-2 victory over Michigan at Munn Ice Arena amidst scrums and brawls throughout the third period. My six year old daughter, seeing the penalty box jammed with Wolverines, said "the jail is full, Dad. Where are they going to put the others." That was our third victory over the Yellow Bellies in hockey this year.

So, how has MSU fared in hoops, football, and hockey over Michigan in the 2009-10 academic year? So, far MSU leads 9-6-1, with a clean sweep in the four major sports: football, basketball (men's & women's), and hockey.

SPORT (record): winner score (date)
-------------------------------------
Football (1-0): MSU 26-20 (10/3)
Men's Basketball (1-0): MSU 57-56 (1/26)
Women's Basketball (1-0): MSU 86-71 (12/31)
Hockey (3-0): MSU 3-2 (11/13), MSU 2-0 (11/14), MSU 3-2 (1/29)
Field Hockey (1-0): MSU 2-1 (10/25)
Men's Soccer (1-0) MSU 2-1 (10/25)
Wrestling (1-0): MSU 17-15 (1/29)
Women's Soccer (0-0-1): tied 0-0 (10/11)
Men's XC (0-1): UM 4th, MSU 8th (11/1)
Women's XC (0-1): UM 4th, MSU 5th (11/1)
Gymnastics (0-1): UM 194.20-193.75 (1/20)
Women's Swimming (0-1): UM 127-82 (1/29)
Volleyball (0-2): UM 3-0 (10/31), UM 3-2 (11/18)

MSU VS NORTHWESTERN HOOPS
Again, Michigan State takes on Northwestern in hoops tonight in a bid to advance to 9-0 in the conference. Tipoff 7 pm EST on the Big Ten Network. Sparty is favored by 15 (not 7 as originally stated). The best matchup this weekend is Minnesota at Ohio State (Sunday, 1 pm). Other big games in the conference this weekend include: Indiana at Illinois (Saturday, 2 pm); Iowa at scUM (Saturday, 4:30 pm); JoePa at Purdue (Sunday, 3 pm).

Predictions? Even our buddies over at Lake The Posts note the inevitable: "Sparty owns us." ES sez MSU runs away in a rout. Michigan State 69, Northwestern 55.

Spartan icers win GLI, again

MSU ice hockey team crushed RPI, 6-1, to win its 12th GLI crown last night. On the previous night, MSU defeated Michigan Tech, 10-1.

That's 16-2 score in the GLI. Congrats Spartans!

MSU #12 men's hoops, #13 ice hockey, #16 women's hoops

A healthy time for Michigan State in college athletics. In men's hoops, MSU is ranked #12 in both polls (Jeff Sagarin puts MSU at #23, CollegeRPI has MSU #59). In women's hoops, MSU is ranked #16 in the AP poll. In the UCHO men's ice hockey poll, MSU is #13. And, the best part about it? The scUM Yellow Bellies ain't ranked anywhere.

ESPN/USA Today Men's Basketball Poll: MSU #12.

1. Kansas (30) 9-0 774

2. Texas 8-0 735

3. Kentucky (1) 10-0 701

4. Purdue 9-0 675

5. Syracuse 10-0 658

6. West Virginia 7-0 631

7. Duke 7-1 547

8. Tennessee 7-1 528

9. Villanova 9-1 524

10. North Carolina 8-2 497

11. Georgetown 8-0 494

12. Michigan State 8-2 423

13. Florida 8-1 367

14. Connecticut 6-2 358

15. Georgia Tech 6-1 229

15. Gonzaga 8-2 229

17. Butler 7-3 184

18. Ohio State 7-2 176

19. New Mexico 10-0 164

20. Texas Tech 9-0 150

21. Washington 6-2 146

22. Kansas State 9-1 136

23. UNLV 7-1 112

24. Clemson 8-2 110

25. Mississippi 8-1 77

Others Receiving Votes Cincinnati 76, Texas A&M 58, Wisconsin 58, Illinois 25, Temple 24, Memphis 21, Florida State 20, Brigham Young 17, Saint Mary's 17, Oklahoma State 15, Wake Forest 15, St. John's 14, Charlotte 14, Northwestern 13, Seton Hall 9, Dayton 9, Tulsa 9, Washington State 9, William & Mary 9, California 7, Missouri State 3, Western Carolina 3, Mississippi State 2, Northern Iowa 1, Baylor 1, Coastal Carolina 1. Dropped From Rankings Texas A&M 18, Cincinnati 19, Wisconsin 23.

What about RPI Ratings for men's basketball? MSU sits at a pretty #59 in the most up to date collegerpi.com ratings.

Rank	School	W-L	RPI	Rank	Rating	AP	USA
1	Duke	7-1	0.7406	1	0.6899	8	8
2	Kansas St	8-1	0.7182	2	0.6670
3	West Virginia	7-0	0.6944	27	0.5926	6	7
4	Texas	8-0	0.6809	42	0.5746	2	2
5	St. John's	8-1	0.6806	20	0.6027
6	Temple	8-2	0.6792	8	0.6302
7	Purdue	9-0	0.6747	56	0.5663	5	5
8	New Mexico	10-0	0.6716	62	0.5622
9	Connecticut	6-2	0.6655	3	0.6651	14	12
10	Syracuse	10-0	0.6655	73	0.5539	7	6
11	Washington	6-2	0.6640	5	0.6546	17	16
12	Southern Miss	3-1	0.6623	30	0.5915
13	Villanova	9-1	0.6586	51	0.5686	3	3
14	Western Carolina	8-1	0.6574	55	0.5664
15	Georgetown	8-0	0.6569	94	0.5426	15	13
16	California	6-3	0.6544	4	0.6631
17	Texas A&M	7-2	0.6518	11	0.6213	16	18
18	William & Mary	6-2	0.6471	28	0.5920
19	Kansas	9-0	0.6458	117	0.5278	1	1
20	Kentucky	10-0	0.6454	118	0.5272	4	4
21	VCU	6-2	0.6414	26	0.5933
22	Tulsa	6-1	0.6410	50	0.5689
23	Missouri St	9-0	0.6402	134	0.5203
24	Cornell	7-2	0.6365	40	0.5807
25	Dayton	7-2	0.6359	25	0.5958
26	Texas Tech	9-0	0.6359	151	0.5145	23
27	UNLV	6-1	0.6336	38	0.5822	18	17
28	North Carolina St	7-1	0.6302	53	0.5683
29	Northern Iowa	7-1	0.6282	83	0.5481
30	San Diego St	7-2	0.6262	76	0.5529
31	Wisconsin	7-2	0.6252	39	0.5810	20	23
32	Richmond	7-2	0.6239	60	0.5630
33	Mississippi	8-1	0.6220	98	0.5410	25
34	St. Mary's	6-1	0.6205	69	0.5571
35	Tennessee	7-1	0.6196	91	0.5449	9	9
36	Vanderbilt	5-3	0.6161	9	0.6270		25
37	Butler	7-3	0.6141	35	0.5855	22	20
38	Long Beach	3-4	0.6107	7	0.6333
39	Rhode Island	8-1	0.6087	167	0.5038
40	Northwestern	7-1	0.6085	93	0.5428
41	Oklahoma St	8-1	0.6048	164	0.5054
42	Harvard	7-2	0.6041	125	0.5234
43	Xavier	6-3	0.6014	22	0.5998
44	Virginia Tech	8-1	0.5986	169	0.5035
45	Clemson	8-2	0.5982	85	0.5476		24
46	Ohio State	7-2	0.5978	81	0.5497	13	15
47	Loyola (Chicago)	5-2	0.5976	109	0.5325
48	Gonzaga	7-2	0.5961	86	0.5469	21	22
49	Mississippi St	7-2	0.5951	61	0.5627
50	Pittsburgh	8-2	0.5949	84	0.5476
51	Seton Hall	8-0	0.5944	246	0.4593
52	Coastal Carolina	5-2	0.5927	108	0.5331
53	Western Kentucky	5-3	0.5895	41	0.5801
54	Minnesota	7-3	0.5887	44	0.5720
55	Maryland	5-3	0.5880	23	0.5977
56	Hofstra	6-3	0.5862	57	0.5654
57	Georgia Tech	6-1	0.5860	159	0.5098	24	21
58	Florida	8-1	0.5856	187	0.4925	10	11
59	Michigan St	8-2	0.5852	140	0.5171	12	14
60	Florida St	7-2	0.5851	173	0.5009

ICE HOCKEY NATIONAL RANKINGS

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll: MSU #13

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Miami	(48)	13-2-5	998	1
2	Denver	( 2)	11-5-2	900	2
3	Colorado College		11-4-3	841	6
4	Cornell		7-2-2	805	5
5	Boston College		10-3-2	717	10
6	North Dakota		9-6-3	672	3
7	Wisconsin		11-5-2	657	11
8	Quinnipiac		13-3-1	639	7
9	Yale		7-3-2	609	8
10	Bemidji State		13-4-1	594	4
11	Ferris State		13-3-2	556	13
12	Minnesota-Duluth		11-6-1	434	12
13	Michigan State		12-6-2	419	14
14	Mass.-Lowell		10-6-1	418	9
15	Massachusetts		10-5-0	365	15
16	New Hampshire		8-6-3	209	19
17	Alaska		9-5-4	183	16
18	Union		8-3-5	164	20
19	St. Cloud State		8-7-3	120	17
20	Notre Dame		8-8-4	71	18
Others Receiving Votes: Maine 42, Vermont 32, Michigan 23, Minnesota State 11, Colgate 7, Lake Superior 6, RIT 4, Minnesota 3, Nebraska-Omaha 1

AP Women's Basketball Rankings: MSU at #16.

1.	Connecticut (40)	8-0	1000
2.	Stanford	7-0	957
3.	Tennessee	8-0	901
4.	Notre Dame	9-0	900
5.	LSU	7-0	795
6.	Baylor	8-1	762
7.	Duke	7-1	752
8.	Ohio State	10-1	698
9.	North Carolina	8-1	663
10.	Florida State	8-0	641
11.	Georgia	9-0	624
12.	Xavier	7-1	575
13.	Texas A&M	7-1	509
14.	Arizona State	7-1	486
15.	Oklahoma	8-2	395
16.	Michigan State	7-3	293
17.	Texas	5-3	282
18.	Vanderbilt	9-1	270
19.	Virginia	7-2	267
20.	Nebraska	10-0	262
21.	Pittsburgh	8-1	247
22.	Kansas	7-2	152
23.	Wisconsin-Green Bay	9-0	94
24.	James Madison	7-0	92
25.	Georgia Tech	6-2	81
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES Dayton 56, Syracuse 28, Oklahoma State 26, West Virginia 22, Temple 21, St. John's 18, California 16, DePaul 16, Maryland 16, TCU 13, Hartford 12, Oregon 9, Gonzaga 8, St. Bonaventure 7, Texas Tech 7, Mississippi State 6, Iowa State 5, Northwestern 5, Miami (FL) 4, Georgetown 2, Kentucky 2, Wyoming 2, Penn State 1,