June 10, 2022
by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@CHN_AdamWodon)
The bevy of independent programs scheduled to play this year, have been talking to each other about the possibility of forming a new conference or conferences. But simply due to the logistics of wrangling everyone together, the probability of it happening soon is currently low. Not impossible, however.
Last season, Alaska, Long Island and Arizona State played as independents. This coming season, Alaska-Anchorage, Stonehill and Lindenwood gets added to the mix. There’s also Utica, potentially.
Playing an independent schedule is possible, as we’ve seen, but teams/schools want to guarantee home games. That’s what a conference schedule brings. Although six schools are needed for a conference to be eligible for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, teams appear willing to create conferences with fewer than six teams, just to ensure the schedule and home games.
There have been multiple permutations of schools getting together on various calls.
On one side of the equation, you have the two Alaska schools and Arizona State getting together, along with Lindenwood, to possibly form a four-team league. And don’t forget Albama-Huntsville. This group has also engaged a number of the Eastern independents in conversation, but none of those teams are willing, at this point, to be in a league with the Alaskas.
At the same time, there’s a five-team contingent in the East, made up of LIU, Stonehill, Utica, Lindenwood and St. Anselm. Those schools have enlisted the help of retiring Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio, to see if something can be wrangled together.
Lindenwood is the free agent wild card here. It doesn’t look like it’s getting any traction with the CCHA — which recently added Augustana as a ninth school for 2023-24 — so it’s looking elsewhere. Being in the middle of the country, it could obviously look either east or west.
Coach Rick Zombo said Lindenwood was able to quickly put together a 30-game, high-quality D-I schedule this year, which includes a two-game set at Denver in December. So the Lions don’t have an urgency to join a conference, but Zombo said they would clearly prefer to be in one.
“There’s strength in numbers,” Zombo said, who added that he’d leave the negotiations up to the school’s new athletic director, Jason Coomer.
Stonehill recently elevated its entire…
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