Reading the College Hockey Tea Leaves?

[South Hall Warrior]

I appologize if this has been posted before, but college hockey is in just a big a mess as BCS conferences are.  Since the Big 10 decided to sponsor a conference as a result of Penn State elevating hockey to the D1 level, there's been a mad dash to secure new conference spots resulting in the almost certain demise of the CCHA (as a hockey player from Michigan, this really saddens me).

Anyway, a number of CCHA and WCHA schools broke off to create the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.  Since the CCHA is almost certainly going to end, there was a lot of speculation that Notre Dame would join the NCHC.  Last night, I saw that my hometown Western Michigan Broncos and St. Cloud State were offered spots in the league, while Notre Dame hockey is still uncomitted to a conference.

I'm not suggesting anything, but does the fact that WMU and St. Cloud were offered positions in the NCHC over Notre Dame suggest that maybe ND is headed to the Big Ten?

http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2011/09/western_michigan_hockey_offici.html

[GGGG]

I have read the same thing on some other boards but the speculation is they are weighing whether or not Hockey East would be a better option considering where they get their students and where their alumni live.