Lou Nanne, one of the state's best-known hockey names, was on KFAN on Tuesday, talking about the Big Ten hockey conference. The Gophers and Wisconsin will leave the WCHA when the new six-team league starts in 2013-14.
His view on Big Ten hockey: "I don't think it is going to be a big mistake because of the money that they might generate from the Big Ten Network. I think there is opportunity here, and I say that because you always have the Christmas tournament that I am not enthralled with personally."
(The Gophers always have a four-team tournament between Christmas and New Year's Day. This season it was called the Mariucci Classic. The three other teams in it were Union of the ECAC -- the Dutchmen are in the NCAA tournament -- Ferris State of the CCHA and Bemidji State of the WCHA.)
"Some of the teams are good, some of the teams are sisters of the poor," Nanne said. "So I would like to see the Gophers take this opportunity to have a Minnesota tournament. Every year you have Mankato, St. Cloud, Bemidji and the Gophers in there. And I am not saying Duluth because I want Duluth on [the Gophers'] schedule every year.
"They have to find a way to get Duluth and North Dakota on their schedule every year. Those are the two teams that there is an intense rivalry with and you hate to see that lost. And you have to work with the WCHA, but I'd like to see those two teams every year.
"Then I'd like to see Denver and Colorado every second year. And if you do that, then all of a sudden you will have a better schedule than you ever had. You are going to be playing all the teams you've played, plus you are going to add the strong teams from the CCHA [Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are joining the Big Ten Conference, too]. And I think you would have a marvelous schedule.
'Whether the university wants to do that or not -- or thinks [that] schedule is too tough -- I don't know."
WCHA'S PLAN DIFFERENT