A few years ago, the Arizona State Sun Devils moved up to become an NCAA Division 1 hockey club and they’re now ranked 13th in the nation. There’s one issue the Sun Devils are facing right now and that’s regional competition. Recently, when the Sun Devils were in New York driving through winter weather, they tweeted, “Soooo about starting that PAC-12 hockey conference.” Right now there is a PAC-12 hockey conference, but at the Division 2 ACHA level and with schools that don’t compete in the PAC-12 with their varsity sports. The ACHA Pac-12 hockey conference is also called PAC-8 due to having eight teams before and not yet renaming to PAC-12.
Some PAC-12 schools, however, wouldn’t make the cut due to lack of interest or not having a venue on or close enough to campus to play at. The Washington State Cougars ACHA team currently shares the rink on Eastern Washington University’s campus with the EWU Eagles. The Oregon State Beavers don’t currently have an ACHA team due to there being no ice rink on or near campus. Stanford University is more focused on academics instead of athletics to add another NCAA D-1 team.
If the PAC-12 added hockey as a varsity sport, they could add affiliate teams like they do for California Polytechnic State University and CAL State Bakersfield for wrestling and San Diego State for men’s soccer. The PAC-8 Hockey Conference has a similar setup right now with how there are schools that don’t compete in the PAC-12 for varsity sports or aren’t even Division 1 for varsity sports.
Schools that compete in the 12 team PAC-8 Hockey Conference that aren’t varsity sport members of the PAC-12 are the Boise State Broncos, San Jose State Spartans, and San Diego State Aztecs who compete in the Mountain West Conference for varsity sports. The other two members are the Eastern Washington Eagles and Western Washington Vikings. The Eagles are members of the Big Sky Conference while the Vikings are members of the Division 2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) for varsity sports. Full PAC-12 members that field a PAC-8 team are the Washington Huskies, Washington State Cougars, Oregon Ducks, Cal Bears, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, and Arizona State Sun Devils who also field the only NCAA D-1 team on the west coast.
Even if a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference ended up with less than 12 teams, you could still have quite a few PAC-12 schools. Some schools are in or near cities that currently host NHL teams, a minor league team, or have hosted a team in some various league in the past.
The Colorado Buffaloes field an ACHA D-1 program in the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL). If they were to make the jump to a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference, the team could play at 1STBank Center located in Broomfield, Colorado, about 20 minutes from campus and seats 5,917 for hockey. The 1STBank Center previously hosted the Rocky Mountain Rage of the now defunct Central Hockey League (CHL) from 2006-2009. Colorado is also home to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Steamboat Wranglers and Northern Colorado Eagles of the Junior Tier-2 Western States Hockey League (WSHL).
The Utah Utes field an ACHA Division 1 team and play an independent schedule as they’re not affiliated with any conference. If they were to join a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference, they could play at the Maverik Center located about 20 minutes from campus. The Maverik Center with a capacity of 10,100 is home to the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. Utah is also home to the Utah Outliers and Ogden Mustangs of the WSHL.
The Washington Huskies could play at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington, and about a half hour from campus. The accesso ShoWare Center seats 6,500 for hockey and is home to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the major junior Western Hockey League (WHL). Once the new Seattle Center Arena opens in the fall of 2021, the Huskies could play games there as well or instead of in Kent.
The UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans could share the Anaheim Convention Center, located about 45 minutes from the UCLA campus and about half an hour from the USC campus. The Anaheim Convention Center seats 7,500 for hockey.
The Arizona Wildcats, like the Colorado Buffaloes, field an ACHA D-1 program in the WCHL. If the Wildcats were to make the jump to a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference, they could continue playing where they do currently at the Tucson Convention Center (TCC). The TCC also hosts the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, an affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Arizona State Sun Devils D-1 team plays home games at Oceanside Arena and Gila River Arena. If they were to make the jump to a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference, there really isn’t a good midsize venue for the team to play at. Oceanside Ice Arena has a capacity of only 800 while Gila River Arena in Glendale home to the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes and about a half hour from campus sits 15,869 for hockey. The 800 at Oceanside Ice Arena isn’t very big but 15,869 is probably a little too much. Until a new midsize venue is built, the team would continue to go between Oceanside Ice Arena and Gila River Arena. Something to note is that ASU is continuing to pursue a new on campus arena that would have a capacity of 5,000.
One school you can’t leave out is the University of Oregon. Right now, their team shares a rink with the Junior-A Eugene Generals who play an independent schedule as they’re without a league. The Ducks current PAC-8 club team has been recognized for one of their jerseys and have dreams of being an NCAA D-1 school for hockey. Phil Knight, well known for being the brains behind Nike along with co-founder Bill Bowerman could easily provide the current club with money for an arena and for anything else necessary to move up and become an NCAA D-1 hockey team.
The PAC-12 would now have eight teams playing in fairly midsize arenas, but seven isn’t an ideal number of teams, so what should the PAC-12 do now? Well, they can look at the affiliate angle now and add schools that compete in other conferences for their other varsity sports. Looking at the current 12 team PAC-8 Hockey Conference, you could get the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos could go from playing part-time to playing full-time at the 5,002 CenturyLink Arena. CenturyLink Arena is also home to the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads, affiliate of the AHL’s Texas Stars and NHL’s Dallas Stars.
Another school the PAC-12 could grab as an affiliate club from the PAC-8 is San Diego State and have them play at Pechanga Arena San Diego. Pechanga Arena San Diego seats 12,920 for ice hockey and is home to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
One ACHA D-1 team the PAC-12 could grab as an affiliate club is the UNLV Rebels. They currently play home games at City National Arena, the practice facility for the Vegas Golden Knights. You could move their home games to Orleans Arena which seats 7,773 for hockey and previously hosted the now defunct Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL.
To round out a potential PAC-12 Hockey Conference, you could add the Fresno State Bulldogs who currently field an ACHA D-2 team and have them share Selland Arena with the Fresno Monsters of the Junior-A Tier-2 Western States Hockey League (WSHL). Selland Arena is about fifteen minutes from campus and seats 7,600 for hockey.