St. Thomas athletics director Phil Esten won’t argue with those who consider the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to be the best conference in men’s college hockey. He didn’t have to be asked twice when conference commissioner Heather Weems offered the Tommies the chance to become a member.
The Tommies will become the 10th member of the conference beginning with the 2026-27 season. Before then, they will remain in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, their home since making the jump to Division I in 2021.
Rico Blasi, left, is given his own University of St. Thomas hockey jersey by director of athletics Phil Esten during a news conference in the James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall on April 6, 2021 in St. Paul. Blasi will become the University’s first Division-I hockey coach. (Liam James Doyle / University of St. Thomas)
The germ of the idea was formed during the annual coaches meetings during the first week of May. The official announcement was made on Wednesday, so the entire process took about two weeks.
“The NCHC had talked about the landscape of college hockey,” Esten said. “They’re adding Arizona State next season, so they talked about the composition of their membership. They wanted to go from nine (member schools) to 10, and they asked commissioner Weems for an assessment to identify a potential 10th member. … We quickly assessed that there was mutual interest.”
The Tommies, who were in the hunt for the CCHA regular season championship down to the wire this season, will be joining a league that boast six of the past eight NCAA champions. It’s impressive company for a program still in its infancy.
“Going from Division III to Division I, and now accepting this invitation to join the NCHC, doesn’t happen if you don’t have great leadership,” Tommies coach Rico Blasi said. “That comes from Dr. Esten, to president (Rob) Vischer to our board. We’re very appreciative of their efforts, and all our players, and we’re excited, to be a part of that.”
The Tommies’ women’s team competes in the powerhouse Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Esten said the NCHC allows the university a better opportunity to grow its national brand, gives the men’s hockey program a chance to compete at the highest level, and helps the Tommies teams that compete in the Summit League. The three Summit League schools that compete in men’s hockey are members of the NCHC — Denver, North Dakota and Omaha — and Esten believes adding hockey to the mix figures to strengthen the rivalries in the other sports.
As for notifying CCHA commissioner Don Lucia of the Tommies’ departure, Esten said those types of conversations are never easy.
“I’ve had a relationship with Don for a long time, and he understands that (conference realignment) is part of college athletics today,” Esten said. “I know he is disappointed, but we’re not running away from the CCHA by any means. It’s more that some of these variables line up better for us in the NCHC.”
Blasi downplayed any idea that playing in the CCHA the next two seasons will be an awkward situation.
“The CCHA has been very good to us,” he said. “We have nothing but good things to say, and we’re going to try to compete in it for the next two years.”
Esten said the Tommies had no contractual obligation to remain in the CCHA for two more years. It simply made sense for all involved.
With the move, the rivalry the Tommies have established with Minnesota State will be joined by new ones with Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. The recruiting competition with the latter two schools figures to only intensify. And being able to compete with the likes of Denver and North Dakota means that the Tommies are going to have to win some heavyweight recruiting battles if they are going to be competitive in their new conference.
“We’ve been trying to build our program every year by taking steps forward, so that’s not going to change,” Blasi said. “Our job is to make sure we are ready to go.”
Esten applauds the work Blasi has done in building the program to date, and is confident the Tommies will be competitive in the NCHC. “Recruiting is obviously the lifeblood of any program, and this move is going to help him in one part of that, and I think our institutional profile helps in the other part,” the AD said.
Aiding the recruiting efforts is the fact that the new on-campus basketball and hockey arena, the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, remains on schedule to open in the fall of 2025.
“We’ve had a few appeals to the site plan that was approved by the city,” Esten said. “Those appeals have been denied by the planning commission and the city of St. Paul. So, we began construction again this week.”
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