Staff Report
Before College Hockey America goes away for good, it will give the Niagara Purple Eagles a significant home-ice advantage.
The final CHA championship tournament will be played March 12 and 13 at Niagara University’s Dwyer Arena, Ed McLaughlin, university athletics director and CHA commissioner announced Thursday.
Niagara is 120-52-17 all-time in its own building, including two wins at Dwyer when the CHA tournament was played there in 2008.
Last year, Bemidji State won the tournament played on its home ice in Minnesota.
After the 2009-10 season, the CHA will disband, with Niagara and Robert Morris moving to Atlantic Hockey, 2009 champion Bemidji State joining the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and Alabama-Huntsville possibly entering the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
But before that, the four teams will vie for an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s going to be a very special tournament, since it’s the last year of play in College Hockey America,” Purple Eagles coach Dave Burkholder said. “There have been many memorable hockey moments throughout the years, and we are honored and pleased to be able to host the last tournament here at Niagara.
“Dwyer Arena is no stranger to world-class hockey, whether it is with the Buffalo Sabres developmental camp, or the CHA Tournament, or the 2010-11 IIHF World Junior Championships,” McLaughlin said in a news release. “Not many rinks will have those partners in three years, never mind one.”
The Sabres are returning to Lewiston this summer after relocating their developmental camp from the Amherst Pepsi Center a year ago.
Camp begins Monday, and the public will be invited to watch on-ice workouts beginning Tuesday. See Monday’s Niagara Gazette for a full preview of Sabres camp.
Dwyer will serve as a secondary facility for the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-20 Championships.
