Five of the remaing teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association have been extended an invitation to join the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the conferences announced Thursday.
The move is now pending the approval of the Board of Trustees at the five CCHA schools.
The Falcons, Lake Superior, Western Michigan, Ferris State and Alaska have been given 30 days to accept or decline the invite. While Notre Dame still remains with the CCHA, they were not extended an invite, as it is widely assumed that they will join either Hockey East or the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference, whose formation in July sparked college hockey realignment talk.
Should the CCHA and WCHA agree to merge, the changes would not take effect until the 2013-14 season, which is when the NCHC and Big Ten conference are scheduled to begin competition.
The CCHA originally lost Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State in the spring when the Big Ten announced it would form a hockey conference. Miami then left for the NCHC in July with five schools from the WCHA.
