As a BIG fan, but not so much BIG hockey - I'd actually give a comfortable endorsement to Hockey East having top conference honors, esp with depth and traditional rivalries - and it will be this way for many years to come. As for the WCHA, former home of Minnesota and Wisconsin, never bought that Hockey East was on par, top to bottom with the old WCHA - not even close. People who think such have not done their research of college hockey stats. The WCHA was a monster for decades & put some of the best hockey players into the current NHL - long list here, no need.
The WCHA, a shell of its former self & merely written history at this point, holds the distinction of being the most dominant conference of all college sports. When Denver, UND, Colorado College, MN, MN-Duluth and Wisconsin were members - pretty deep and often dominant - rarely missed a Frozen Four and once fielded the entire thing back in the early 2000s. Of this bunch, only Duluth has less than 1 NC. Denver, UND, Mn & Wisky all have 5 or more NCs. Heck even Michigan and Michigan State were former WCHA members - Michigan winning a few of their titles as a WCHA member.
As a Minny fan, not happy with BIG hockey - way, way, way too much tradition destroyed for the BTN. Our biggest rival is UND, then it's a tossup between Wisconsin and Mn-Duluth. We only keep Wisconsin for the current BIG.
BIG hockey has upside, but it will never have the compact road rivalries of the WCHA. It will also be up to BTN to cover games like Minnesota vs UND - that is essential non-conference match ups. A lot will depend on the rise of PSU. OSU has been playing D1 hockey for a long time, so often the 2nd or 3rd best program in Ohio - behind Miami and Bowling Green. The gap between OSU and Minnesota hockey is bigger than comparing our football programs.
I suspect the new NCHC will be more on par with Hockey East. Even though it is spread out, they ensured in-state rivalries in 2 of 6 states, (Colorado and Minnesota) and UND is right on the border of Minnesota. They also ensured each of the 6 states is paired with a school in a neighbor state - 3 pairs of two.
