We continue our discussion with College Hockey America commissioner Ed McLaughlin with a look at Niagara’s hockey program and next year’s move to college hockey. This is the second half of the interview.

GAZ: Let’s focus on your program. Some of the things with the rink and other pieces that you had plans for have worked and others haven’t come to fruition. Where do you stand and what plans do you have for the future?

ED: We’re always looking toward the future. A few years ago when we did our first renovation of Dwyer, it was ‘let’s see how the next couple years go attendance-wise.’ If we grow and we get to a point where we feel we need to continue to expand we’ll go from there. I think the economy doesn’t help that. And our attendance has continued to grow, it’s just not at that point where we’re at max capacity every night. We’re in the right progress mode, I think we’re going in the right direction, but we’re not at a point where we’re ready to say let’s blow out a back wall, or take the roof off, or crazy plans things like.

GAZ: If everything went perfectly, best-case scenario, could you do that?

ED: Take the roof off? From what I understand, and I’ve seen a bunch of different designs, if we got to a point where we felt as a university that back wall needed to be blown out, we could do things. We’re never going to be at a point where we have a 6,000-seat arena. But do I think we could have another entrance, maybe a student section? Sure. I think that’s definitely a possibility.

GAZ: As for Atlantic Hockey, and we know you’re not speaking as the commissioner like you are for College Hockey America, what time of transition is there for your program. Obviously you have to scale back scholarships, but what else is there?

ED: We just started going to league meetings. That’s a big transition. We’re into the meeting, learning what the league’s issues are. We understand the broader picture, but now we’re getting into scheduling and geography and some of the issues that are specific to Atlantic Hockey. We’re using the Atlantic Hockey officials this year, which is new. But the transition’s reasonably smooth.

GAZ: Is there talk of changing the scholarship level?

ED: It goes to 12 in our first year and we’ve had talk about what the number should be. And before I got there, it was talked about.

GAZ: You look at Niagara, Air Force and some of the schools who have perennially been strong, and you look at some of the smaller schools

ED: If you look at it from another perspective, using geography. The traditionally stronger programs in this league are on one side of the map, and the weaker teams, or those who have in the past been weaker, are on the other side of the map.

GAZ: So is there a division split, or anything like that?

ED: No, we haven’t talked about splitting. There are certainly questions of in these economic times of figuring out a way to be smart about our money. Hockey’s a really expensive sport. There’s talk about how we schedule and things like that, but we’re going into this league because we want to be with other schools like us.

GAZ: When you look at these rivalries, are we talking about traveling? That’s something you haven’t had in the league.

ED: You look at the RIT game, we had a great turnout. And Canisius, of course did the same thing. Mercyhurst, too. I think there are those benefits. It’s great for our fans too, because our fans can go and see the team too.

GAZ: If things change and the landscape changes, can this program put money in that’s it now taking out, in terms of scholarships. If they came back to you in two years and said the ECAC is going to two divisions and you’d be a great fit in the west, would you be able to do it?

ED: Yes. Even if Atlantic Hockey wanted to go to 18 scholarships, it wouldn’t be an issue. We went into this knowing Atlantic Hockey numbers might go up and we have to be prepared if they do go up. If the Big Ten decides they’re taking Notre Dame and making a six-team league, the whole thing shakes up.

GAZ: Some people feel like this is a definitive move. Is that so? Or do you have to keep your options open?

ED: I’d say we went into this knowing this is a place we can be for the next five to 10 years. And we’re not in the business of shopping ourselves around at this point. We’re in the place we need to be. If the landscape changes, all bets are off.

GAZ: Any talk of each conference getting an automatic second bid?

ED: We’ve talked to NCAA about it, and it hasn’t gotten any steam.

GAZ: You’re in your fourth year. What’s the state of the hockey program? Is it what you envisioned? And if not, where is it compared to what you envisioned?

GAZ: It’s an interesting question. If someone had said to me when I’d first got here that we’d play in the NCAA Tournament, win a regular-season championship and a tournament championship and had our attendance go up along the way, I’d have signed up for that right away. I think some of the bumps and bruises we’ve taken along the way have been hard, but I couldn’t be happier with the program. Couldn’t be happier with the coaching staff. If you look at what we’ve done over the last few years and what we could be, I really couldn’t be any happier.

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.