It’s one wacky, crazy league, that WCHA. It’s a circuit filled with national championship banners (9) and two state schools (University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Anchorage) bordering on bankruptcy. It’s a 4,200-mile commute between member schools in Anchorage and Huntsville, Alabama—that’s 68 hours behind the wheel for those with flight-phobia.

It’s also got an amazing history, going from college hockey’s super league to the “Isle of Misfit Toys” in 2013, and then on June 29 becoming a doomed conference, as seven of the 10 schools announced their intent to form a new conference by 2021. Informed pundits are speculating that the two Alaska schools could be either merged or defunct as of the July 30 state budget meetings in Juneau. Wacky, indeed.

Nevertheless, the WCHA men’s conference soldiers on, albeit with a cloak of secrecy from league officials and member schools about their two-year expiration date. Schedules are out, SIDs are hyping dozens of WCHA players attending NHL summer camps, and even the Alaska schools are promoting their season opener—the intrastate Alaska Cup, sponsored by Alaska Airlines, naturally.  

The puck drops on a new era in @UAAHockey 100 days from now when the Seawolves return to the @uaanchorage campus Oct. 25 vs. @NanooksHockey in the @AlaskaAir Cup. #SeawolfPride @WCHA_MHockey pic.twitter.com/lKBpWqXXOz

— UAA Seawolves (@UAASeawolves) July 17, 2019

I figured this calamitous offseason is the ideal time for a road trip, a chance to knock on the doors of the seven midwest representatives of the WCHA, the ones anointed “The Spited Seven” by Drew Evans of BGSUHockey.com. It’s time for a status report from the respective inner sanctums of schools living in a hockey cocoon 24 months before their metamorphosis.

First stop, Big Rapids, home of the 10-23-3 Ferris State Bulldogs, also the home of legendary coach Bob Daniels, a guy closing in on 500 career Division I wins, fourth among all active coaches. He had just returned from a three-day golf vacation to talk hockey with FloSports.

“Sometimes a losing season reinvigorates you; if it doesn’t that’s your signal that maybe it’s time to find another pursuit.” This from Daniels, who suffered the worst season of his remarkable 27-year career with a 10-win campaign in 2018-19, missing out on the postseason. He did not hide his misery about his latest campaign. “We were really disappointed, a tough pill to swallow.”

Days after the Bulldogs cleared out their room, the program suffered another loss when freshman phenom Cooper Zech, the team’s leading scorer, signed a pro contract with the Bruins organization. “In my mind, I thought we’d have him two or three years,” Daniels said. “We tried to keep him here, we thought it would be best. I’m happy for him, obviously he’s a talent.”

Hitting rock bottom has not put a dent into Daniels’ seemingly constant stream of positive energy. “I’m invigorated,” the WCHA’s elder statesman said, showing off his renovations to the Bulldogs’ locker facilities, describing his latest golf showdown with Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, and accommodating a lengthy media request. Here in mid-July, Daniels and his staff have reconciled the problems from last year and vowed changes.

“We lost a little bit of the culture in our locker room, and that’s on our coaches,” Daniels said. “Maybe you have some success for a few years [five NCAA wins this decade], you let things slide that you might not have let slide before.” Daniels takes no consolation from 12 maddening one-goal losses of a year ago. “I don’t take satisfaction or solace that we were close a lot, or lost OT games; you know, they’re losses. We were 5 percent the wrong direction. That’s our marching orders. We have a lot to do to get where we need to be. We want to turn over every rock.”

Daniels has no incoming blue-chip freshmen to right the Bulldogs ship—that’s not how his program functions. His formula is to educate over time. “We’re a program built on guys coming in contributing their first year, not leading our team in scoring, but then developing into those roles. I think we have players on the cusp of that.” He has a handful he sees blossoming into WCHA impact players this season, guys who have had the benefit of one of the best teachers in the game. Senior defenseman and co-captain Nate Kallen is a Daniels prototype. 

“He’s a complete offensive/defensive defenseman,” Daniels said of Kallen, the San Diego native who led the Bulldogs with four power play goals. “He plays both ends of the rink, probably our unsung hero. So we’re going to be in good shape on the power play.” Daniels, who believes defense is critical to returning the program to playoff contention, has brought in five defensemen, young saplings to eventually replace the grove of senior defenders. The best of that bunch is Blake Evannou, a 21-year old Michigander who has thrived in both the USHL and the NAHL junior circuits.

“He’s a very good PP defenseman,” Daniels said of Evannou. “Is he ready for the first unit? Probably not. He’ll see time on the second. So we feel pretty comfortable with that end of things. We just to make sure that our freshmen can defend.”

Goaltending, a massive liability for Daniels’ squad last year, should be infinitely stronger this season, and that should close the dreaded 5 percent gap that tormented the Bulldogs last year. Gone is Justin Kapelmaster, a junior whose lack of fitness resulted in two groin pulls, and had 150-pound true freshman Roni Salmenkangas getting pummeled in a six-week stretch, both in practice and in games. “That was a tough body blow,” Daniels said of his goaltending debacle. 

The low point of the Bulldogs’ season was Feb. 9 in a home contest versus Bemidji, when Kapelmaster pulled himself from a game, virtually quitting on his mates. Notices went out to the Ferris club hockey team, offering a varsity letter for a goalie to help with the practice burden. There were no takers.

With the season ready to implode, the freshman Finn stepped up. Salmenkangas somehow found the strength to carry the club over its last six games, leading all WCHA goalies in save percentage over that span. His biggest feat came in the last game of the season. A day after his squad was eliminated from the WCHA playoffs, Salmenkangas stoned Lake Superior up in the Sault in an emotional 3-2 victory to finish a forgettable season on a memorable note.

“Everybody battled so hard, we were hugging each other in the locker room,” Salmenkangas said. “It was just one of the greatest wins last year, for sure.”

“It was certainly as big a win as I’ve had in my time here,” Daniels said, a massive statement from a guy who’s had teams ranked No. 1 in the country and played in the 2012 NCAA Championship. “It was a gift from the senior class to our program heading into this year.”

Daniels has brought in two goalies to compete with Salmenkangas, but the Nordic freshman’s contributions in a year from hockey hell won’t soon be forgotten. 

“The scars he took are going to strengthen him,” Daniels said. “Going forward I really envision good things coming from him.”

He will have to be elite if the Bulldogs are to breathe air from atop the .500 mark.