REPORT: Sabres interested in building facility on Canisius College Campus

Nick Veronica (@NickVeronica) - Sports Editor for the Canisius College student newspaper "The Griffin" reports that the Buffalo Sabres and the Canisius college athletic department have “had conversations” about building a practice facility on the Canisius campus - though discussions are still in the beginning phase for building. The text below is directly from Veronica's article.

There is still no plan at this point where the rink would be placed. Several sites on the Canisius campus, such as the Demske Sports Complex and the Health Science building and its surrounding lots, are off-limits for a hockey rink because water extending from Forest Lawn Cemetery flows beneath them.

The Canisius athletic department did not say whether they spoke directly with Sabres owner Terry Pegula or just front office members, but offered this prepared statement from Maher:

“We have had discussions with the Buffalo Sabres front office concerning a practice site for the Sabres on the Canisius campus, and we are very excited about the possibility of developing a partnership. The partnership being discussed would not only benefit the Sabres and our NCAA Division I hockey program, it would also have a significant impact on amateur hockey in Western New York. Canisius College is carefully studying this opportunity with the goal of putting together a plan that benefits both organizations.”

Canisius currently plays in the Atlantic Hockey Conference - representatives from the Canisius College hockey team, as well as those from Niagara, Mercyhurst and Robert Morris, met today with Central Collegiate Hockey Association executives in Erie, Pa. to further discuss the possibility of joining that league in the future.

The CCHA is likely looking to add member schools starting in the 2013-2014 season, when three of its current members (Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State) will leave to join the new Big Ten hockey conference and Miami (Ohio) University leaves for the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Administrators from the four schools have been in contact with each other about the possibility of moving conferences. Canisius said it is still a ways off from announcing anything formal, but the prospect of playing in the CCHA is “very interesting to the college.”

The last CCHA school to win a national title was Michigan State in 2007. The conference’s 11 current members (in order of last season’s standings) are: Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Western Michigan, Ferris State, Northern Michigan, Alaska, Lake Superior, Ohio State, Michigan State and Bowling Green.

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