Nebraska Cornhuskers Hockey officially 'on the table' ... sort of

Could the Nebraska Cornhuskers have their own hockey team in the near future? Well, yes and no. It appears that the administration is looking at all options when it comes to improving the standing of the University of Nebraska in the Big Ten and the rest of the college world.

Interim president Chris Kabourek recently talked about how all options are “on the table.” At the top of the list of reasons to do so is the desire to get back into the AAU. One idea that is being floated is that the Nebraska Cornhuskers would absorb their “little brother” universities in Omaha and Kearney.

The Omaha World-Herald’s Tom Shatel wrote on Sunday about how there is real concern among the fanbases of both Omaha and Kearney that they might all become the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That Mavs Hockey would suddenly be Huskers Hockey.

Folks in Lincoln should love that. The Mavs are on one heck of an upswing. They just made the NCAA Tournament this past season and finished the campaign ranked 12th in the country. 

Folks in Omaha, are unsurprisingly wanting to continue to root for the Mavs. It’s a hockey program that has built its reputation in the NCHC. Not the Big Ten. In fact, in hockey, there’s an argument to be made that the NCHC is a better conference.

The National Champion Denver Pioneers are from the NCHC. 

Nebraska Cornhuskers hockey is on the table but likely not coming anytime soon, if ever

Shatel points out that the goal is to get into the AAU and that UNMC and Omaha and Kearney being back under the Block N would help do that. Kabourek said, “my standard answer is, everything is on the table.”

But as Shatel pointed out, there’s another way to get everyone under Block N while keeping the hockey team the Mavs and Ryan Held’s Kearney football team the Lopers. 

“The University of Michigan has that in Ann Arbor as well as campuses in Flint and Dearborn. Flint does not play sports while UM-Dearborn has NAIA athletics and goes by the name Wolverines with maize and blue. All three campuses use the same “M” logo.So do the five campuses of the University of Minnesota. The Twin Cities, Crookston, Duluth and Morris campuses all have athletics. UM-Duluth plays in the same hockey conference (NCHC) as UNO.”

Kabourek mostly wants the consolidation recognized on the academic side. That would allow Omaha to avoid being the Nebraska Cornhuskers hockey team, the same way Minnesota-Duluth is the Bulldogs rather than the Golden Gophers.

Kabourek is talking about consolidation instead of cannibalization. But before Mavs and Lopers fans truly breathe a sigh of relief, there’s two things to keep in mind.

First, as Kabourek says, “everything is on the table.” The Nebraska Cornhuskers hockey team is still on the table. Second, Kabourek won’t be in charge of this for much longer. What if new president Jeffrey Gold believes it’s easier to cannibalize instead of consolidate?

It’s on the table.