2013-14 PAC-8 Preview

Salt Lake City, UT Another hockey season is around the corner and teams from all parts of the country are getting ready for their opening games in the coming weeks. Out west, the PAC-8 Hockey Conference has some new faces and new rules. Arizona State joins the mix as Stanford leaves to go to Division III of the ACHA and new divisions are now in place to help decide the best in the conference at season’s end. Much like the NCAA Pac-12 Conference, the league has now been split into two divisions, the North Division and South Division. While the names are the same, the teams in each division are tweaked from its NCAA parent. Both divisions will have four teams with North having Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Utah. The South has the other four in USC, UCLA, ASU, and Cal. Cal and Utah are the only teams switched from the Pac-12 divisions, but the divisions make sense as far as travel goes. With the new divisions means another new format for the PAC-8 Championships. After moving from a four-team tournament to a six-team tourney last year, the format has changed again. The winners of each division will advance to the tournament, with the top four remaining teams with the most points by season’s end taking the final spots. Before we can look forward to Salt Lake City in February, the eight teams must battle it out to qualify for the conference title over the next six months. In the North, the division holds the conference’s top teams as Utah, Washington, and Oregon have won five of the last six PAC-8 titles. Those three teams will most likely hold the top spots in the conference, but with each of three giants playing each other four times, it could even things out for the south. Washington State will be the severe underdog in this division but if they can have a decent season they could sneak into the tournament. Down south, the California teams reign supreme as Arizona State will join Cal, USC and UCLA. This division should be as competitive as the North with all four teams being pretty even. Cal was the surprise team last year and is the front runner for the division. With ASU’s D3 team moving up to D2 to join this conference, it will be interesting to see where they stack up against this team. As for the Crosstown Cup rivals, whoever wins the tourney this year will have a good shot at the PAC-8 South crown. What to Watch in the North: Which of the big three will reign supreme? In its first two seasons in the PAC-8, Utah has lost in the championship and won it all last year. After missing the PAC-8′s two years ago, Oregon is back and went to last year’s title game. And Washington, who won the title in 2011 and 2012, has declined slightly but is still one of the top teams in the conference. With all this talent in one division, this should be the most entertaining story line of the season. It’s even possible that all three teams could could make the postseason this year. What to Watch in the South: How will ASU do in the South Division? Cal, USC, and UCLA have all been pretty competitive with each other for years going into this season. With ASU moving into this division, it’s either feast or famine for the Sun Devils. If ASU does well, the south is theirs. If not, the whole division is up for grabs. The PAC-8 is very top loaded this year and this could be the year the conference makes it mark in the West Division. Utah will most certainly be ranked in the top ten in the first ranking in October and Oregon and Washington could be in the mix as well. With Colorado State and Colorado leaving to D1, the West is wide open. Maybe its time for the PAC-8 to make its move.