Former Minnesota coach Don Lucia was named commissioner Wednesday of the newly formed Central Collegiate Hockey Association, an NCAA Division I league set to start in the 2021-22 season. Lucia won two national championships and made five trips to the Frozen Four over 19 seasons running the Gophers, until retiring from the bench in 2018. Before that, he was the head coach for six years each at Colorado College and Alaska-Fairbanks. This left Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska (formerly Alaska-Fairbanks) and Alaska Anchorage in limbo with budget crunches at their institutions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lucia did not rule out adding any of those programs, but he stressed the financial advantage of the leagues smaller footprint in three Midwestern states: Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.