The issue with the B1G schools are those still left, with a couple exceptions, are they fall under the corn belt stigma that do not have a strong connection to the sport. Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska are not located in areas that anyone would confuse as hockey markets. I guess the DC area is not much of a hockey hot bed but it is in a major metro market so the transplants can help support college hockey at Maryland. $s have to be the reason that Rutgers and Northwestern do not have hockey. Rutgers I get because they just entered the B1G and have not been living on that big cash infusion the conference gets from TV and BCS bowls but Northwestern is in a great hockey city and on top of that it is located in an affluent area that I could see making games a must see attraction in the northern 'burbs of Chicago. Maybe they jump start the woeful hoops program with a new area that also has ice?
But I actually think it might be Title IX that is holding back hockey at many of these schools, how many scholarships does men's hockey have on the books?