Put it this way, its not a situation of where there is smoke there is fire....
It's a situation of there is smoke coming from a fire.
Here's a look at the team's facilities at Centene Community Ice Center they moved into last season
Also it's no secret the effort is there, this article from last May in the STLToday paper featuring Zombo talks about his desire to take the program to NCAA D1
Ex-Blue Zombo is St. Louis' other championship-winning hockey coach and a few weeks the company conducting the NHL feasibility studies announced we were one of the 5 initial schools, although their press release has some incorrect details
Lindenwood Announces Transition to Division I Hockey — Collegiate Consulting
Also the university previously explored a move in 2004 when the school was still an NAIA institution. A few factors prevented that from happening but here's the old article on that
Lindenwood Explores Move Into D-I Interestingly the women's team did eventually join the CHA in 2012 when the university elevated most of the athletics to NCAA D2, moving women's hockey to D1.