Arizona and others to get D1 hockey

[Eagles]

http://espn.go.com/ncaa/news/2002/1226/1482673.html


"SALT LAKE CITY -- Representatives from several Arizona and Utah universities met in Salt Lake City this week and agreed to form Hockey West, a Division I league of the American Collegiate Hockey Association.


The new league will consist of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Weber State. BYU will play a partial schedule against Hockey West clubs next season, and Colorado State also may join the league by Tuesday's deadline."

[Alton]

If one were to read the article, it would be clear that this is referring to Division I Club Hockey, the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

[amherstblackbear]

Yep UA and ASU are the reason that the current league is the PAC-8. Guess they're starting their own conference rather than join the existing one.

[Willie Plett]

Yeah, club hockey, the next level for aspiring Junior "B" players, or as the article somewhat mentioned your "average Joe" from Utah. I often get a kick out of some of these schools actually talking about crossing over to NCAA Div. 1 (Penn St., Iowa St.). Granted, while many of the Bigger Univ. could probably get the financial backing, it would take some years. I think some of these club teams think their players have the caliber to play at the Div. 1 level, and yet they are not even Div. 3 "JV" players. If Iowa St. or Penn St. ever were granted Div. 1 play, they would be hiring a new coaching staff and all new players. Anyways, I get the article, and yeah it is referring to club hockey.

[BernardtheSniper]

Willie,
Hahaha, the first half of your post was ok but then you made the ridiculous comment that players from ACHA Div 1 wouldnt even be jv players for NCAA div 3 teams. I guess youve never seen the top ACHA div 1 and 2 teams play. A lot of those teams have many talented players that could easily play at the div 3 level. Before you make ridiculous comments, think about what your saying. Penn State is a nationally known team in the ACHA, they attract all types of players from junior A and B, and many prep schools. Id say the top teams in both div 1 and 2 ACHA have atleast one full line of players that could compete at the NCAA division 3 level. People assume "club" hockey isnt the same as NCAA div 3. Granted there are many many club teams that couldnt compete with the lowest Div 3 teams. But there are a handful who are the top teams in the ACHA div 1 and 2 that could compete. Im not saying theyd win, but they would give any team a run for their money, except for your Middlebury, Norwich, etc type of teams.

[Larry E. Bloom]

Players and team chemistry are a non-specific science. If they are "B" rate players as you put it, they sure can develop into D1 sanctioned players and maybe Olympians.......Remember they got the heart to change whatever skill they are at.

[MikeAnderson]

I just love referring to the fact that Alabama-Huntsville, while still a club level team, defeated a DIVISION I team, Air Force, back in the early 80's.

Despite what you might believe, there's not as much disparity between club level players and D1 players. Some may be D1 caliber players that just couldn't get a scholarship, so they're where they are and, look, there's a club hockey team to help them pass the time while in school.

[lightthelamp]

Despite what you might believe, there's not as much disparity between club level players and D1 players. [/B][/QUOTE]

There maybe a COUPLE of club players out there that might be able to play NCAA DI. and these are the guys that took the SAT twice and had a combined score of 850, or are guys that have been labeled as bad eggs. But thats it, just a couple of guys, then maybe after that a few more guys could play NCAA DIII. as for the rest they are Jr. B players that have found a perfect place for their skills at the CLUB level...

Your therory is just like saying a some DI players can play in the NHL, which is true but not all players from the DI league will play in the show. And yes a few DIII players have made the NHL as well...

So wake up Club hockey is what it is, a place to have fun playing competitive hockey at a lower skill level than DI or DIII. It is not NCAA and until a school goes NCAA stop making wishes, and excusses...

Thank you and GOOD NIGHT...

[MikeAnderson]

Originally posted by lightthelamp
So wake up Club hockey is what it is, a place to have fun playing competitive hockey at a lower skill level than DI or DIII.
You're right, however it's still fun for me to remember fondly. :)

I'm not saying Penn State is gonna make a run at the Gophers varsity team, but they could likely hang with a MAAC team or three.

[SteveP]

Originally posted by lightthelamp


There maybe a COUPLE of club players out there that might be able to play NCAA DI. and these are the guys that took the SAT twice and had a combined score of 850, or are guys that have been labeled as bad eggs.

Not sure what's in that lamp you're lighting but.....

To quote from Penn State's media guide:

"Last year, the Icers scored a team GPA of 3.23.....
.....3.0 or greater streak to six years.
.....23 Icers achieved GPA's over over 3.0"

AND

"Former Icer Alon Eizenman was a 2000 Finance grad out of PSU's prestigious Schreyer Honors college. He's deferred his acceptance to the University of Toronto law school (the finest law school in Canada) to play pro hockey in France"

I dunno, I'll take bad eggs like these guys any day of the week! ;)

[LoudGirl]

Contrary to some of the popular belief i've been seeing, not all schools have club hockey because they couldn't handle NCAA. Some of it surely has to do with everyone's favorite, Title IX. I went to school at the University of Arizona, and then transferred east to UMass Amherst, and let me tell you, some of those UA boys could definitely hold their own, at the very least, against a few MAAC teams. They may not be Hockey East material, but they're certainly NCAA material. I think UA is making the right decision, forming their own league. When they're beating current opponents by more than 12 goals, it's time to find some different opponents. And, for the record, ASU could definitely play MAAC...same style of hockey, anyway!
Go, Go, Icecats go! Arizona, Bear down! Bear Down!

[lightthelamp]

Originally posted by SteveP


"Former Icer Alon Eizenman was a 2000 Finance grad out of PSU's prestigious Schreyer Honors college. He's deferred his acceptance to the University of Toronto law school (the finest law school in Canada) to play pro hockey in France"

Thats Great, Like I said there maybe a couple of players out there, but for the most part, these players could not move up into the DIII or DI. That being said I am sure there are guys at UW Superior or Middlebury who could play D1. But no one is on the DIII fourm pages crying about that, or talking about playing teams from a higher division such as DI. Club hockey is what it is, CLUB HOCKEY!!!
The same for DIII and DI. and yes there are a few exceptions, but only af few.

Stop dreaming about the NCAA's team and making comparisons of club to DI or DIII...

You are wasting your time!!!

By the way pro hockey in france is not a big time. I am sure he is having a great time out there...
JUST LIKE CLUB HOCKEY!!!

[Larry E. Bloom]

You talk like your opinion is "Blue Print Science"!!!!! No WAY!...I'm sure there is more than a few. Penn State is a great club and so is Illinois.....and a matter of fact in Illini history they have beaten a few D1 sanctioned teams.

[lightthelamp]

Originally posted by Larry E. Bloom
You talk like your opinion is "Blue Print Science"!!!!! No WAY!...I'm sure there is more than a few. Penn State is a great club and so is Illinois.....and a matter of fact in Illini history they have beaten a few D1 sanctioned teams.


WOW- thanks for the input

I am sure there are exceptions.... I have said that already!!!

God you are putting me to sleep, with your lack of stimulation!!!:o :o :o :o :o :o

[sloth2946]

Professional hockey in France or Europe for that matter, with the exceptions of the Pool A clubs is on par with D-1 or D-2 club. Some teams might be able to challenge a sanctioned D-III team, but for the most part it is NOT good hockey.

Oh and how do I know??? My Jr year we had an exhibition against the Polish National team, which I think was slightly worse then the French 1998 Olympic team by a score of 6-2. It wasn't even close.

[lee hall]

Originally posted by Larry E. Bloom
and a matter of fact in Illini history they have beaten a few D1 sanctioned teams.

Larry:

Can you cite a couple of those victories? Illinois has all-time game scores on its webpage and, after going back 15 or 20 years, the only game I could readily identify against a D1 varsity was a 9-2 loss to Illinois-Chicago in 1995. Just curious which D1 programs Illinois has beaten. Thanks.

LH

[berbs91]

D1 club is no where near as good as NCAA DIII

ASU the #17 D1 club team according to your polls lost to Scranton the worst DIII team in history

Scranton hasnt won a DIII NCAA game since the 1998-99 season but they continue to play competetive with club hockey teams.

Face the facts, if these kids belong in NCAA DI hockey they wouldnt turn down a scholarship, truth is most of them didnt even get looks from DIII NCAA schools

NONE of these players could hang with the MAAC or any top DIII squads

[Bobo]

Anyone who thinks club players are even close to being as good as DIII players is on crack. Some serious self-delusion.

[Ritt18]

I spent a year watching the Ice Cats. There were maybe 8-10 guys who could have dressed for a good D-III program and none of them would have been playing on the top 2 lines or pairings. If they played a decent D-III team 10 times they would be lucky to win 2. They would get crushed every single time by a decent D-I program.

[Jim]

My guess is that for 1 game, maybe a club team could hang with a D-3, maybe even a weak D-1 team for a couple of periods. One team would be pumped up, the other going through the motions. Over the course of a season, though, I suspect that things would be very different. No club team could even hope to compete over the course of a 30 plus game schedule. Bigger, faster, stronger, better conditioned competition would take its toll on the club squad fairly quickly. And depth would be a significant advantage to the D-1 or even D-3 teams over the course of the season. By the way, I suspect that a D-3 team would have a comparable problem playing a D-1 schedule. In either case, they might have a few players who could make a team at the higher level, just not enough of them to play night in and night out.