ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

According to D3Hockey.com, the ECAC-W will now be known as the "United Collegiate Hockey Conference". This will be a bigger change for Women's DIII Hockey, though, as they are effectively kicking out the 5 SUNY Schools in the process, and Manhattanville will be leaving the NEHC. I would guess we see Morrisville and Canton being used to give a SUNYAC Conference 7 teams...

The UCHC will feature the following teams in 2017-18:
Elmira College
Utica College
Hobart/William Smith Colleges
King's College
Lebanon Valley College
Manhattanville College
Chatham University
Neumann University
Stevenson University
Nazareth College (Men's only)

Additionally, both leagues will add Wilkes University in 2018-19.

[dhammond]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

I wonder whether it will be a 2-year wait for autobids, which would make it 19-20 before it would kick in?

[joecct]

I wonder whether it will be a 2-year wait for autobids, which would make it 19-20 before it would kick in?

See the other thread. AQ is currently ticking and will continue.

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

I wonder whether it will be a 2-year wait for autobids, which would make it 19-20 before it would kick in?

18-19 for the men.
19-20 for the women

[PSUChamps2001]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

As I posted in the womens thread....

My only question is..... if Plattsburgh wins the ECAC West Regular season title and makes the ECAC WEST Championship game this year, will Plattsburgh be forced to play the Championship game in Elmira ??

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

This is clearly all RIT's fault.

[pman]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

Good, bad or indifferent for the men's division?

[joecct]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

11 teams x H&H = 20 game RS schedule. Too much??

Or do they do an NCHA setup?

[PrezdeJohnson09]

11 teams x H&H = 20 game RS schedule. Too much??

Or do they do an NCHA setup?

Either that or a division format? Play each team in your division twice and then the others once.

[elbojpb]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

According to D3Hockey.com, the ECAC-W will now be known as the "United Collegiate Hockey Conference".

It does not appear as though the ECAC has anything to do with this change!? There is nothing on their website even referencing this change. Does this mean that the ECAC will no longer have any presence in Men's D3 hockey?

How do you split an 11-team league into divisions?

[NUProf]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

It does not appear as though the ECAC has anything to do with this change!? There is nothing on their website even referencing this change. Does this mean that the ECAC will no longer have any presence in Men's D3 hockey?

How do you split an 11-team league into divisions?

The ECAC sponsored leagues in DIII Hockey have been on the decline for quite a while. Seems as though there must have been some reason for it - perhaps schools wanting to have more control over their league

ECAC - East (M&W) moved out and took control of themselves by becoming the NEHC
ECAC - Northeast moved to the CCC after half of the league went to the MASCAC earlier
ECAC - West (M&W) moved out to form UCHC
ECAC (Something) was projected to take in the independent women's teams with nowhere to play, but never got off the ground as the CHC was formed out of the projected membership

Pretty clear there must be some reason that everybody exited the ECAC umbrella all at the same time.

The question is where do the SUNYAC women go under this scenario, because there aren't enough of them to get a pool A slot.

[Scott_TG]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

The question is where do the SUNYAC women go under this scenario, because there aren't enough of them to get a pool A slot.

If they can poach Morrisville and Canton women's they do have enough for all-SUNY teams to make a SUNYAC women's conference with a Pool A. Or they could get 2 of 3 of Brockport, Fredonia and Geneseo who have men's programs and on-campus rinks to start programs and again that would be enough for an all-SUNY SUNYAC Womken's conference with a Pool A.

Or they could all try for the CHC (the league that formed out of what was supposed to be the ECAC-North Atlantic) which would then be an 11 team conference.

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

If they can poach Morrisville and Canton women's they do have enough for all-SUNY teams to make a SUNYAC women's conference with a Pool A. Or they could get 2 of 3 of Brockport, Fredonia and Geneseo who have men's programs and on-campus rinks to start programs and again that would be enough for an all-SUNY SUNYAC Womken's conference with a Pool A.

Or they could all try for the CHC (the league that formed out of what was supposed to be the ECAC-North Atlantic) which would then be an 11 team conference.

Correct. Canton & Mo'ville seems the most logical option, but those Schools would have to agree to it (and the larger SUNYAC membership would have to agree to allowing the arrangement, since those are not SUNYAC Schools). I doubt the CHC would take them because Buffalo, Canton/Potsdam, and Plattsburgh all in the same year would be an expensive travel budget for a team like JW or Becker.

A note: The CHC is definitely losing Daniel Webster and Stevenson, which drops them to 6 teams. They now risk losing Canton and Mo'ville, which potentially drops them to 4. Maybe that's their incentive to take the SUNYs? But how much of an incentive is that when Plattsburgh is in the mix?

[Scott_TG]

Re: ECAC West is rebranding (and kicking out the Women's SUNY Teams)

Correct. Canton & Mo'ville seems the most logical option, but those Schools would have to agree to it (and the larger SUNYAC membership would have to agree to allowing the arrangement, since those are not SUNYAC Schools). I doubt the CHC would take them because Buffalo, Canton/Potsdam, and Plattsburgh all in the same year would be an expensive travel budget for a team like JW or Becker.

A note: The CHC is definitely losing Daniel Webster and Stevenson, which drops them to 6 teams. They now risk losing Canton and Mo'ville, which potentially drops them to 4. Maybe that's their incentive to take the SUNYs? But how much of an incentive is that when Plattsburgh is in the mix?

They could stay as a 5 team conference and compete for a Pool B with the WIAC.

[joecct]

They could stay as a 5 team conference and compete for a Pool B with the WIAC.

Don't want to leave it to the smoke filled room.

The best solution is for the CHC to poach CCC members
UNE
Nichols
Salve Regina
to get to 7

and the NEHC to poach one team from the UCHC to get back to 7 and put the UCHC back to 10