----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Hungerford" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 2:16 PM
Subject: HockeyEast Women starts this fall!


> According to the HockeyEast website:
>
> May 31, 2002
>
> WAKEFIELD, Mass. - The HOCKEY EAST Association will sponsor a Division
> I women's ice hockey league beginning this fall, it was announced today
> by HOCKEY EAST Commissioner Joe Bertagna. Charter members of the
> conference include Boston College, the University of Maine, the
> University of New Hampshire, Northeastern University, and Providence
> College. In addition, an invitation has been extended to the University
> of Connecticut to become the sixth team in the conference and that
> invitation has been accepted by Director of Athletics Lew Perkins.
>
> "We are extremely excited to make this announcement and even more
> anxious to watch this new conference take shape," said Bertagna. "Our
> goal is to very quickly see the HOCKEY EAST Women's League enjoy the
> success and national respect that our men's league currently enjoys.
> Given the strength of our line-up of institutions, we expect this to
> happen immediately."
>
> The historic first league game will take place on Friday, November 1,
> when Boston College hosts Providence College at the Conte Forum in
> Chestnut Hill, MA.
>
> Other institutions whose men's hockey programs reside in HOCKEY EAST
> will have the opportunity to join the women's league when each has a
> varsity women's program in place. Two such institutions, Boston
> University and Merrimack College, have indicated that their programs
> will be ready when new facilities allow.
>
> The University of Connecticut, whose men's hockey team plays in the
> Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), is looking forward to this
> new relationship.
>
> "The University of Connecticut is very proud to be part of the HOCKEY
> EAST Women's League," said Perkins. "Our school is extremely committed
> to the sport of women's ice hockey and we look forward to being part of
> one of the top conferences in the country. We have had a long athletic
> association with many of the schools in HOCKEY EAST and we look forward
> to our new associations as well."
>
> All six of the programs launching the HOCKEY EAST Women's League have
> been playing within the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC),
> forming the ECAC Eastern Division in 2001-2002, along with Niagara
> University and Quinnipiac University. Games already scheduled for
> 2002-2003 with Niagara and Quinnipiac will be honored as non-conference
> contests.
>
> Retaining the schedule that was already in place, the schools will play
> an unbalanced schedule next year, facing each league opponent three
> times (15 league games each.) Beginning with the 2003-2004 season, the
> schools will play each other four times (two home, two away), for a
> 20-game league schedule. Post-season tournament plans will be announced
> next month.
>
> "We wish to acknowledge the contributions that the ECAC has made, not
> only for our six programs but for women's ice hockey nationally," said
> Bertagna. "This development today is the logical next step for this
> sport as it continues its phenomenal growth."
>
> New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence have combined to win 15 of
> the 20 Division I women's ice hockey championship titles that the ECAC
> has awarded since 1984. Among the other contributions to women's ice
> hockey made by the now HOCKEY EAST programs:
>
>
>
>
>
> =====
> ____________________
>                     \
>     good shooting
>     rhun
> \____________________
>
> Women's College Ice Hockey from rhun:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cwinters
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
> http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com