>> I was wondering if anyone had a listing/memory of how Div III has fared
>>against Div I in the past couple of years.  Any scores would be appreciated.
>>I am most curious because Colgate is playing Plattsburgh St. this season,
>>and I wonder what the outcome will be...
>
>I'd say that over the past 5 years or so, division III teams play about .400
>hockey against division I. Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that
>only the top division III teams do this, and they play a lot of games against
>the independents who normally aren't the cream of the crop. For example, RIT
>has played Notre Dame, Air Force, Kent State, and the Alaskas in recent years
>with an occasional Clarkson or RPI thrown in. However, the division III team is
>almost always playing on the road, so that helps the division I opponent.
 
I went back over the last 3 years, and here's how things stack up:
 
YEAR      DivIII vs DivI    vs DivI Conf     vs DivI Indep
1991-92    4-38-2  .114      0-8-0  .000      4-30-2  .139
1990-91    8-34-2  .205      0-4-0  .000      8-30-2  .225
1989-90   11-48-4  .206      3-10-1 .250      8-38-3  .194
TOT       23-120-8 .179      3-22-1 .135     20-98-7  .188
 
The last victory by a DivIII team over a DivI conference team came in
January, 1990, when Plattsburgh won at Lowell 7-3.  Other wins that season
came from Middlebury (3-2 at Vermont) and Union (3-2 vs Brown in the RPI
Invitational consolation) and AIC tied at Merrimack, 6-6.  1989-90 was a good
year for DivIII teams by recent standards as they haven't been able to notch
a single win or tie since then against a DivI conference team.  (Remember
Army was in the ECAC till 1991 and was an Independent last year.)
 
>I don't remember Plattsburgh playing any divsion I teams, but Colgate should
>watch out - the Cardinals are the division III champs, and I understand that
>they lost only a few players to graduation. Plattsburgh also has a reputation
>for playing a physical game, so they should match up well. One of the main
>differences that I have seen between division I and III is the size of the
>players. Both RIT and Elmira have had success recruiting players considered
> "too small " for division I.
 
Plattsburgh has played only one other game vs a DivI opponent in the last
three years, losing at Clarkson last year, 6-2.  They will also play at Army
this coming season.  I agree that they should give both Colgate and Army
good games and have a chance of winning both.  Still, the size factor is a
very big one and there is quite a difference between DivI and DivIII.  From
seeing the highlights of Plattsburgh's season last year, I thought they could
beat a number of DivI teams and they gave Clarkson a good game from Heather's
admittedly biased account. :-)  I hope to be at the Colgate game as I have
no other obligations that weekend and Hamilton is not far from where Heather
lives.  It should be interesting.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)