I'm posting this to both HOCKEY-L and HOCKEY-3, since it pertains to both
Division I and Division III hockey and I thought people on both lists would
be interested in this.  It starts out as an opinion piece on whether or not
Elmira College, one of the top teams in Division III, should make the jump
to Division I, and then moves on to discuss whether or not all the college
hockey divisions should be merged.
 
This article appeared in the Sunday, February 27, 1994 issue of the _Star-
Gazette_, and is reproduced with the author's permission.
 
Soaring Eagles taking to the ice in Division I?  Why not?
by Mark Houck, _Star-Gazette_ sports editor
 
"Oh, that's the Division III school with the Division I skating rink."
 
That's how some National Collegiate Athletic Association officials describe
Elmira College.
 
Some people have asked me, especially lately, with its rich tradition in ice
hockey, why hasn't Elmira College jumped up to the Division I level?
 
There are 59 NCAA Division III ice hockey schools.  Fifty-one teams are in
Division I and 13 occupy Division II.  Why not merge all of the above and
have a 123-team premier division with a huge bracket like the 64-team field
selected to the NCAA Division I basketball tournament?
 
There were 107 Division I football teams in 1993; there are nearly 290
Division I basketball teams and more than 270 Division I baseball teams
affiliated with the NCAA.
 
One hundred twenty-three hockey teams isn't much.
 
But some people like being the big fish in a small pond, big meaning
successful and contending for the NCAA championship every year.
 
"Division III kids might have a problem with jumping up to Division I," said
Phil Buttafuoco, assistant director of championships for the NCAA.  "It
might take a while for a team like Elmira to even get into the postseason
tournament when there are teams like Michigan, Minnesota, and St. Lawrence
that are virtual locks to contend for the title each year.  I don't know how
Elmira would do against teams like this."
 
"We decided that Division III best fits Elmira College's philosophy,"
confirmed Elmira College athletic director Pat Thompson.  "We thought about
it a long time ago (back in the late 1970's); I was here but I wasn't the
head of the (athletic) department... we're so focused on Division III that
I've never really thought about it since then."
 
Elmira coach Glenn Thomaris has thought about the venture, but even he
admits that a jump up to Division I would be a huge one for the Soaring
Eagles.
 
"Sure, I've thought about Elmira competing at the Division I level," he
said.  "But it's out of the question because our philosophy is academics
before athletics.  The support and the media attention is comparable to what
a lot of Division I schools get.  I think we're fortunate to not only play
against one or two Division I schools each year, but to be able to be
competitive against them is an accomplishment in itself."
 
Some pros about playing Division I:
 
*    Division I schools can raise thousands of dollars in scholarship money
     to attract big-time players.
 
*    Playing against a Division I school and treating the contest like a
     big-game situation will bring fans in from miles around.
 
*    Organizers/tournament officials will have less hassles choosing post-
     season sites and places to play the final four.
 
Some cons about the current situation:
 
*    Division III schools don't give athletic scholarships so a lot of times
     the bigger, better players will go to the larger schools that do give
     scholarships.
 
*    Sometimes the challenge isn't there -- playing the University of
     Scranton once a year isn't going to pack the 3,000-plus-seat Murray
     Athletic Center [in] Pine Valley.
 
Buttafuoco said championships are determined by the number of schools in
each division.
 
"The sport must have 40 institutions in the division to have a champion-
ship," he said.  "The exception is obviously Division II ice hockey, where
it will have a championship this year and next year."
 
Division II went into hibernation from 1985 to 1993.  And, because it's
still too small, the division might not be around next season.
 
"It's my understanding that Division II will dissolve after this year,"
Thompson said.  "There's just not enough support for it."
 
Being the best of 13 college teams isn't much of an accomplishment.  But
being the best of 59 is more of an achievement, and being the best of 123
teams would be a major accomplishment.
 
Sure, the guys who capture the Division II hockey tournament will scream
just as loudly as the ones who win Division I or Division III titles.
 
But, deep down, they will realize that it wasn't much of a struggle to get
there and, therefore, not much of an accomplishment.
 
Having one division can change all that and make winning championships more
exclusive and gratifying.
 
And much more memorable.
 
[ end of article ]
 
Some thoughts:
 
I think anyone who wanted to merge the three divisions would face a LOT of
resistance, and justifiably so.  The average Division I - Division III
matchup is not a pretty thing to see.  Look at Elmira's series against
Alaska-Fairbanks earlier this season:  the Soaring Eagles were able to be
competitive in the first game (they tied the Nanooks 5-5 despite getting
outshot 46-26), but the second game showed that they have a long way to go
in order to make it in Division I (an 11-2 Alaska-Fairbanks win).  Besides,
the gap between the top and bottom teams in Division III is much larger than
it is in Division I.  I can't remember if I've ever heard of a Division I
team losing to another Division I team by twenty goals -- but the above-
mentioned University of Scranton has lost by at least that much to three
Division III foes this season.
 
On Coach Thomaris' comment about being unable to go Division I because "our
philosophy is academics before athletics" -- I think I'll leave that one
alone.  I'm sure the Division I folks would gladly and successfully argue
that statement, and I suspect the Division III folks are laughing rather
hard, because the Elmira hockey team has not exactly had a stellar repu-
tation as far as academics is concerned (not a personal comment -- it's just
based on some of the things I've heard).
 
Bringing the fans in:  Well, Elmira does a pretty good job of that now when
they play teams like RIT, Mercyhurst, Plattsburgh, and Canisius.  I suspect
that if they were to go Division I, the only opponent that would really pack
them in would be Cornell, an hour up the road.  (I'd actually like to see
those two play sometime)
 
The point about there being fewer hassles in organizing tournaments in
Division I is a good one.  The ECAC West has come under fire in recent years
because they keep holding their post-season tournament at Elmira, regardless
of who the #1 seed is.  They keep citing things like "scheduling diffi-
culties" with other arenas (which does happen on occasion) or "most central
location", etc.  Not a pretty situation.
 
This is the first I'd heard that Division II might not be around after next
year, or even after this year.  I think what they ought to do is essentially
return to the status quo of the '80s:  move the ECAC East, West, and SUNY
Athletic Conference (along with the appropriate Western teams) to Division
II and let them fight it out for the championship there, and institute a
Division III championship with the relatively weaker ECAC North, Central,
and South teams (again, along with the appropriate Western teams).  The
potential problem here would be that the new Division II and Division III
probably wouldn't contain the requisite 40 teams to hold a recognized NC$$
championship.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
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LET'S GO RED!!
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John McKay:  "I'm in favor of it."
-- an exchange that occurred while McKay was coaching the 0-14 Tampa Bay
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