Tom Rowe writes:
>I am reminded of the "years of greatness" for Point (Div III UW-Stevens Point)
>under Mazz.  We were very good and I felt actually had the talent to take on
>some division I teams.  And we scheduled some Div I teams each year, even
>tying UAA and playing UAA and UAF close in Alaska one year (or was it UAF we
>tied or beat?  Alzeheimer's a 'bitch', aint it?).
 
This is from the 1988-89 DivI composite in the archives:
 
2/14/89  Wis-Stevens Point   4 at Alaska-Anchorage    6 NI
2/15/89  Wis-Stevens Point   6 at Alaska-Anchorage    3 NI
2/17/89  Wis-Stevens Point   4 at Alaska-Fairbanks    6 NI
2/18/89  Wis-Stevens Point   4 at Alaska-Fairbanks    5 NI
 
UAA finished 18-13-3 that season, UAF 23-12-3.  Not a bad showing for
UWSP, four good games in five days in two tough places to play.
 
>But for all you Division I fans out there:  Go see a Div III game.  Its
>cheaper and still fun and, with the smaller rinks, you might even get a better
>seat.
 
I agree.  Although at Merrimack, you'll still get a good seat. :-)
 
The difference I've seen is mainly in depth and size.  The Plattsburgh
team I mentioned earlier got bounced all over the ice by a more
physical Colgate team.  It also seems to me that the lesser DivI
players often end up being the ones to score in games vs DivIII.
DivIII teams often can match lines defensively with the first or
second lines on the DivI teams they play, but the depth that the DivI
teams have is too much and the third and fourth lines have a decided
advantage.  I recall a Merrimack-AIC game a few years ago where a
Merrimack fourth-liner scored four goals - the only four goals he
scored all season.
 
But when you see a DivIII matchup, the talent level of the better
players is usually pretty good and this can make for a more wide open
game.  Often you're talking about players who had the skills but were
deemed too small to get seriously recruited by DivI.  I've long
believed that many of the better DivIII players could play DivI, and
the recent East-West All-Star Games have proved this.  Maybe they
wouldn't be stars, but on the ice with the DivI players, they sure
didn't look out of place.
 
I'd like to see more national coverage of DivIII.  The time may not be
far off when DivIII hockey's final four gets national tv coverage.
 
Whatever level draws your interest, college hockey is a pretty darn
good game to follow.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page under construction at:  *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html      *****
** Send comments/suggestions to: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] **