Off season notes,
 
Mike M and many others are talking about II/III NC$$ hockey and...
 
I believe everything will be status quo this coming year, by that I
mean;
 
1 NC$$ II championship is in its last year and those schools
  who are II will vie for that.
2. ECAC EAST has another year of their scheduling agreement
   and during the year I am sure the NESCAC group will discuss
   how they want to proceed.
3. ECAC WEST has 5 teams (Canisius,Hobart,Mercyhurst,RIT,Elmira)
   and the coaches met last week to discuss the future and
   we WILL have a 5 team league this season. The West teams
   (ECAC) would like to getr a new member - but who ?????
   Some thoughts are ARMY or Alabama - Huntsville, Skidmore.
4. I don't see a "new" D-I conference of current NC$$ I's
   like Canisius, UCONN, Holy Cross, etc. This would be great
   for us but the problem is that the EAST schools are not
   ready to do this.  The ECAC EAST set up as is it right
   now is "ideal" - if that changes then so might a new league.
 
5. The Kent St. situation is sad.  I wonder if the players feel
   bad that as a result of a revolt to get rid of a coach - they
   managed to destroy the hockey program.
 
6. The # of NC$$ Division III schools that have Division I
   hockey is suprising.  There's a lot of advantage in being
   the ONLY D-I sport at your school. The resources, the focus
   of attention, administrative support, media attention,
   personnel help, etc. all goes from top to bottom.  When
   hockey is the "limelight" sport at a school and the other
   sports are D-III , how can you NOT be successful.  The NC$$
   looked at this for basketball and thats why a lot of
   divisional reform and regulations were enacted.  Essentially,
   they said that if your athletic dept. declares itself "1"
   then ALL your sports should be one - AND - you should
   provide equally to men and women.  That latter part is
   now getting a lot of scrutiny.  Those schools in hockey
   who were "grandfathered" in - be thankful.
 
7. R.I.T. going D-1 if....ECAC needs a new member.
   Does that mean all their sports will be D-1 ???
   Or do they get a "waiver/whatever" like Union got
   when it was asked to join.  The first scenario is
   whether a new member will be needed - essentially,
   will R.P.I. leave ECAC to join Hockey EAST ????
   I keep hearing different reports YES and NO.  If and
   when that happens - the next shoe will fall.
 
The coaches meet in florida this next week - the conference
meetings are early in the week of April 25th and the
convention is latter that weekend. Keep in mind A.D.'s
, V.P.'s and President's make "recommendations" to
the Trustee's - coaches just change the lines !!!!!
Keep the faith.
 
Brian Cavanaugh
Canisius College