Here's how the following 6 Independents have changed their schedules over
the past few years. The comparison is between 1986-87 and 1990-91 since I
don't have most of the 1991-92 schedules. Great West Hockey Conference teams
in 1986-87 are considered Independents for this study since their conference
didn't get an automatic bid to the NCAAs and they played an Independent-type
schedule. Only Alaska-Fairbanks had not altered its schedule makeup
significantly; UAF played 5 fewer conference teams and the same number of
non-DivI games in 1990-91 despite playing three fewer games overall.
Don't forget that Merrimack and St Cloud were also Independents in 1986-87
(1987-88 for St Cloud, DivIII before that) and are now in conferences, so
they have also improved their schedules.
Air Force
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1986-87 29 7 8 15 14
1990-91 32 16 8 24 8
Alabama-Huntsville
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1987-88 29 2 11 13 16 (First DivI year was 1987-88)
1990-91 32 8 18 26 6
Alaska-Anchorage
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1986-87 33 8 16 24 9 (GWHC)
1990-91 43 24 14 38 5
Alaska-Fairbanks
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1986-87 38 12 16 28 10 (GWHC)
1990-91 35 7 18 25 10
Kent State
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1987-88 30 0 9 9 39
1990-91 35 14 12 26 9
Notre Dame
GP Conf Ind DivI NonI
1986-87 29 2 9 11 18
1990-91 33 7 14 21 12