At 1:16 PM -0500 11/5/96, Bill Fenwick wrote:
> Under NC$$ rules, there are a number of exemptions granted that may allow a
> team
> to play more than 34 regular-season contests.  Games in Alaska (for
>non-Alaska
> teams) is the most common one, which explains how a team like Miami can
> schedule
> 36 regular-season games this year.  Three of them are at Alaska-Fairbanks.
 
This rule is still in effect, but it has changed slightly this year.  It
used to be that any games played in Alaska under the sponsorship of an
Alaska school could be exempted.  This included games played against other
non-Alaska schools in a tournament, which both UAA and UAF used to host.
Now, this exemption can only be taken once every four years, like the
foreign tour exemption.  It will only affect schools if UAA or UAF are able
to get their tournaments going again at some point.
 
You can still play games against Alaska schools in Alaska and exempt them,
as the WCHA and CCHA schools do, but occasionally I hear rumors that this
exemption could be removed if the games are part of a conference schedule.
The NCAA as a whole seems to be working to cut back on the number of
exemptions allowed in various sports, so it is possible that this one will
be affected someday.  I do not believe it is on the docket for the 1997
NCAA Convention, but I am not certain.
 
> The league probably still counts all games, regardless of NC$$ exemptions.
> I'll
> have to check, but I don't believe any ECAC team has played more than the
> league
> maximum in the last several years.
 
SLU was mentioned; the Saints have 34 games scheduled this year, two over
the ECAC limit of 32.  SLU asked for and got an exemption from the ECAC to
play those extra games.  For a while, SLU was scheduled to play in two
mid-season tournaments at the *same* time - the Grand Rapids Tournament and
the Auld Lang Syne Classic.  When the exemption was allowed, the ALS was
moved back a couple of days to allow SLU to compete in both tourneys.  I
presume that if the exemption was not allowed, SLU would have had to
withdraw from one of the tourneys.
 
One situation I am not clear on is that of Yale.  As Bill mentioned, the
Ivy limit is 29.  Yale has 22 ECAC games and 7 NC games scheduled this
year, but they have also played scrimmages against Brown (controlled
scrimmage on 10/25/96) and Quinnipiac (2-1 EX win on 10/30/96) for a total
of 31 games this season.  I'm guessing that Yale got an exemption from the
Ivy League for these games, but I am not certain.  The NCAA rule
(17.14.5.1) specifically says that all games *and* scrimmages against
outside competition count towards the limit (doesn't matter whether you
call them exhibitions or not), but I don't know if the ECAC/Ivy rule reads
the same way.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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