>Most of these questions are answered in the most recent (April 95) issue
>of U.S. College Hockey Magazine. Chris Lerch wrote an article entitled
>"Faceoff with ... Brian Cavanaugh" (both Chris and Brian are HOCKEY-L
>and HOCKEY3 participants).
Hockey-L's John Haeussler also writes for USCHM. We're taking over the
media, I guess ;)
Anyway, here's the text of the article:
Canisius College is in the no-man s land of college hockey. The Buffalo
N.Y. school is Division I in all sports, including hockey. But
basketball is the big sport at Canisius, and hockey, with a small but
loyal following, isn t emphasized.
Instead of big-time D-I hockey, the Ice Griffins find themselves
playing a mostly Division III schedule, and saddled with a Division III
budget. Their home games are played at a rink rented from a local prep
school. They re pretty much ignored by the Buffalo media. But the
Griffs, are, by definition, a bonifide Division I program. They, along
with a few other schools (UConn, Holy Cross, Villanova, Fairfield,
Iona) have decided not to play the mandatory 20 games against Division
I programs that would make them eligible for consideration for the NCAA
Division I tournament. Instead, these teams play in the lower echelon
ECAC regional leagues: the ECAC East, West, Central and South. Most
teams in these leagues are Division II or Division III and use their
conference participation as a stepping stone to the larger goal of a
national title. Not Canisius. They can go no farther than their
conference championship.
As a Division I school, Canisius must abide by all the rules required
of a Division I program. Recruiting is very restricted compared to
Division III. Players must sit out a year if they transfer in.
Admissions standards are higher. And the big positive for the D-I
school, the ability to offer scholarships, is hardly used due to lack
of funding.
Because they play in a conference with Division III teams, Canisius
must abide by *those* rules as well - the main restriction being a
25-game regular season instead of the 34 games played by most Division
I schools.
But still, in the face of all the adversity, Canisius Head Hockey Coach
Brian Cavanaugh has gradually built a program that is now a force to be
reckoned with in small-school hockey. They are consistently at or near
the top of the ECAC West standings, and have held their own against
Division III powerhouses Emira and RIT, as well as Mercyhurst College,
currently ranked #1 in the nation in Division II.
Cavanaugh recently sat down with USCHM to talk about his program and
their unique situation.
USCHM: Canisius is in a unique situation - a Division I program playing
a non-Division I schedule. Why did you take this approach?
Cavanaugh: We started as a club program in 1971. In 1980 when it went
varsity, we didn t have a choice of what level we would play at - we
were considered Division I by the NCAA because our athletic department
is Division I. Our only choice was in what kind of schedule we would
play. We couldn t be a burden on the budget at Canisius. They couldn t
afford a full Division I program with scholarships, a program that
would cost a million dollars. We decided to join what was at that time
the New York Collegiate Hockey Association, which was made up of New
York public and private schools, mostly Division III. This was a
selling point to the administration for taking us to varsity. They
didn t have a whole lot of money, so we stayed in a close geographical area.
USCHM: Are there aspiration of taking the program to full Division I status?
Cavanaugh: I ve been here now for 15 years, and things have continued
to slowly grow, getting better and better each year. That s the Jesuit
way - gradual improvement. But I don t see the large influx of money
that would be required to build a rink and get into an aligned
conference. There was talk last year of the school building a new
athletic facility for basketball and hockey, but lately they ve just
been talking about basketball.
USCHM: Club hockey is pretty big now. Programs like Penn State and
Arizona rival some Division I schools, and the ACHA has organized
things well with divisions and national tournaments. Have you given any
thought to returning to club?
Cavanaugh: They ve done a great job with the club programs. If things
had been like this 15 years ago, we might not have gone to varsity. But
varsity offers the advantage of pretty consistent funding. Club teams
have to rely on private fund raising and the student government for
money to run the program, so it s less stable.
USCHM: There s been talk of a new conference forming by teams that are
in the same situation as yourself: Canisius, Fairfield, UConn,
Villanova, Holy Cross, maybe Army too. Can you fill us in?
Cavanaugh: In the next two years we re going to try to have a
scheduling agreement among the schools. We re all in the same position,
Division I playing ECAC regional hockey. There s no place for us to
play other than the regional championships. So we felt that if we all
get on each other s schedules, maybe down the road, if an enjoyable
situation between us evolves, we can have a playoff amongst each other
after the ECAC playoffs. Plus it gives us more of an identity. All of
the coaches at these schools realize that an identity is important and
that not having an identity in college hockey hurts us. So by playing
each other, maybe we can establish one.
USCHM: Do you think it hinders your recruiting when potential players
realize that if the come to Canisius, they can t play for a national
championship?
Cavanaugh: Let s talk about recruiting. As an NCAA Division I program,
we have to abide by all the division I rules, and there s a ton of
rules that, say an Elmira doesn t have to abide by. There s limits on
the number of visits and the number of contacts. All contacts must be
documented - lots of paperwork. Plus, because we play in a Division
II-III league, we have to abide by those rules, too. The number of
games we can play is a lot less, for example. We get caught from both ends.
As to your question, I don t think it hinders us that much. What does
hurt us are the more basic things, like not having a rink. A kid comes
to an RIT with a beautiful facility, a lot of people in the stands -
kids like that. Having the rink on campus is a big plus, too. Canisius
overcomes some of that with a great academic reputation, plus we ve
had a little success in the past few years.
USCHM: What about scholarships?
Cavanaugh: Well, we re nowhere near what the big D-I programs have. We
have a budget that allows us to give partial scholarships to five or
six players. Plus we do what the Division III schools do - offer a
financial aid package to kids who need some help.
USCHM: At this level of hockey, one step below Division I, you ve got
kids that could play at the next level, perhaps as a role player. How
do you convince them to play here instead?
Cavanaugh: We try to stress to the candidate that here he ll be an
impact player. He ll be on the power play, the penalty kill - lots of
ice time vs. being a walk-on at a Division I program and not playing as
much. Here he can play right away. Kids like to hear that. Also, he s
getting a good education here.
USCHM: Is there anything you d like to see changed in college hockey?
Cavanaugh: I was disappointed when the regular season game limit was
lowered from 28 to 25. I thought that 28 was a good number, although I
realize that the intent was more classroom time for the kids. But I
don t think it s working. We spent just as much time practicing as we
used to, plus the kids love playing games. I d like to see the limit
returned to 28. Some Division III schools get a few extra games with
playoffs and then the national tournament, but for us it s a maximum of
27 games, and that s it.
USCHM: How about changes to the game itself? For example, what do you
think about the shoot-out in Hockey East?
Cavanaugh: It s interesting that initially everybody was gung-ho for
the shootout, but as the season went on, some folks changed their
minds. I think that the game is great the way it is. One thing that I d
like to see done better is the development of officials. We need an
objective third party to evaluate their performance and take action
when it s needed. If an official is having a bad year, maybe he
shouldn t do as many games, or no games at all if there s a real
problem. I ve joked that there s only two jobs in the United States
that are for life: Supreme Court Justice and hockey official. We need a
better evaluation and development system, and we have to do a better
job recruiting officials. I d like to see more former players in the job.
USCHM: Canisius is having a great season - you re 12-4-4 right now. If
you were a D-III program you d probably be ranked and have a good shot
at the nationals. But because of you re situation, you re pretty much
ignored. Do you find that personally frustrating?
Cavanaugh: Yeah, it s frustrating. But if you dwell on stuff that that,
it ll drive you nuts. It would be nice to be in the polls, especially
for the kids, so they can have their accomplishments recognized. This
year we ve tied Fredonia twice when they were the number one team in
the D-III Eastern region. We tied Mercyhurst, who s been number one in
Division II all year. That s great for Mercyhurst, being number one.
Great publicity, it puts them on the map. We don t have that. But I
tell my players that all we can do is go out and play hard every game.
If we re fortunate enough to win the ECAC West championship, we can put
a ring on our finger and know that we went as far as we could go.
Chris Lerch
EDS
RIT '84 & '91
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