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When the DII championship was defunct from 85-93, the DII teams were given 3 choices: compete at the DI level and qualify for the DI tournament, compete at the DIII level and qualify for that tourney, compete at the DII level and not qualify for any NCAA tournament. Of the 15 teams (or so) in DII at the time, some fell into each category. Alabama-Huntsville chose to play up to I, Mankato chose to play down to III, and AIC (I think) stayed at II. It is interesting, that back then the two Alaska schools were technically DII schools competing "up", but now they are full-fledged DI hockey programs. It is important to remember that you can't just say "I wanna be Division X in hockey". You have to meet certain qualifications for each level, and of course, you have to fill out the paperwork with the NCAA. What level your hockey team can compete at depends on what the other sports at your school are. Basically, every SCHOOL is supposed to fit nicely into one of the three divisions. This doesn't happen very often. Take U. Denver--they are technically a "Division II" school but their hockey team and women's gymnastics are DI. There are lots of examples of DIII schools with DI hockey programs. According to the same Phil from the article, the Division II teams will be required to compete *up* next year. The latest rage in the NCAA is to make sure that schools don't compete "down" in any sport. But there is a chance that an exception will be made and the DII hockey programs will be allowed to choose, as they have done in the past. The elimination of the DII championship could actually be a blessing for schools like Mankato and Mercyhurst (who want to upgrade). I think they can stay DII "on paper" but compete for the DI championship. This could allow them to slowly upgrade over the years until they finally satisfy all of the DI requirements. Mankato's problem is that they tried to jump up to DI "on paper" last year, but the state of Minnesota wouldn't let them. They might want to even try to get into the WCHA while still DII--they will find it tough to compete because they will have fewer scholarships and more scheduling constraints, but it might be possible. As for Elmira, this might be a good time for them to jump up to I. If RPI leaves ECAC I, they will be looking for a replacement team from New York. Interesting stuff. Thanks for the article, Bill. Keith