Rick Feldhoff writes: >Maybe Mike or some other NC$$ expert can tell us whether or not schools can >play down. I certainly wouldn't call myself an NC$$ expert. :-) But I do know that with very few exceptions, schools are not allowed to play below their division in the NC$$. Playing up a division or two, however, is allowed. If Kent chose to de-emphasize hockey but still keep it as a varsity sport, it could be done. Several DivI schools effectively play "below" their division in the regular season, in that their competition is primarily from DivII or DivIII. These schools are Villanova, Canisius, UConn, Holy Cross, Fairfield, Iona. Adding them to the 45 schools I referred to in an earlier post, you get the quoted total of 51 DivI hockey teams. Those six schools, however, are not eligible for any NC$$ tourney. They do not play the required 20 DivI games per year to be eligible for the DivI tourney, and they cannot compete in the DivII or DivIII tourney because you cannot compete in an NC$$ tourney in a division below that of your school. Kent would be in the same boat if they "dropped down". Yet, unlike the six schools I mentioned above, Kent isn't in an area where DivII or DivIII hockey is big. I suppose they could slide into the ECAC West, since they're not far from Mercyhurst, PA, and they'd still be able to compete for a conference title. But I would expect that they'd either stay at the DivI level or drop it completely and just have their club program (where divisional restrictions are less stringent). --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93