2024-25: D3whky

[VTpucksouteast]

Officially starting the new thread for the upcoming season. tjoneslo mentioned it in last year's thread so I figured it's a good thought.

Refresher for this season:

-New programs are MSOE, Framingham State, Hood, and Keene State.

-We should be at 78 teams if all goes according to plan, and I believe that's enough for a 13-team postseason. There will be no more Pool B selections, meaning 8 Pool A's and 5 Pool C's if everything stays the same.

-The Frozen Four is heading back to UWRF for a second consecutive year, as they are piloting a style similar to the men's side of the game, with predetermined sites.

-NPI is taking over as the selection criteria metric, and there could be pending changes to how the bracket is built and seeded

Conference changes:

No changes:

MIAC (Pool A)
Augsburg, Bethel, Concordia-MN, Gustavus, Hamline, Saint Benedict, Saint Mary's, St. Catherine, St. Olaf, St. Scholastica

NESCAC (Pool A)
Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Wesleyan, Williams

SUNYAC (Pool A)
Buffalo State, Canton, Cortland, Morrisville, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam

WIAC
Northland, UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior

Changes:

NCHA (Pool A)
Adrian, Aurora, Concordia-WI, Dubuque, Lake Forest, Lawrence, Marian, MSOE (new program), St. Norbert, Trine

CCC (Pool A)
Curry, Endicott, Johnson & Wales (added from NEHC), Nichols, Suffolk, UNE, Western New England

NEHC (Pool A; final year as a women's conference most likely)
Albertus Magnus (former independent), Castleton, Elmira, New England College, Norwich, Salem State, Salve Regina (added from CCC), Southern Maine, UMass Boston, William Smith

MAC (Pool A; schools breakaway from UCHC, earn autobid as a pre-existing conference)
Alvernia (added from UCHC), Arcadia (added from UCHC), Hood (new program), King's (added from UCHC), Lebanon Valley (added from UCHC), Neumann (added from UCHC), Stevenson (added from UCHC), Wilkes (added from UCHC)

UCHC (Pool A; schools hold onto auto-bid for grace period, will gain new schools next year)
Chatham, Manhattanville, Nazareth, Utica

MASCAC (No Pool A auto-bid until grace period is over in 2027-28)
Anna Maria (former independent), Framingham State (new program), MCLA (former independent), Plymouth State (added from NEHC), Rivier (former independent), Worcester State (former independent)

Independents
Hilbert, Keene State (new program)

[tjoneslo]

If I'm reading the Wikipedia article correctly, which is mostly written for the Men's side. I'm assuming the colleges will move both men and women programs to their new conferences. There is a new "Little East" Conference starting next year (25-26) that sponsors both men and women hockey. The new conference will have NEC, Norwich, Keene State

Williams Smith is going to the SUNYAC. Salem State is moving to the MASCAC. Albertus and Elmira are going to the UCHC.

That leaves Castleton, Southern Maine, Salve Regina, and UMass Boston. If all four join Little East, this will give them enough for a Pool A (I think).

[Scott_TG]

If I'm reading the Wikipedia article correctly, which is mostly written for the Men's side. I'm assuming the colleges will move both men and women programs to their new conferences. There is a new "Little East" Conference starting next year (25-26) that sponsors both men and women hockey. The new conference will have NEC, Norwich, Keene State

Williams Smith is going to the SUNYAC. Salem State is moving to the MASCAC. Albertus and Elmira are going to the UCHC.

That leaves Castleton, Southern Maine, Salve Regina, and UMass Boston. If all four join Little East, this will give them enough for a Pool A (I think).

The Little East did not qualify to have Pool A right away for WHKY (not sure about MHKY). They applied to the NCAA to waive the waiting period and were denied. My understanding is they did not have stable core membership already playing the sport so they have to do the 2 season wait.

[GTOWN]

The Little East did not qualify to have Pool A right away for WHKY (not sure about MHKY). They applied to the NCAA to waive the waiting period and were denied. My understanding is they did not have stable core membership already playing the sport so they have to do the 2 season wait.

They have a full slate of schools now that Norwich has moved to the Little East as well. This is the line for 2025-2026

Keene State
NEC
Norwich
Plymouth
Southern Maine
UMass Boston
Castleton

That sounds like a stable core to me - except for maybe Keene State!

[Russell Jaslow]

They have a full slate of schools now that Norwich has moved to the Little East as well. This is the line for 2025-2026

Keene State
NEC
Norwich
Plymouth
Southern Maine
UMass Boston
Castleton

That sounds like a stable core to me - except for maybe Keene State!

Stable as defined by the NCAA. Only five of those schools (and you need six to the get the AQ) are full time members of LEC. Ergo, they have to wait the probationary period out, because the NCAA doesn't trust the affiliate members won't perhaps change their mind, since nothing is really tying them to the conference other than convenience.

[SHockey98]

Posted this back on the old forum but thought I'd bring it to the new one, especially now that Utica's schedule is out, and their tournament will now be changed to 4 east teams this year.

Nov 29, 30: Sunshine Turkey Classic (-Tampa, FL)

Adrian vs. Trinity
Utica vs. Norwich

Nov 30, Dec 1: Cardinal-Panther Classic (-Plattsburgh, NY)

St. Norbert at Plattsburgh
Endicott vs. Middlebury

Jan 5, 6: East-West Classic (-Northfield, VT)

Amherst at Norwich
Nazareth vs. Plattsburgh

Nov 30, Dec 1: Codfish Bowl (-Boston, MA)

TBD at UMass Boston (assuming this will be Bowdoin, but we'll see)
St. Olaf vs. Amherst

Nov 29, 30: Dubuque Thanksgiving Tournament (-Dubuque, IA)

TBD at Dubuque
Chatham vs. Lake Forest

Jan 3, 4: Marian Holiday Classic (-Fond du Lac, WI)

UW-Stevens Point at Marian
UW-Superior vs. St. Scholastica

Nov 1, 2: Utica Kickoff Classic (-Utica, NY)

Wilkes vs. Elmira
Utica vs. Suffolk

Jan 3, 4: Castleton Invitational (-Rutland, VT)

Besides Castleton, I only know of Potsdam joining this one.

[SHockey98]

Also worth noting that with Utica's schedule revealed, the UCHC will indeed be operating as a 4-team conference for the auto-bid this season. 12 game conference schedule with 4 games against each of the other 3 teams.

[Scott_TG]

No disrespect to other teams but that's going to be a SoS concern for Colby who's been a contender recently.

[SHockey98]

Road to repeat is out for the defending champs:

https://uwrfsports.com/sports/womens...hedule/2024-25

Schedule is pretty tough, featuring 10 games against top 15ish teams.

3 x UWEC (2H/1A)
3 X GAC (2H/1A)
2 X ADR (2A)
1 X SMU (A)
1 X AUG (H)

Saturday/Sunday series at Adrian in early December might be the games of the regular season. Extremely quick turnaround to a talented, but rebuilding Gustavus squad the following Tuesday.

[SHockey98]

Another tournament I forgot to mention is the Mustang Cup hosted by Morrisville.

January 10th, the matchups will be:

Elmira vs. Nazareth
Western New England vs. Morrisville

January 11th, winners and losers will face off

[Russell Jaslow]

Another tournament I forgot to mention is the Mustang Cup hosted by Morrisville.

January 10th, the matchups will be:

Elmira vs. Nazareth
Western New England vs. Morrisville

January 11th, winners and losers will face off

They have the two best teams square off the first day. Or, put another way, Morrisville makes sure they don't play a really good team till the second day... :-)

[SHockey98]

In the Dubuque tournament, it looks like Saint Mary's has replaced Chatham in the field, with the other team being MSOE, now with even less crossover games.

So the "tournament" is 3 NCHA teams and SMU.

Saint Mary's vs. Lake Forest
Dubuque vs. MSOE.

[SHockey98]

Some other rather-notable scheduling news:

Finally, for the first time since 2019-20 season, coach Erik Strand of Eau Claire has agreed to put Gustavus back on their schedule.

It was widely known Strand took GAC off the slate once Pairwise came into the picture. Strand assumed the best way to get a bid was to minimize losses, given it was formula-based. And with 3 (4 including playoffs) matchups each season with River Falls, Strand didn't care to risk more losses at the hands of the Gusties.

But they'll be playing twice this season. Coincidence? Gustavus is most likely in for its worst season in at least the last 6 years, and more likely 8 years.

[4and20]

Gustavus is most likely in for its worst season in at least the last 6 years, and more likely 8 years.

You can only hope!

[Scott_TG]

Last week the daughter of Carolyne Roy, the first ever player to start in goal for the Plattsburgh women back on 11/3/2001, announced her commitment for Fall 2025.

I know there are only a handful of programs old enough for their first players to have daughters hitting college age, but does anyone know if this is the first second generation player in DIII WIH to play on the same rink as her mom?