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Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

C

Captain Obvious

...the Man, the Myth, the Legend...
http://www.higheredjobs.com/m/details.cfm?JobCode=175724015&Title=Head%20Coach%2C%20Women%27s%20Ice%20Hockey%20Coach

Sorry, I am not sure if the link works.
 
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Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

I hope do not think they will have a fully complimented DIII team in October 2013.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Just so you know...it's just William Smith College.

William Smith is for females only and is the sister college of Hobart which is the male school.

Great find though! Are we getting closer to the point where the ECAC West might have to split? I'm thinking the New York state schools are still looking for two more state members to split off and form their own league.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

SUNY Canton will be playing an ECAC West schedule in 2013. A SUNYAC women's league is not far away.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

OneTimer said:
SUNY Canton will be playing an ECAC West schedule in 2013. A SUNYAC women's league is not far away.
Click to expand...

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Just need one more...Utica screwed the pooch on that one...
Click to expand...

You're assuming that SUNY Canton is joining the SUNYAC in all sports. While it certainly looks like a strong possibility, nothing's written in stone quite yet in that regard.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Just so you know...it's just William Smith College.

William Smith is for females only and is the sister college of Hobart which is the male school.

Great find though! Are we getting closer to the point where the ECAC West might have to split? I'm thinking the New York state schools are still looking for two more state members to split off and form their own league.
Click to expand...

Fully aware, just using their line from the posting...did want to offend anyone,
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Should a SUNYAC become a reality would membership be open to non-SUNY institutions? Will this not force some sort of realignment of the ECAC East and West teams? The ECAC-East has something like 15 schools with UNE and Franklin Pierce; if the SUNYs bolt and form their own conference (and 7 is obviously the magic number) doesn't it make sense for the for the ECAC-West to add Stevenson and pick up a few of the geographically contiguous schools (Manhattanville, Nichols, Salve Regina, Castleton) and better balance the travel involved? The ECAC-East still faces the issue of what to do with the DIIs, but with Sacred Heart in that mix (with Holy Cross, St. Anselm, St. Michaels and Franklin Pierce) they are at least a bit closer to being weaned out of the ECAC-East. I have never understood having a conference where, as was the case in this season's ECAC-East, the 3rd and 4th finishers in the regular season (Holy Cross and St. Anselm) have an impact on the regular season, but are not eligible for the post season (not to mention the Manhattanville loss to St. Michaels not impacting their regional NCAA ranking).
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

obserbear said:
Should a SUNYAC become a reality would membership be open to non-SUNY institutions? Will this not force some sort of realignment of the ECAC East and West teams? The ECAC-East has something like 15 schools with UNE and Franklin Pierce; if the SUNYs bolt and form their own conference (and 7 is obviously the magic number) doesn't it make sense for the for the ECAC-West to add Stevenson and pick up a few of the geographically contiguous schools (Manhattanville, Nichols, Salve Regina, Castleton) and better balance the travel involved? The ECAC-East still faces the issue of what to do with the DIIs, but with Sacred Heart in that mix (with Holy Cross, St. Anselm, St. Michaels and Franklin Pierce) they are at least a bit closer to being weaned out of the ECAC-East. I have never understood having a conference where, as was the case in this season's ECAC-East, the 3rd and 4th finishers in the regular season (Holy Cross and St. Anselm) have an impact on the regular season, but are not eligible for the post season (not to mention the Manhattanville loss to St. Michaels not impacting their regional NCAA ranking).
Click to expand...

UNE and Franklin Pierce are not members of the ECAC East and they will not be members next season.

But I do agree, we need to have some short of shift in the D-III women's hockey landscape. We have enough teams now to have four D-III East conferences.

There are 31 D-III women's hockey teams if you count SUNY Canton and William Smith.

By the 2014-15 season IMHO, we should be able to create four eastern conferences so that all four can have an autobid.

NESCAC (9)
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Colby
Conn. College
Hamilton
Wesleyan
Trinity
Amherst

ECAC West (8)-
Elmira
Stevenson
Buffalo State
Utica
Neumann
Chatham
William Smith
Cortland

ECAC New England (7)-
Norwich
Southern Maine
Castleton
UMass-Boston
New England College
Univ. of New England
Plymouth State

ECAC East (7) -
Plattsburgh
Potsdam
SUNY Canton
Nichols
Salve Regina
Manhattanville
Oswego

This is obviously just a rough guide and would take some RADICAL changes in administrations, leagues etc. However, it would be for the better advancement of Division III women's hockey as whole giving every D-III playing and eligible team a conference to play in and chance to compete for an auto-bid to the NCAA's.

I think what would make this a whole lot easier is if the New York State schools got a 7th team so we don't have to split hairs over who should go where and split up existing conferences too much.

But, that would require someone like Geneseo, Brockport, Fredonia etc to start a team and who knows if that's even on their radars. I do know Brockport has a club women's team and had explored the option of possibly elevating to varsity a few years ago.

I tried to keep teams as best as I could geographically and keep other teams that are close to them in the same conference for travel purposes. Finding a 7th team for the new "ECAC East" was very challenging...eventually I settled on Oswego since they are relatively closer to Plattsburgh, SUNY Canton, Potsdam etc.
 
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Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Just so you know...it's just William Smith College.

William Smith is for females only and is the sister college of Hobart which is the male school.

Great find though! Are we getting closer to the point where the ECAC West might have to split? I'm thinking the New York state schools are still looking for two more state members to split off and form their own league.
Click to expand...

While correct, it is a nuance of significance largely to alumni. If you say "Smith College", 90% of the free world is probably going to think of The Smith College in Northampton, MA, which is also all women and better known. Keeping the Hobart tag clarifies the school and location.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Derek Dunning said:
UNE and Franklin Pierce are not members of the ECAC East and they will not be members next season.

But I do agree, we need to have some short of shift in the D-III women's hockey landscape. We have enough teams now to have four D-III East conferences.

There are 31 D-III women's hockey teams if you count SUNY Canton and William Smith.

By the 2014-15 season IMHO, we should be able to create four eastern conferences so that all four can have an autobid.

...

ECAC New England (7)-
Norwich
Southern Maine
Castleton
UMass-Boston
New England College
Univ. of New England
Plymouth State

ECAC East (7) -
Plattsburgh
Potsdam
SUNY Canton
Nichols
Salve Regina
Manhattanville
Oswego

...

I tried to keep teams as best as I could geographically and keep other teams that are close to them in the same conference for travel purposes. Finding a 7th team for the new "ECAC East" was very challenging...eventually I settled on Oswego since they are relatively closer to Plattsburgh, SUNY Canton, Potsdam etc.
Click to expand...

Salve Regina is in Newport, RI and Nichols just south of Worcester, MA. Makes much more geographic sense to put Castleton and Norwich in your ECAC East and Salve Regina and Nichols in ECAC New England. Also, ECAC is more than just a hockey conference and all of the schools would have to be members in multiple sports to join - I'm not sure that this is the case or feasible.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

SUNYAC women's league is basically inevitable - just a matter time but going slowly.

Also, this new grouping looks good for geographic balance but there is some noticeable competitive imbalance. This might be a temporary concern if some certain schools would get their act together.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

OneTimer said:
SUNYAC women's league is basically inevitable - just a matter time but going slowly.

Also, this new grouping looks good for geographic balance but there is some noticeable competitive imbalance. This might be a temporary concern if some certain schools would get their act together.
Click to expand...

I agree completely and it would drastically change the proposed conference realignment below.

The only question is, who is that key seventh team that will allow for the SUNYAC women's league to move forward?
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Why the need for 4 autobids in the east? You are already guaranted 4 of the 8 spots, and realisticly 5 or 6 most years.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

gojackets said:
Why the need for 4 autobids in the east? You are already guaranted 4 of the 8 spots, and realisticly 5 or 6 most years.
Click to expand...

It's not about the autobids...It's about finding leagues for all the teams that are starting up so we can actually keep these programs afloat. With the addition of William Smith, there will be four Division III schools without homes in 2014-15.

UNE
Stevenson
William Smith
SUNY Canton

The ECAC East is too big as it is with the three schools that are Division II and I. Franklin Pierce also needs a home.

Franklin Pierce, Saint Anselm, St. Michael's, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross are all in a tough situation. Do they combine to form their own division and then have a scheduling agreement with some other leagues?

I really think we're starting to see the initial pieces to what could be some major realignment to Division III women's hockey in the East.
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Here is the official release from Hobart/William Smith Athletics:

http://www.hwsathletics.com/news/2013/2/26/IHA_0226130829.aspx

Noteworthy quotes:

"Hobart and William Smith Colleges have set in motion plans to expand varsity sport offerings with the addition of women's ice hockey and women's volleyball during the next six years."
Click to expand...

"The Colleges anticipate competing as members of the ECAC West for women's ice hockey."
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Just so you know...it's just William Smith College.

William Smith is for females only and is the sister college of Hobart which is the male school.
Click to expand...

This is a bit too simplistic for accuracy sake.

Essentially, they are one institution, though with certain separations. From their website:

"All students share the same campus, faculty, administration and curriculum. Each college maintains its own traditions, deans, student government and athletic department. Men graduate from Hobart College. Women graduate from William Smith College."

They have one college president overall. Even the graduation ceremony is done as one. In my mind, the only difference is the name of the school on the diploma.

And to another poster, it is NEVER referred to as Smith College. It is always William Smith College. And when you say that in Upstate NY, people know you are referring to the school in Geneva, and not the one in New England. (There is also a Paul Smith's College in Lake Placid.)
 
Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

Russell (or others who may be "in-the-know")... What is the rationale behind the SUNYAC not sponsoring Women's Hockey as a sport? Is it simply the matter that there are an insufficient number of teams to garner an autobid?

It was stated in the Men's forum thread "Utica to the SUNYAC" (posts around the 480-495 mark are quite informative) that the SUNYAC is essentially an all-or-nothing conference except for sports that are not sponsored, such as Women's Hockey.

On the Men’s side, there are ECAC West teams that I'm sure would absolutely LOVE for some of those Western NY teams to ‘defect’ from the SUNYAC. While on the Women’s side, if all the SUNYAC teams were to be held to the all-or-nothing standard of the SUNYAC (if Women’s Hockey was sponsored, of course) they would be ineligible for an autobid with less than 6.5 team in that conference (I count only 6 SUNYAC teams). Is this what is behind the SUNYAC decision to not sponsor Women’s Hockey?
 
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Re: Hobart and William Smith starting hockey?

The SUNYAC women's league is only a matter of time. As everyone knows they need enough members for the autobid. SUNY Canton is playing a full ECAC West schedule in 2013-2014. The current schools are counting on Utica following the men's team to the SUNYAC which certainly helps the autobid situation. At the moment no other SUNY hockey schools are imminently about to elevate a new women's team to any varsity status but that can change at any time. So as of Februrary 2013 this boils down to Canton and Utica. After that the process needs to speed up at the other SUNY schools. Plattsburgh pays the biggest price for all of this because almost all of the other SUNY teams are either weak or very, very weak for this season at least.
 
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