Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

[PrezdeJohnson09]

We'll be adding another D-III program in 2015-16 with Johnson & Wales (Providence, RI) starting up a varsity program.

William Smith starts up in 2014-15.

Those two bring us to 53 total teams.

 

[Hux]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Well, that explains a Johnson & Wales coach being in the stands during the recent JWHL Boston weekend. Awesome news. Now, if only Bryant would add the sport.

 

[OnMAA]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Well, that explains a Johnson & Wales coach being in the stands during the recent JWHL Boston weekend. Awesome news. Now, if only Bryant would add the sport.

RI becoming a hotbed of new teams ?.

 

[UCONN FAN]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Well, that explains a Johnson & Wales coach being in the stands during the recent JWHL Boston weekend. Awesome news. Now, if only Bryant would add the sport.

Their concession stand should be awesome

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Their concession stand should be awesome

Roger that, UCONN FAN!! Looking forward to some eclectic concessions!

Seriously though, RI really does have a large contingent of college teams for its size - Providence, Brown, Salve Regina, URI club team (which is D3 quality typically), and now Johnson and Wales.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Getting closer to the ECAC-East splitting into 2 conferences?

 

[OnMAA]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Getting closer to the ECAC-East splitting into 2 conferences?

Or maybe a reallignment ECAC East-Central-West or Atlantic-Central-West

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Getting closer to the ECAC-East splitting into 2 conferences?

I would hope so...I think it's way past due....

Let's not forget about poor old Stevenson who has yet to find a home yet either.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

I would hope so...I think it's way past due....

Let's not forget about poor old Stevenson who has yet to find a home yet either.

Perhaps there will be more schools in the mid-Atlantic getting on board with DIII women's hockey. I recall a conversation with a parent involved in youth hockey on Long Island and they predicted vastly increased interest in the southern regions. The ECAC could admit J&W and Stevenson (and Canton, UNew England and Franklin Pierce are independents) and ought to be able to sort out some sort of re-alignment, although I guess there is always the specter of a SUNYAC lurking out there too. How do Holy Cross and the DIIs impact the auto-bid status of a conference?

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Perhaps there will be more schools in the mid-Atlantic getting on board with DIII women's hockey. I recall a conversation with a parent involved in youth hockey on Long Island and they predicted vastly increased interest in the southern regions. The ECAC could admit J&W and Stevenson (and Canton, UNew England and Franklin Pierce are independents) and ought to be able to sort out some sort of re-alignment, although I guess there is always the specter of a SUNYAC lurking out there too. How do Holy Cross and the DIIs impact the auto-bid status of a conference?

Those teams don't count towards the 7 needed in each conference to have an autobid.

So if one of those teams were in your conference you would need 8 teams, 2 need 9, and so on and so forth.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

Those teams don't count towards the 7 needed in each conference to have an autobid.

So if one of those teams were in your conference you would need 8 teams, 2 need 9, and so on and so forth.

That still means, if I have done the math correctly (deleting Holy Cross, St. Michaels, St. Anselm and Franklin Pierce), there still needs to be 1 more team established to arrive at the 14 needed to split ECAC-East in two were all the teams admitted to that conference (granted Stevenson is geographically not a good fit in the East).

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

That still means, if I have done the math correctly (deleting Holy Cross, St. Michaels, St. Anselm and Franklin Pierce), there still needs to be 1 more team established to arrive at the 14 needed to split ECAC-East in two were all the teams admitted to that conference (granted Stevenson is geographically not a good fit in the East).

OMG...forgot William Smith is joining the party, so there could be 14 teams available to realign the ECAC-East!

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

OMG...forgot William Smith is joining the party, so there could be 14 teams available to realign the ECAC-East!

William smith is already joining and accepted to ECAC West.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

William smith is already joining and accepted to ECAC West.

A possible future alignment:

SUNYAC-Plattsburgh, Buffalo, Cortland, Potsdam, Canton, Oswego and ???

ECAC-West-Elmira, Manhattanville, Utica, Stevenson, Neumann, Chatham, William Smith

ECAC-East-Norwich, Castleton, Salve Regina, U of New England, New England College, U Mass Boston, Nichols, Plymouth State, Southern Maine and Johnson&Wales

This leaves Holy Cross, St Michael's, St Anselm and Franklin Pierce out in the cold, but as DI and DII schools in DIII conferences, they sort of are.

Per the M-ville running countdown, still 11 days and some hours to go before the season commences, but I am sooooo looking forward to seeing you all at Kreitzberg!!!

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

A possible future alignment:

This leaves Holy Cross, St Michael's, St Anselm and Franklin Pierce out in the cold, but as DI and DII schools in DIII conferences, they sort of are.

What other choice do they have? (At least the D2's)

Is the women's ice hockey better off losing 4 programs and ~100 participation opportunities? I highly doubt it. You leave these guys out on their own with nowhere else to go and that's pretty much what you will do.

I can pretty much guarantee you that realignment won't happen that excludes those 4 teams. They aren't a burden on travel and women's hockey isn't at a point yet where losing teams is good for the game.

 

[obserbear]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

What other choice do they have? (At least the D2's)

Is the women's ice hockey better off losing 4 programs and ~100 participation opportunities? I highly doubt it. You leave these guys out on their own with nowhere else to go and that's pretty much what you will do.

I can pretty much guarantee you that realignment won't happen that excludes those 4 teams. They aren't a burden on travel and women's hockey isn't at a point yet where losing teams is good for the game.

I apologize for any slight to the DIIs and obviously their student athletes make the same sacrifices as DIII athletes to pursue a sport they love. The fact is the NCAA does not count their games against the DIIIs. I am sure their teams in other sports experience similar difficulties. I was merely speculating on the DIII geographic picture of eastern hockey and would hope that Holy Cross marshals the resources to compete on a DI level and the DIIs field teams that offer a competitive challenge for teams choosing to play against them.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

A possible future alignment:

SUNYAC-Plattsburgh, Buffalo, Cortland, Potsdam, Canton, Oswego and ???

ECAC-West-Elmira, Manhattanville, Utica, Stevenson, Neumann, Chatham, William Smith

ECAC-East-Norwich, Castleton, Salve Regina, U of New England, New England College, U Mass Boston, Nichols, Plymouth State, Southern Maine and Johnson&Wales

This leaves Holy Cross, St Michael's, St Anselm and Franklin Pierce out in the cold, but as DI and DII schools in DIII conferences, they sort of are.

Per the M-ville running countdown, still 11 days and some hours to go before the season commences, but I am sooooo looking forward to seeing you all at Kreitzberg!!!

This is a solid plan but it could only happen if the SUNYAC does indeed take Canton in and they get a 7th team. There will be no SUNY women's conference until they get 7 teams.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

What other choice do they have? (At least the D2's)

Is the women's ice hockey better off losing 4 programs and ~100 participation opportunities? I highly doubt it. You leave these guys out on their own with nowhere else to go and that's pretty much what you will do.

I can pretty much guarantee you that realignment won't happen that excludes those 4 teams. They aren't a burden on travel and women's hockey isn't at a point yet where losing teams is good for the game.

If Holy Cross and St Anselm's are booted from the ECAC, St Anselms will go D1 (with the men's team - they are already discussing joining the men'a AHA) and then Holy Cross, St Anselm's, and Sacred Heart will join the CHA because there will then be enough Eastern teams to make it worth it (they might even be able to drag Franklin Pierce with them but that is WAY more problematic). In any case, only FP and St Mikes are left out then. Is it possible for D2 school to field a D3 women's ice hockey team? That would be an option for FP and St Mikes...

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

If Holy Cross and St Anselm's are booted from the ECAC, St Anselms will go D1 (with the men's team - they are already discussing joining the men'a AHA) and then Holy Cross, St Anselm's, and Sacred Heart will join the CHA because there will then be enough Eastern teams to make it worth it (they might even be able to drag Franklin Pierce with them but that is WAY more problematic). In any case, only FP and St Mikes are left out then. Is it possible for D2 school to field a D3 women's ice hockey team? That would be an option for FP and St Mikes...

I think you're making a lot of assumptions here...Holy Cross has shown no interest in wanting to elevate in the past, St. Anselm by most accounts would have to restructure their entire athletic department which may include cutting several other sports, and Sacred Heart has shown no interest in playing at the D1 level or commiting the resources to do so in spite of calling themselves "D1".

As for the remaining D2's (And St A's too), there is no option to field a D3 program without moving their entire athletic department to D3. St A's, St Mike's and Franklin Pierce are essentially operating their programs as D3 to be able to get games and participate in the ECAC East, but there is no official option to move just their hockey programs to D3

In the grand scheme of things, the fact that D2 games "don't count" doesn't really affect very many teams. Among schools that play the D2's in the ECAC only Norwich, and maybe Manhattanville have shown the ability to have teams that are consistently competing for a spot in the National Tournament without having to win the conference tournament to qualify. Those are the only schools that could really attempt to make a case that playing against the D2's has somehow hurt them in their attempts to qualify. The only way any other team has a chance to sneak in over the last several years is by winning the tournament, and the D2's have zero effect on that.

Just my opinion but I think the competitive games those schools can bring to most programs, and the opportunities those programs are providing for more women to be college hockey players outweighs any negative effect they are currently having on 1 or 2 programs. I have no idea what the votes were, but Norwich and M'ville are part of a league that just voted to accept another D2 as a member team...so as a group the league members obviously see some value in these D2 programs right now and the opportunities that they bring.

Because of that I'd be very surprised to see them excluded outright in the future. Just my opinion.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: Johnson & Wales to add women's hockey

I think you're making a lot of assumptions here...Holy Cross has shown no interest in wanting to elevate in the past, St. Anselm by most accounts would have to restructure their entire athletic department which may include cutting several other sports, and Sacred Heart has shown no interest in playing at the D1 level or commiting the resources to do so in spite of calling themselves "D1".

.....

You are right - lots of assumptions in here but so is this whole topic! Holy Cross definitely is interested in and has investigated over and over going D1 but it just hasn't worked out - rink isn't suitable for Hockey East and ECAC at this point so CHA is the only option and the geography too big a hurdle without other New England teams in the league - they need a cataclysmic event like getting kicked out of the ECAC to move them off their currnet status. St. A's by all accounts is very interested in D1 mens hockey and would need D1 womens to do it - I'm betting that cutting a couple of other peripheral sports would not be as big a concern to them as you think (keeping in mind the need for gender equity compliance). Sacred Heart is a D1 school at heart and in practice in all other sports and applied to the ECAC when Quinnipiac was selected by accounts - but they won't put in money and time until they have a league to play in. Like Holy Cross, they likely just need some New England mass to join the CHA.