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NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Interesting. That link to the Indiana Tech story says that both UM-Dearborn and Rochester College will be joining the NAIA division next year. As far as I know that hasn't been announced anywhere else. UM-Dearborn's athletic site still has hockey listed as a non-NAIA sport and the WHAC website only lists Aquinas, Indiana Tech and Lawrence Tech in their standings for next season. The ACHA still hasn't updated their website with the new division. I'm sure what's what will get sorted out closer to the season.

Edit: The WHAC website has now updated to include UM-Dearborn and Rochester. They also list Concordia in next year's standings, but they're not supposed to be starting until 2018-19.
 
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Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Updated WHAC Hockey Standings: Five teams for the 2017-18 with CUAA making a 6th in 2018-19.


http://www.whac.net/sport/0/33.php

2017-18 MEN'S ICE HOCKEY STANDINGS
School WHAC Overall GB Home Away Neutral Streak
Aquinas 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 -- 0-0 0-0 0-0
Indiana Tech 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 -- 0-0 0-0 0-0
Lawrence Tech 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 -- 0-0 0-0 0-0
Rochester 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 -- 0-0 0-0 0-0
UM-Dearborn 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 -- 0-0 0-0 0-0
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

I've noticed on the schedules that have been released so far, none of the NAIA schools appear to have Life on their schedule. How will Life qualify for the NAIA tournament if they don't play any NAIA teams during the regular season? Obviously being in Georgia probably makes travel a concern since the others are all in the Midwest.
 
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Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

With the return of NAIA hockey this year, is there any chance that we will see some degree of official coverage from USCHO.com in the near future? I know club hockey generally gets ignored here, but with the return to varsity status for the NAIA schools I'm hoping we'll see a new section added.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Small update on the NAIA. They still aren't considered an emerging sport by the NAIA, but NAIA hockey will be leaving the ACHA and moving under its own governance starting next year.

[ Story ]
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

dinocoach said:
Going back to the 60's, I think Salem State and Boston State also were members of the NAIA.
Click to expand...

You offer a great deal of interesting and factual information in this post. One error, however... Salem State was playing in the NCAA, before they had divisions, as early as 1961, when I saw them play at Colby.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

OhioMule said:
You offer a great deal of interesting and factual information in this post. One error, however... Salem State was playing in the NCAA, before they had divisions, as early as 1961, when I saw them play at Colby.
Click to expand...

Ya this period can be a little confusing. It seems that some of the schools that played in the NAIA tournament in the early years were also members of the NCAA. I don't know if Boston State, Salem State, etc. were ever formally members of the NAIA or if they were just invited as some sort of at-large bid, but they both did play in the NAIA tournament. Keep in mind there was no small-colleges/DIII tournament at the time, so I don't know what the relationship between the various schools, the NCAA and the NAIA was at the time. Anybody who can offer some clarification would be great.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Buckeye22 said:
Ya this period can be a little confusing. It seems that some of the schools that played in the NAIA tournament in the early years were also members of the NCAA. I don't know if Boston State, Salem State, etc. were ever formally members of the NAIA or if they were just invited as some sort of at-large bid, but they both did play in the NAIA tournament. Keep in mind there was no small-colleges/DIII tournament at the time, so I don't know what the relationship between the various schools, the NCAA and the NAIA was at the time. Anybody who can offer some clarification would be great.
Click to expand...

Boston State was actually an NAIA school back in the 60's. They sent a pretty good team coached by legend Eddie Barry, out to the NAIA National Championships and got toasted. My memory is failing me, but the goalie had a collegiate record number of saves in the game. I think Bo State gave up 20 goals and the guy had 70 saves, or something.

In the 70's, New England had an NAIA Conference (District 5) and representatives were sent out each year from 76 to 80. UMPG (now USM) went in 76, St Francis College (Now UNE) went 77, 78 & 79, and Roger Williams went in 80.

The conference had Nasson College in Springvale, Maine, University of Maine at Portland Gorham, St. Francis College in Biddeford, New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University), Nathaniel Hawthorn College in Antrim, NH, Gordon College in Beverly, Mass, Roger Williams College and for a couple of years, Plymouth State College. It was pretty good conference for the time.

I believe the best any team from the east did in the NAIA National Tourney was St. Francis College losing 11-0 to Bemidji State. Everyone else was even uglier!
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Thanks for the info! Do you have any insight into how Salem State participated in '69? They were definitely playing in the ECAC at the time which I always assumed was an NCAA-only conference. I could've sworn I read somewhere that Boston State was also in the ECAC at the time (both of them were in the ECAC DII at the time, more-or-less the predecessor to the NEHC, NESCAC and SUNYAC).
 
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Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Buckeye22 said:
Thanks for the info! Do you have any insight into how Salem State participated in '69? They were definitely playing in the ECAC at the time which I always assumed was an NCAA-only conference. I could've sworn I read somewhere that Boston State was also in the ECAC at the time (both of them were in the ECAC DII at the time, more-or-less the predecessor to the NEHC, NESCAC and SUNYAC).
Click to expand...

My recollection of the NAIA back in the 60's was that is was a pretty loose organization. Their basketball tourney, held each year in Kansas City, was bigger than the NCAA at the time. They would invite teams from each district championship to there tourney (32 teams) and pay a week of basketball getting to the champion.

If I remember correctly, there was DI and DII hockey, DIII had not evolved yet. The DI National Championship was really restricted. I remember the National Championship were usually held on campus, except when it was played at The Broadmoor, and usually in the West. I know that the championships grew in the 70's and moved around the country, but the 60's where really provincial. I think BC hosted the NCAAs in 1963, or so, only because they're celebrating 100 years as a college. I think it was BC (Snooks Kelly coach), Clarkson (Len Ceglarski), Michigan Tech (Not sure) and North Dakota (R.H. "Bob" Peters), and the finals were an all west finals. I don't remember who won! (getting too old!)

DII did not have a national championship, yet. I think this is what led some of the DII teams to have dual memberships in the NAIA. I know that Boston State played in the ECAC,yet competed in the NAIA National Tournament. I just don't have any recollection of Salem State going to the NAIA National Championship. It wouldn't surprise me though, Salem State had some good teams back in the day and, they were committed to hockey.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Ya I did some digging around. Prior to the start of the DII tournament (1978) and the DIII tournament (1984) some NCAA teams must've been allowed to compete in both the NCAA and the NAIA. On UMass-Boston's site it says Boston State played Salem State in the district finals to reach the NAIA tournament in '68. And Salem State went to the tournament in '69. Both were in the ECAC DII at the time.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Buckeye22 said:
Ya I did some digging around. Prior to the start of the DII tournament (1978) and the DIII tournament (1984) some NCAA teams must've been allowed to compete in both the NCAA and the NAIA. On UMass-Boston's site it says Boston State played Salem State in the district finals to reach the NAIA tournament in '68. And Salem State went to the tournament in '69. Both were in the ECAC DII at the time.
Click to expand...

And the Goaltender for Boston State, who set records for saves in one game was named Berglund, (could be Bill or Bob).

Thanks for the info on Salem State, I did not know that.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Personally, I could see the NAIA looking like this in a few years. I really think that this would be a dream scenario for them after a pretty solid start.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

MICHIGAN DIVISION
Lawrence Tech
Concordia Ann Arbor
UM Dearborn
Rochester College

MIDWEST DIVISION
Aquinas
Indiana Tech
Robert Morris (Illinois)
Life/Holy Cross

WESTERN CONFERENCE

CENTRAL DIVISION
Waldorf
Dordt
Lindenwood - Belleville
Midland

MOUNTAIN DIVISION
Montana Tech
Providence
Jamestown
Carroll

Couple Notes...

- Obviously this only includes teams that currently exist, as I have not heard of any other NAIA schools adding hockey other than those already announced.
- 8/16 of these teams will be participating in the NAIA next season
- I believe Holy Cross ACHA D3 folded in 2014, would there be any interest in a return now that there is NAIA hockey?
- It is very hard to find information regarding Life's hockey program, any updates.
- Concordia and Providence (Montana) will be adding hockey for 2018-2019


Looking at the standings and scoreboard, the league seems to be off to a fairly competitive start. Nice to see many close games with teams coming from ACHA D1, D2 and D3, was not quite sure how that would be go. Let me know if i missed any teams or if you change anything!
 
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Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

I think that's pretty close for the teams we know now, although with things moving forward I think NAIA is prime from more expansion like CUAA and UofProvidence starting programs from scratch.

The one thing about the current group is that I don't think schedule clusters would break up the WHAC schools. Also all indications is that the Life hockey program is dead or pushed to intramural status. The university's old AD and admins looked to be putting more emphasis but it looks like there was some admin turnover.


WHAC
Aquinas
Concordia Ann Arbor
Indiana Tech
Lawrence Tech
UM Dearborn
Rochester College

MIDWEST DIVISION
Dordt
Lindenwood - Belleville
Midland
Robert Morris (Illinois)
Waldorf

MOUNTAIN DIVISION
Montana Tech
Providence
Jamestown
Carroll

Further growth I'd expect to see schools from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC), Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) as likely target areas. Also with the growth of hockey and also NCAA D3 into Western PA, i'd love to see some of the Pittsburgh schools in the River States Conference (RSC) add varsity hockey. Also the NAIA is trying to make a push back into the Northeast US with dual affiliate Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (NIAC) so continued growth into the region could be a great spark to NAIA hockey.
 
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That is what I have heard. It is very encouraging that Providence and Concordia are starting teams from scratch. Concordia will be jumping directly into the NAIA but has anyone heard what Providence plans on doing? I assume they'll probably wait until other western teams join?

Regarding Life, that is interesting. I had no idea they got a new AD, but that could explain how they went from being one of the first teams named to the NAIA to not even participating in the ACHA. Does anyone have info regarding Holy Cross? They would be a perfect fit with the other mid-western teams but have not had a hockey program since 13-14 I believe.

Getting UM-Dearborn to flip from ACHA D1 to NAIA was huge for a new league. However, the fact that Robert Morris, Jamestown and Rochester still have not announced a move is worrisome. I understand scheduling makes movement tough and wanting to wait for the league to become more established, but i am beginning to question whether they move to NAIA at all.
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

Possibly just a mistake, but UM-Dearborn and Aquinas College no longer appear of the NAIA Hockey website. Haven't found any other information, but is it possible they're backing out to stay with ACHA?
 
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According to this short update from Junior Hockey News, apparently the new NAIA hockey league that sprung up last year apparently never actually had NAIA sanctioning. Explains why there's some inconsistency as to who's in the league and who isn't. It looks like UM-Dearborn has officially jumped ship. I guess this experiment has failed. I'd be surprised if they're still playing in any form next year. The NAIA WHAC conference is still sponsoring hockey though, so we'll see.

https://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=93550
 
Re: NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback

The NAIA programs were accepted back into ACHA Division Men's Division 1. The WHAC Conference and a new Midwest Hockey Conference, also comprised of some NAIA programs, will be playing at the ACHA D1 level beginning next season 2019-20.

http://www.whac.net/article/4570
 
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