The NCAA News - News & Features

Ice hockey committee considers change in III championship format

The committee, which met June 3-6 in Rancho Mirage, California,
agreed to forward a letter to the chair of the Division I committee to determine the committee's interest in and the feasibility of such an arrangement.

The committee noted the success of the Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship title game, which for the past five years has been conducted on the off-day between the Division I semifinals and final. Attendance at the Division III men's lacrosse final has averaged 12,534 during the last five years.

For 1997, however, the committee agreed not to alter the formats for either the Division II or Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championships. The committee agreed to conduct the Division II championship finals March 14-15, while the Division III championship finals will be conducted March 21-22.

As it did last year, the committee spent a considerable amount of time discussing automatic qualification and its impact on the Division III championship. The committee voted to recommend that automatic qualification be granted to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association and the State University of New York Athletic Conference for the 1997 Division III championship.