The Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Committee will survey its membership about enhancing the championship, perhaps by combining it with another ice hockey event.

The survey is expected to be distributed in early fall. The group received limited feedback at coaches meetings earlier this year, but outgoing chair Bill Kronschnabel, commissioner of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, said a survey would help give the committee a better picture of how sponsoring schools felt about combining championships.

“We decided we’d survey the entire membership, so we’d really have good feedback on it,” Kronschnabel said.  “We want to know if they would support combining the tournament (with another ice hockey event) at the same site.”

The committee would not identify championships that might be considered to be combined with the Division III women’s ice hockey event. The committee will analyze the survey results and discuss combining championships at its 2010 meeting.

In other business, the committee is exploring the creation of a videotape exchange policy, something many conferences have but has not been implemented at the championship level. The committee is evaluating video exchange policies in other sports, including the Division III men’s ice hockey policy, to see what format best fits its needs.

“When you get to the national tournament, you’ve got teams playing each other that have never seen each other before,” Kronschnabel said. “If they get a tape of the most recent game, they have an idea of the style that the team plays and their personnel, for scouting purposes.”

The committee also:

• Recommended that Garnet Asmundson of Hamline be appointed chair and Cheryl Aaron of Massachusetts-Boston be appointed vice chair. The recommendations must be approved by the Division III Championships Committee. The committee also recognized Kronschnabel for his service.
• Recommended that the 2010 championship be hosted by the West region. The committee approved, effective with the 2006-07 season, the opportunity for a region to host the championship finals if that region has not hosted the championship within the past three years. The championship was held in the East region in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Responded positively to the Webcast of the selection show for the 2009 tournament. Kronschnabel said the online show was “well-received.”
• Noted that Marian will add women’s ice hockey in 2009-10, and St. Norbert and St. Scholastica will add the sport in 2010-11. MIT dropped the sport after the 2008-09 season.