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Post by matunuck on May 2, 2017 9:07:40 GMT -5
To our women's hockey alumnae, current parents of women's hockey, Crusader Athletics Fund (CAF) hockey donors, and CAF Executive Committee,
we wanted you to be the first to know!
The Women’s Hockey East Association and the College of the Holy Cross will announce later today that Holy Cross has accepted an invitation to join the conference as its 10th member school. The Crusaders will begin play as a member of Women’s Hockey East in the 2018-19 season with games being played on the Holy Cross campus in the newly renovated Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex.
“It is always exciting when we are able to grow our membership ranks and particularly so with an institution of such unique prestige and character as Holy Cross,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. “We look forward to joining forces with the Crusaders to bring the Hockey East brand to Central Massachusetts and its great hockey fans.”
Women’s Hockey East began as a six-member conference with Boston College, the University of Connecticut, the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, Northeastern University and Providence College competing in the inaugural 2002-03 season. The conference has added a total of three teams on two occasions prior to today: Boston University and Vermont joined the league in 2005, while Merrimack College became the most recent addition in 2015.
Both the Terriers and Warriors joined Women’s Hockey East as first-time varsity programs. Boston University has gone on to win five WHEA Tournament championships and appear in two NCAA title games, while Merrimack reached the playoffs in 2016-17 in just its second season in the conference.
“This is a historic day for the College of the Holy Cross and for our women’s ice hockey program,” said Holy Cross Director of Athletics Nathan Pine. “I’d like to thank Commissioner Bertagna and the Women’s Hockey East membership for their confidence in Holy Cross and for this wonderful opportunity to join their ranks. We are committed to competing for championships in Hockey East, and I’m confident all of our constituencies will be excited for this important move.”
Holy Cross first fielded a varsity women’s ice hockey team in 1999-2000, and has won five ECAC East/New England Hockey Conference Open Tournament titles throughout its history – in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016. The Crusaders have posted a winning record in each of the last 11 seasons, including a combined mark of 46-8 over the past two years (22-5 in 2016-17; 24-3 in 2015-16).
"This is a great day for our Holy Cross women’s ice hockey family,” said Holy Cross head coach Peter Van Buskirk. “The leadership on our campus has shown a great commitment to the future of our program, and everyone from our current student-athletes to our dedicated alumni base is looking forward to our new home in Hockey East.”
To be the first to put down your deposit for the 2018-2019 Holy Cross women’s ice hockey season tickets during the inaugural year in Hockey East, click here.
ABOUT HOCKEY EAST: The Women’s Hockey East Association is a nine-team Division I women’s league which began play in the 2002-03 season and an 11-team Division I college men’s hockey conference founded in 1984. The women’s league has sent 11 teams to the Frozen Four and 22 to the NCAA Tournament in its 15 seasons on the ice while boasting two Patty Kazmaier Award winners. The men’s league has also won nine NCAA championships in the past 25 years. Since 1999, Hockey East has won seven NCAA championships in 15 NCAA Championship Game appearances and has placed 26 teams in the Frozen Four and 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament during that time.
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Post by hc89 on May 2, 2017 9:10:37 GMT -5
Great news. Great job by Holy Cross Athletics. Hopefully, the HC Men's Hockey Program will soon follow to Hockey East.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on May 2, 2017 9:14:19 GMT -5
Excellent!
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Post by lou on May 2, 2017 9:16:48 GMT -5
Which league are they leaving?
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Post by HC13 on May 2, 2017 10:16:47 GMT -5
crossports.freeforums.net/thread/770/womens-hockey:From USCHO: Six schools announced Tuesday the creation of a scheduling alliance for their women’s hockey programs, beginning with the 2017-18 school year. Division I institutions Holy Cross and Sacred Heart will join Division II members Franklin Pierce, Post, St. Anselm and St. Michael’s to account for 20 of its contests next season, as all schools will meet four times during the regular season. “We are excited about next year’s alliance, as it will provide our student-athletes with a highly competitive schedule against well-respected teams and familiar rivals,” said SMC coach Chris Donovan in a statement. The six will also participate in a postseason tournament while student-athletes will be able to earn weekly honors throughout the season. “With the announcement of this alliance, our program begins an exciting step forward in our young history,” Post coach Heath Isaacson added. “The 20-game schedule next season will allow us to challenge ourselves against well-established programs, along with playing for a year-end championship.” The alliance will also sponsor a postseason tournament for all six institutions, with seeding based on regular-season standings. The league’s tournament will take place the week of Feb. 19 and will crown a champion on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. A final and official 2017-18 schedule will be published at a later date once all games are solidified.
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Post by HC92 on May 2, 2017 10:29:04 GMT -5
Kudos to hcgrad94 for calling this some time ago. Congrats to the women's program and hopefully this is the first step toward securing membership for the men.
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Post by hchoops on May 2, 2017 11:06:42 GMT -5
If the DCU problem were solved, would the men also be in HE in '18-'19 ?
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on May 2, 2017 11:15:19 GMT -5
If the DCU problem were solved, would the men also be in HE in '18-'19 ? Yes.
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Post by purplehaze on May 2, 2017 11:52:44 GMT -5
Coach Van Buskirk is an institution himself, and has been at HC for almost 5 decades. he's 73 now and it will be interesting to see if he will continue coaching into this new chapter for women's hockey, with the emphasis on recruiting at this level. My guess is that they will have a coach-in-waiting during this transition year in 17-18, and maybe have a new head coach for 18-19. we'll see...
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 2, 2017 13:14:08 GMT -5
This tells us everything we need to know
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Post by deep Purple on May 2, 2017 13:17:27 GMT -5
That's awesome!
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Post by deep Purple on May 2, 2017 13:18:19 GMT -5
Which league are they leaving? Good question
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on May 2, 2017 13:36:12 GMT -5
Which league are they leaving? Good question See HC13's post above. Not leaving any league - just leaving the temporary "scheduling alliance".
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Post by HC13 on May 3, 2017 5:52:03 GMT -5
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Post by lou on May 3, 2017 6:07:25 GMT -5
It took Jen Toland only two sentences to clarify the from-to scenario
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Post by cruskater31 on May 3, 2017 6:42:50 GMT -5
If the DCU problem were solved, would the men also be in HE in '18-'19 ? To second Clock Tower's response, the men would eventually move to HE me thinks. In a press conference quote, ADNP alluded to the DCU issue: "I will tell you that we’re going to need to see some progress made with availability at the DCU Center for Holy Cross to play downtown before we can explore those options on that side.”
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Post by cruskater31 on May 3, 2017 6:51:53 GMT -5
Playing the likes of Harvard, Dartmouth, Syracuse and UNH will be a good test for the current players. UNH was 14-19-2 last year and has experienced a downtick in play under coach Hilary Witt, but the program went to 5 straight NCAA tourneys from 2005-2010 and reached the Frozen Four in 2 of those seasons. Likewise, Syracuse has recorded a number of wins including back to back winning seasons. Harvard is a good program with top quality Division 1 recruits. While there have been a number of former HC players who were recruited by Hockey East/ECAC schools and most likely would have done above average for those teams, many are solid DIII players. 18 schollies and 3 solid lines of D1 players make a difference
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Post by purplehaze on May 3, 2017 8:15:56 GMT -5
like basketball and football recruiting has, is there any website that tracks women's hockey recruits ? it's obviously very late in this recruiting cycle, and it would be tough to not have any d.1 talent recruited for this incoming class. anyone with info ?
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Post by bigfan on May 3, 2017 8:19:12 GMT -5
I hope that the DCU Center helps so that we can join HE men's. I think that the DCU which is owned by the city should be renting out the building as much as possible and not be told by the Railers that they can't rent to Holy Cross. The DCU has the responsibility to the taxpayers of the city to rent out the building for the most rental fees that they can obtain. I was told that legally the Railers do not have the right to tell the city who to rent the building too.
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Post by CHC8485 on May 3, 2017 8:31:32 GMT -5
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Post by crusader12 on May 3, 2017 10:53:05 GMT -5
I hope that the DCU Center helps so that we can join HE men's. I think that the DCU which is owned by the city should be renting out the building as much as possible and not be told by the Railers that they can't rent to Holy Cross. The DCU has the responsibility to the taxpayers of the city to rent out the building for the most rental fees that they can obtain. I was told that legally the Railers do not have the right to tell the city who to rent the building too. This is what we have been saying all along. Railers have first right of refusal for DCU and the owner of the team and Tim Murray are behind this blockade against HC. Legally they may not have the right but Tim Murray is so close with this guy that he has the city in his back pocket. SAD!
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 4, 2017 5:30:40 GMT -5
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Post by Tom on May 4, 2017 8:14:47 GMT -5
In spite of the fact that a management company runs the Centrum, city officials were heavily involved in negotiations to bring minor league hockey back to the city.
There were rumors floated around this board that the Railers had some sort of right of refusal for any ice event in the building. This may or may not be true. My opinion is that after the Sharks announced their departure, the city was so desperate to get a major tenant that it's possible that the city could have cut such a sweetheart deal that there might be some level of truth behind the rumor.
Usually where there's a will there's a way. However, IF the city/building negotiated all their rights away, then they have to sleep in the bed they made, even if it means no college hockey in the Centrum
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Post by cruskater31 on May 5, 2017 8:46:19 GMT -5
I wish I had the ability to get financial information on ECHL vs. Hockey East squads I believe many ECHL teams lose money each year even if they make it to the first round of the playoffs. Everett Sheen '11 coached with Idaho this year. Would be interesting to figure out.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 5, 2017 10:42:40 GMT -5
I wish I had the ability to get financial information on ECHL vs. Hockey East squads I believe many ECHL teams lose money each year even if they make it to the first round of the playoffs. Everett Sheen '11 coached with Idaho this year. Would be interesting to figure out. All HE schools lose money on ice hockey Expenses M/W 2015-16 BC $5.9M BU $4.8M Providence $5.2M UConn $4.4M Notre Dame (men only) $4.3M In 2015-16, for all FBS schools playing men's ice hockey, median generated revenue was $882,000; median expenses were $2,498,000. This group would include BC, ND, UConn, and UMass. __________________________________ Owners of professional sports franchises can often 'afford' to lose money, as they still come out ahead because of the tax code.
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