The top Division I ACHA programs now are recruiting almost exclusively from Junior A leagues in the United States and Canada. But when you get to the teams that are trying to make it work and have good stuff, it is just like any junior team or a good Division III team."Īnd as a result of that talent level, hockey players are flocking to the realm of "club" hockey. "I just expected it not to be very organized club hockey and club sports are just played as a joke. Former NHL player Rick Zombo, now an assistant coach at Lindenwood Just because it doesn't get the publicity, it is overlooked. The hockey at the club Division I level is tremendous. I saw these kids were into that as well and that made me want to help. "I have always been immersed in being the best you can be. "Then I watched a game and saw that the talent level (gap) wasn't as big as I thought. "I knew a few people that had gone this route and I talked to them and asked questions about it," said Miller, who has 24 points in 16 games for the 14-2-0 Sooners. Miller, a junior from Dallas, played NCAA Division I hockey at Providence College before a coaching change there pushed him to transfer. Every time somebody takes a step forward, everybody is going to try to take a step forward."ĭon't believe Schaub, who clearly has a horse in this race? Well, ask Austin Miller, a defenseman at the University of Oklahoma, a top-ranked Division I ACHA program. It's one of those things where competition makes everyone rise.
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"I watched a club hockey game 10 years ago and I wasn't that impressed," continued Schaub, who played professional roller hockey before getting into coaching. But could we win on a consistent basis? I don't know." Norbert? Yeah, we can go up and down the ice with them. "Can we go up and down the ice with Division III powers like Oswego and St. "Your top teams in (ACHA) Division I would be very competitive against NCAA Division III teams," says Derek Schaub, the coach at Lindenwood University, a Division I school on the outskirts of St. college hockey scene consider the top ACHA clubs - those playing at the Division I level - to be the equal of NCAA Division III schools. In fact, ACHA programs are not funded through the school's athletic budgets, but rather are subsidized by funds from student services and player fees that average close to $2,000 per player per season. The main difference at the Division I level between ACHA hockey and the more visible NCAA hockey is scholarships. No matter the naming semantics, there is no denying the ACHA produces quality hockey played by young men and women who love the sport. Those involved with the ACHA call their sport many different things - non-scholarship or non-varsity, to name two - but never club hockey. "But when I became involved, I saw how serious it was and I saw some of these teams come through here and how serious they were, teams like URI and the University of Delaware. "To be honest that's how I looked at it," Fox said. Today, he is in his second season as the head coach. Navy coach Michael Fox had those misleading images of club hockey in his head before becoming involved with the Midshipmen program eight years ago as an assistant coach. "Club is a four-letter word in our vocabulary," says Al Murdoch, the long-time coach at Iowa State University, a top program in the ACHA.
If the term "club hockey" generates images of college players playing late-night hockey in mismatched uniforms under loosely applied rules, the American Collegiate Hockey Association has no use for you or your misguided vision.
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