ACHA hockey in college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What colleges offer intramural hockey? I know Syracuse has intramural hockey, any others?

Every school with a rink on campus offers intramural hockey. Most northern towns have community rinks where a student can play men's league if they want.

I find all this talk of parents determining which schools have the best club teams silly. I am not paying out of my rear to have my kid play club hockey because they refuse to acknowledge that their hockey playing careers are over. If they want to play hockey, they can play in one or two men's leagues, which will cost about 20% of paying to play club.

Do all colleges with on campus ice really have IM ice hockey? Ice time could be an issue, with multiple club and NCAA teams getting priority? Kid just wants an option to play and have fun, and is having trouble figuring out which schools actually have active IM hockey where he can play with other students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What colleges offer intramural hockey? I know Syracuse has intramural hockey, any others?

Every school with a rink on campus offers intramural hockey. Most northern towns have community rinks where a student can play men's league if they want.

I find all this talk of parents determining which schools have the best club teams silly. I am not paying out of my rear to have my kid play club hockey because they refuse to acknowledge that their hockey playing careers are over. If they want to play hockey, they can play in one or two men's leagues, which will cost about 20% of paying to play club.

Do all colleges with on campus ice really have IM ice hockey? Ice time could be an issue, with multiple club and NCAA teams getting priority? Kid just wants an option to play and have fun, and is having trouble figuring out which schools actually have active IM hockey where he can play with other students.

I think most schools with on-campus rinks will have IM programs, but you would probably want to check them out individually. If ice time is an issue, the IM leagues may end up with odd ice times. I know Northeastern has an active IM hockey program, and so does Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on how it's going if your kid opted for ACHA hockey in college? It seems like a good option for a kid who plays AAA (or even AA) in high school and doesn't want to move away from home or take anytime off to play juniors. Is it really that different from NCAA D3 hockey?

Depends on team and level. The top 15 in ACHA D1 is very comparable and even AAA players would have trouble making some of those teams out of high school. Programs like Ohio, Adrian, Minot State, Liberty, and UNLV are full of older Canadians and former NCAA players. They are also run like varsity programs. Schools like Liberty and Adrian also have teams at lower club levels. Nearby, Delaware has a well supported program but aren't competitive with the top of ACHA D1 right now, but they too have D2 and D3 (CHF) options. Same with WVU, which has 3 club teams. Mason is low level ACHA D1 and would struggle against the top ACHA D2 programs, but I think school is committed to program. Some teams are free but some teams can cost like $3000.

While some programs are nowhere near NCAA D3 competition-wise, they still pack the house and are fun teams. In the the low-level CHF, Georgia and South Carolina are good examples and lots of local players on both. Kentucky and NC State are also fun ACHA D2 programs with great fan bases. VA Tech seems to be getting some momentum at ACHA D2 but they practice/play an hour+ from campus. These teams may give a better college hockey experience. At the same time, some teams barely practice and aren't serious at all. But I've also known some good players to get cut when the school has a single team (see Penn State). With ACHA/CHF, you need to do your research for sure. Reach out to coaches for schools your son is interested in and check out their social media. With Covid, there are a lot of NAHL, NCDC, and Junior A players at club these days. One of the best players I've seen from Gonzaga (former Providence commit) is playing CHF at Tampa. So good players everywhere.

Good links to start researching:

https://www.achahockey.org/ (Check out rankings, schedule, results etc.)
https://twitter.com/campusclubpuck
https://twitter.com/hockeyhousepod (ACHA focused podcast)
https://www.eliteprospects.com (look up a school and you can see where kids are from)

Thank you! This is really helpful and I plan to spend a good amount of time on the links you provided. We don't see our AAA player doing well moving away from home before high school graduation, nor do we like the idea of him taking a year or more off between high school and college. The few ACHA M1 teams that I had researched have a strong roster, so it seems like a great way for him to continue to enjoy competitive hockey through college but not lose focus on academics? But, I get the message - we need to do a lot of research to guide him toward the right fit....

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anyone hear anything recently about UVA ice hockey? I can’t imagine they will last long at ACHA M2 with no ice within miles. Have they dropped to M3 or maybe there is a new rink in the works (finally)? Hard to believe there is no ice in or near C’Ville!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear anything recently about UVA ice hockey? I can’t imagine they will last long at ACHA M2 with no ice within miles. Have they dropped to M3 or maybe there is a new rink in the works (finally)? Hard to believe there is no ice in or near C’Ville!

There is not much M3 in the east. A lot of midwest schools sandbagged in M3 and dominated so a lot of Eastern M3 schools bailed on ACHA and joined AAU. UVA should probably drop to the ACCHL's AAU division and play schools like W&M. Hats off to those kids traveling to Liberty to practice. That's commitment.

[Anonymous]

New announcement for the ACCHL D1 division. Cuse, Pitt, Stonybrook, and Delaware are joining from the ESCHL. They'll dominate early over Bama and rising D2 schools but this is a good opportunity for VT and MD to join D1. MD could have a really robust D1 ACHA program given local talent, it's a strong school, and good arena close to campus at Laurel. VT could get talent but rink is far.

[Anonymous]

New announcement for the ACCHL D1 division. Cuse, Pitt, Stonybrook, and Delaware are joining from the ESCHL. They'll dominate early over Bama and rising D2 schools but this is a good opportunity for VT and MD to join D1. MD could have a really robust D1 ACHA program given local talent, it's a strong school, and good arena close to campus at Laurel. VT could get talent but rink is far.

[Anonymous]

What would it take for UVA to drop and play schools like W&M? It seems like a no-brainer given their ice situation. So surprised there is no ice anywhere near Cville - would surely turn a profit to run programs out there. More developed each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would it take for UVA to drop and play schools like W&M? It seems like a no-brainer given their ice situation. So surprised there is no ice anywhere near Cville - would surely turn a profit to run programs out there. More developed each year.

Just move to AAU. The ACCHL supports both AAU and ACHA divisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would it take for UVA to drop and play schools like W&M? It seems like a no-brainer given their ice situation. So surprised there is no ice anywhere near Cville - would surely turn a profit to run programs out there. More developed each year.

Just move to AAU. The ACCHL supports both AAU and ACHA divisions.

Here are the divisions. https://www.acchockey.com/

2A are AAU teams. 2 Premier play for spot at ACHA Nationals. 2 Elite are lover level ACHA teams. For comparison, most of AAU teams were ACHA 3 before the split. UVA was ok before losing the rink. Hurt JMU too. Teams are flocking to this league and they have a lot of jamborees at the St James facility. Good options for local kids to play hockey in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would it take for UVA to drop and play schools like W&M? It seems like a no-brainer given their ice situation. So surprised there is no ice anywhere near Cville - would surely turn a profit to run programs out there. More developed each year.

Lack of nearby ice really hurts the UVa, VT, and JMU programs. There are likely plenty of good players at each of these schools who would like to play if getting to and from the rink wasn't an hour or longer trip.

[Anonymous]

I have been trying to understand the labrinth of leagues/divisions within ACHA. My son is a AA player at a local club. He is interested in smaller liberal arts school (UofR, Wake Forest, Bucknell are on his list). Academics and college fit are first but he would like to have a shot at playing hockey. Would any of these programs be attainable for him? Can one of the hockey expert parents here help me out?