The New Face of the NCAA Tourney

Seventeen schools. Seventeen college hockey teams.

Some, like Notre Dame and Air Force, are former powerhouses who fell from grace. Others, like Alabama-Huntsville, are brand-new programs.

Some are schools which have made their names in college basketball--St. Bonaventure, Iona, St John's and Canisius. Others actually belong to small conferences that bear names like Great West and American Collegiate.

One squad, Merrimack, is now trying to decide which division--ECAC Division II or NCAA Division I--it will play in.

Still others, like Villanova, are Division III-caliber schools which, if they were to play a Division I school this year, would be hard-pressed to hold the opposition under double digits.

And all of them are competing for one spot. One playoff spot in the NCAA tournament. One shot at glory.

This is a story about the forgotten schools. The independents.

The cannon fodder on some Division I team's schedule or the "big game" on a Division II team's schedule.

Starting this year, one of them will be getting a chance to play the big guys where it counts. The NCAA Division I Ice Hockey tournament.

Some of these schools are looking forward to testing their skills against Bowling Green, Cornell, Northeastern and other leaders of the collegiate hockey world.

"We're planning on it," said Karen Morris, sports information director of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. "It [the playoff spot] has got everyone excited because now we have a place to go."

"It certainly would be an opportunity," said John Heisler, associate sports information director at Notre Dame.

The new ruling has had different effects on those teams which were looking to consolidate their informal conferences (like the Great West) into conferences which would automatically receive bids to the NCAA Division I tournament. Conferences with more than six members receive one automatic bid.

"Anytime you play in a conference, it enhances the competition and builds rivalries," said Tim McDiffett, assistant athletic director for sports information at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. "[But] I guess there's not the critical need there once was [to form a recognized conference]."

"If we stay independent we know we'll have a shot," said Julie Woltjen, sports information director at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

The numbers say "Seventeen teams for one place." However, only a handful of those teams realistically will have a chance at that playoff spot.

But once parity among the independents is achieved, then there might be room for more of them in the tournament.

"They could open it up to two or three spots [in the future]," said Morris.

And if they do, you might not see the North Dakota Fighting Sioux playing the Bowling Green Falcons for the national title, but the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battling the Air Force Falcons.