New York, NY -- Sixteen of the nation's best college club teams are in New York for the American Collegiate Hockey Assocation Division II National Tournament. Among the schools represented in the tournament, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers are Michigan, Michigan State, Miami (Ohio) University and New York University, the host school.
N.Y.U. (21-1-3) ranked No. 1 in the Northeast by the A.C.H.A., went undefeated (11-0-3) in the Super East Collegiate Hockey League. Coach Stephen Hetherman says that recruiting at the club, or non-varsity, level is especially challenging. "It's Catch-22," he said. "I'm able to recruit because of the school's academic reputation, but the flip side is, since it's not a varsity program, I will lose some students who have the academic profile for N.Y.U. but opt for a Division III school like Middlebury."
Without a varsity team, N.Y.U. finds itself at a competitive disadvantage at tournament time when facing colleges with prominent Division I programs. The club teams at those colleges, like Michigan, which N.Y.U. faces Friday at 7 p.m., can enlist cast-off players from the varsity.
Hetherman said:"We try to say to our guys:'It's just another team. Let's go out and play our style of hockey and see where it gets us."