{"id":137470,"date":"2022-12-06T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T20:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=137470"},"modified":"2022-12-10T23:29:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T05:29:47","slug":"137470","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/12\/06\/137470\/","title":{"rendered":"Dual benefits galore as NCAA, ACHA men’s hockey teams now available to schedule, play one another during regular season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Alaska Anchorage’s Carter Belitski gets a shot in tight on UNLV goalie Landon Pavlisin in a game earlier this season in Anchorage (photo: Skip Hickey).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their teams don\u2019t compete at the same level of college hockey, but with regards to scheduling games, there\u2019s a lot to the shaded area of the Venn diagram for Alaska Anchorage coach Matt Shasby and UNLV\u2019s Anthony Vignieri-Greener.<\/p>\n

Shasby, an Anchorage native and former UAA player, was introduced in Oct. 2021 as the Seawolves\u2019 seventh head coach in program history, but their first since the program was eliminated 14 months earlier as a cost-cutting measure. UAA hockey was reinstated last year after fundraising totals surpassed $3 million.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 1 of that year, Shasby\u2019s first day on the job, he immediately turned his focus toward scheduling games for the 2022-23 season. That work is always going on, and it\u2019s particularly tough for teams like UAA and the Nanooks of Alaska, six-hour drive away in Fairbanks. Not belonging to any conference hurts, and they get limited relief from having home games exempt from visiting teams\u2019 34-game scheduling limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an independent, you\u2019re battling every single year to find those games,\u201d Shasby said. \u201cEspecially home games, because convincing people to come up to Alaska is a real tough sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re literally making cold calls to everyone in college hockey and just asking for open dates. As you slowly get them, you piece your schedule together and hope that teams continue to have slots available, or you have slots available. Thirty-four games is a pretty reasonable number to put together, and it doesn\u2019t take much, but you\u2019re so at the mercy of college hockey teams who build schedules two years out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shasby scheduled what he could get for this season, but he had more options than just scheduling other NCAA Division I teams.<\/p>\n

Last year, when scheduling exhibition games against Canadian opponents was curbed amid pandemic-related border restrictions, the NCAA allowed member men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey teams to schedule non-counters against other college hockey teams. These included programs playing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), a non-scholarship organization with over 460 colleges and university-affiliated teams across five divisions: three men\u2019s, and two women\u2019s.<\/p>\n

This opened the door for ACHA coaches like Vignieri-Greener, who for years wanted to schedule games with NCAA Division I teams. Suddenly, this season, UNLV got four. The Rebels opened Oct. 1 at Denver, visited UAA two weeks later for a weekend set and then played the Seawolves on Nov. 16 in Henderson, Nevada, 12 miles from the Las Vegas Strip.<\/p>\n

Scheduling those games was, at least in part, circumstantial.<\/p>\n

Denver had faced ACHA competition before, hosting Lindenwood last season, and the Pioneers\u2019 10-0 win over UNLV came into being after Colorado College and Air Force scheduled an exhibition together.<\/p>\n

UAA might have gotten the better deal out of scheduling UNLV, despite two of the Seawolves\u2019 three wins against the Rebels being decided by one goal.<\/p>\n

Getting the Rebels home-and-home worked out logistically, too. UAA bused to Nevada following a series at Arizona State, and before that, the Seawolves visited Air Force at the start of what became a 16-day road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Matt was with a first-year team that needed to get some games, and he obviously wanted some home games, and we knew that to play them, we\u2019d need to go up there,\u201d Vignieri-Greener said. \u201cThat was easy for us, and when they were coming to Arizona, I was like, \u2018Hey, do you want to pick up an extra game?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Liberty coming in to play us (on Nov. 18-19), and I had to talk to them but we could get an extra game for Anchorage there, too. There were a couple phone calls, texts, emails and whatnot, and then we got it locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

UAA beat UNLV 8-0 in Anchorage on Oct. 14, then squeaked past the Rebels twice more and thumped Liberty 9-1 on Nov. 17 in Las Vegas. Those wins helped the Seawolves\u2019 (2-8) confidence in what has otherwise been a tough first season back.<\/p>\n

But what are NCAA-versus-ACHA games like to play in, and might we see more of them in the future?<\/p>\n

\u2018We got our ass kicked\u2019<\/h4>\n

Rick Zombo has led Lindenwood\u2019s men\u2019s hockey program since 2010, but more eyes have been trained on the Lions this season, their first at the NCAA Division I level. They\u2019re fresh off an ACHA Division 1 national championship, won on their home ice, but three games into their 2021-22 campaign, they fell 9-1 at Denver.<\/p>\n

Does Zombo remember much about the Lions\u2019 visit to the eventual Frozen Four champions?<\/p>\n

\u201cI do, we got our ass kicked,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had the puck in the neutral zone four times in the second period, and the day we got in there, we practiced and 15 minutes in, our young guys were really struggling because they weren\u2019t used to the altitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t realize that it\u2019s a factor until you\u2019re there, but there\u2019s also the skill and depth of Denver. They were far superior, never breaking stride, never looking down. They were very connected and very organized as a team, and they were just awesome to watch. Unfortunately, it was against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindenwood is a different team now. Different, even, than the Lions were at the start of this season. They opened 0-4 with two losses apiece at No. 2 Minnesota and No. 7 Michigan, but won four of their next 10 games.<\/p>\n

By the end of this season, Lindenwood will have played four weekend series against Big Ten teams, and two more against NCHC foes. That\u2019s a tall order, but Zombo hopes it\u2019ll pay off down the line as he looks to get big-name teams to visit the Centene Community Ice Center, a three-rink facility Lindenwood calls home and where the NHL\u2019s St. Louis Blues train.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a focus of our program: to sell college hockey in St. Louis,\u201d Zombo said. \u201cThese are 100-year-tradition, championship programs we\u2019re playing against, so we want to make sure not only that we have a litmus test for where our program needs to get to, but that we can market it to our community and to our recruits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindenwood also hosted Air Force for two games last season, losing both by a combined 13-4. There can be lumps to take when ACHA teams schedule these games, but as Shasby pointed out, respect goes both ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very, very impressed,\u201d he said of UNLV and Liberty. \u201cThere\u2019s not a massive difference between, I would say, the bottom 10 teams in (NCAA) Division I hockey and all the top teams in Division III, or with these club teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re getting a lot more attention, and there\u2019s a lot more kids considering ACHA Division 1 hockey. It\u2019s becoming more organized, and there\u2019s more money going into it. The skill level and their compete level was great. Obviously, they\u2019re probably getting up for those games more than others so that they can prove something and say they can beat a NCAA Division I team, but both those teams were very well coached with good goaltending.<\/p>\n

\u201cUNLV\u2019s compete level was very impressive, and Liberty\u2019s size and skill set was really good,\u201d Shasby continued. \u201cIt was significantly better than I thought it was going to be when I scheduled those games, so I was really happy with the overall outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one eye to the future, Denver coach David Carle was similarly complimentary toward both UNLV and Lindenwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought Lindenwood was a good experience for our players but also for them, in trying to grow the game of college hockey and giving them a taste of what it\u2019s like,\u201d Carle said. \u201cWhen we knew CC and Air Force would play each other, we tried to look around at who would be another good team at that level Lindenwood was at last year, and maybe has had rumblings of wanting to look (at transitioning to NCAA) D-I.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a situation where we wouldn\u2019t have to return the trip, per se. If you play another D-I school, they\u2019re going to want you to go back to them, and it\u2019s probably not something we\u2019re very interested in, as far as playing an exhibition game on the road. We just felt like it was a really good synergy to invite UNLV out to play us, and I thought they were very good and that it was a really good experience for us, and hopefully for them where it opens their eyes a little bit even more to, \u2018Hey, this is something we maybe want to try.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that easy<\/h4>\n

There may be more money in and attention toward ACHA hockey these days, but not all ACHA programs are equal.<\/p>\n

UNLV\u2019s program operates in relative luxury. However, holding the ACHA Division 1\u2019s No. 4 ranking at the time of writing, the Rebels draw a healthy fan following in a city where there famously is always something happening.<\/p>\n

The Rebels play their home games at City National Arena, the NHL\u2019s Vegas Golden Knights\u2019 practice facility. On weekends when the Knights are on the road and there aren\u2019t Ultimate Fighting Championship events or major concerts to contend with, UNLV often sells out a venue that seats around 700 fans and accommodates another 400 in standing-room-only sections. When the Rebels brought UAA to Henderson, on a Wednesday night, 2,100 fans were there.<\/p>\n

UAA had a good turnout there, too, as around 30 Seawolves fans were in attendance. Previously, when UAA visited Arizona State, the visitors had an estimated 100 fans at Mullett Arena. Shasby expects that games at ASU will be the Seawolves\u2019 biggest draw for fans either willing to fly down, or are in the area already.<\/p>\n

UNLV usually takes four plane trips per season, and busing for the rest makes an annual team budget of just under $600,000 \u2014 which includes coaches\u2019 salaries \u2014 seem even better than it already was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we ran a half-million dollar budget at the ACHA level,\u201d Zombo said. \u201cWe did not, but NCAA Division I is four times, five times more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not allowed in the NCAA (Division I hockey structure) unless you have the finances to do it, and the wherewithal to have shelf life. An appropriate budget, staffing, scholarships, you need all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move promises to have been worth it for Lindenwood, and while there\u2019s hope that other ACHA powers might move up, too, more potential NCAA-versus-ACHA games might depend on it.<\/p>\n

Denver won\u2019t play exhibitions over the next two seasons: the Pioneers visit Alaska next year, and UAA in 2024. Shasby said he\u2019s open to scheduling ACHA teams again, but not just for the sake of getting a weekend spoken for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main reason why we played UNLV is because we\u2019re trying to convince them and help them and help their administration start thinking about maybe becoming an NCAA team,\u201d Shasby said. \u201cIf there are any other schools out there that are considering it, it has to be a part of our overall vision to help them along so that we can maybe start another conference here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would play them again, but it would need to have a purpose other than just a hockey game. Having only 34 games in your season, it\u2019s so limited where you need to be playing at whatever level you\u2019re at, but if there\u2019s a team that says, \u2018Hey, if you play us, then our (program) is going to go Division I next year,\u2019 we\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might even help teams like the two Alaska schools find a new, geographically-sensible league home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe independents have had conversations, but right now, we\u2019re too spread out,\u201d Shasby said of a group that includes Lindenwood, Arizona State and East Coast teams Long Island and Stonehill<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s six teams, but it\u2019s Alaska to New York and Arizona. It doesn’t make sense for that group to get together, so we just need to encourage and help teams, whether they\u2019re in California, Utah, Vegas, Oregon, Washington. We need a couple more to come online and get this ball going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shasby is confident the next ACHA program to make the jump to NCAA Division I would be UNLV, but the Rebels\u2019 coach thinks room for growth extends not only to Las Vegas, but the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a goal down the line, and I think that our school sees that there\u2019s potential and a hockey market,\u201d Vignieri-Greener. \u201cWe\u2019re really competitive at this level, and obviously ACHA isn\u2019t (NCAA) Division I, but there are some really good ACHA D1 teams in the top 20. To keep the ball rolling and maybe get a feasibility study done over the next year would be great, and then we\u2019d just see where it goes, but I feel there will be at least two to five more schools in the west in the next five to eight years that will get NCAA Division 1 teams, or should.<\/p>\n

\u201cHockey\u2019s growing so fast, especially in the west. The talent pool in California is crazy, and if all the California kids stayed at home and played for UCLA, USC, they\u2019d be top-10 teams. They just need to get a school to grow the game, and I think the way the game is trending and picking up in popularity, we\u2019d really be shooting ourselves in the foot as a hockey community if schools in the west didn\u2019t start going (NCAA) Division I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential NCAA hockey newcomers would do well to get a sense of what they\u2019d be in for. Zombo could tell them plenty, as he put together Lindenwood\u2019s 2022-23 schedule over eight days this spring, after the Lions won their fourth ACHA Division 1 national title.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that easy making the jump, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ACHA teams that want to make the move up,\u201d Zombo said. \u201cSome are more geographically suited than others, but there\u2019s also internal and outside perceptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody had any inkling at all that Lindenwood would win what we have, and we\u2019re very competitive. I wish everybody the best, but I know there\u2019s a lot of work that takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their teams don\u2019t compete at the same level of college hockey, but with regards to scheduling games, there\u2019s a lot to the shaded area of the Venn diagram for Alaska Anchorage coach Matt Shasby and UNLV\u2019s Anthony Vignieri-Greener. Shasby, an Anchorage native and former UAA player, was introduced in Oct. 2021 as the Seawolves\u2019 seventh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":137471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[812,1671],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDual benefits galore as NCAA, ACHA men's hockey teams now available to schedule, play one another during regular season - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Their teams don\u2019t compete at the same level of college hockey, but with regards to scheduling games, there\u2019s a lot to the shaded area of the Venn diagram\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137470\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dual benefits galore as NCAA, ACHA men's hockey teams now available to schedule, play one another during regular season - 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