Entering the new year, the hockey program at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn., was turning heads, riding a seven-game win streak with notable wins over NESCAC contenders Hamilton and Trinity.
It’s the fourth year of existence for one of the region’s newest programs, but only its second full season playing games. It went 4-18-2 in 2019-20, which makes the job coach Kyle Wallack (West Hartford, Conn.) and his players have done all the more remarkable.
Starting a Division 3 program from scratch is not an easy thing to do, nor a common one. In the last decade, only six schools in the region have attempted it, with varying degrees of success.
Here’s a look at how they’ve performed, ranked in order.
1. ENDICOTT
First NCAA season: 2015-16 | Record: 107-36-10
Conference affiliation: Commonwealth Coast | Championships: CCC titles in 2017 and 2020
The gold-standard Gulls had a lot of things going for them when they took the ice for their first season after making the jump from club status. One was a head coach – RJ Tolan (Waltham, Mass.) – who’d already been a winner at the Division 3 level with Wentworth.
The others were the sparkling new Raymond J. Bourque Arena, named for the benefactor and Boston Bruins great, and membership waiting for them in the ECAC Northeast conference. The Gulls, who offer a prime landing spot for D-1 transfers, have been NCAA contenders since the start of their D-3 tenure.
It's taken a lot – a lot – of work to get to this point. Tolan told me back in the early days that the first thing he did when he got home from work every night was apologize to his wife.
But the progress is tangible. Alums Ross Olsson (Billerica, Mass.) and Logan Day have both reached the AHL, Olsson getting his call-up in late December.
2. ALBERTUS MAGNUS
First NCAA season: 2019-20 | Record: 14-25-2
Conference affiliation: none | Championships: none
The Falcons have been one of the better stories in Division 3 this season. Beyond the seven-game win streak before the holidays, they spent this past weekend beating host Plattsburgh (6-4) and King’s (4-3 in overtime on Alex Gagnon’s game-winner) to win the W.B. Mason Winter Classic.
Wallack, a former assistant at Division 1 Vermont, has been at the helm for four seasons, but he’s quick to point out that this is only the team’s second full season on the ice. The independent Falcons (9-5) boast a stellar top line of Gagnon, Jonathan Stein and Tyler Ignazzitto, and a strong goalie in Logan Bateman (an Elmira transfer), and play their games in the city's renovated Ralph Walker Skating Rink.
Affiliation-wise, there were talks with the NEHC before the pandemic, but nothing is currently concrete.
“We just want to keep going on that incline,” said Wallack. “I think they’re starting to believe that nothing is unattainable.”
3. ANNA MARIA
First season: 2018-19 | Record: 21-37-11
Conference affiliation: none | Championships: none
Unlike Endicott, the AmCats had neither an on-campus arena nor a conference affiliation when they tossed their hats into the Division 3 ring four years ago.
The high point for the program in Paxton, Mass., under coach Dave McCauley (South Weymouth, Mass.), to date, was in 2019-20, when they went 12-8-5, playing a schedule heavy with second-division teams from the NEHC, CCC and MASCAC.
This year’s team is 4-7-2, with all four class years represented on the roster. Senior Patrick Manning leads the team in scoring with a 3-7-10 line.
4. RIVIER
First NCAA season: 2021-22 | Record: 4-8-2
Conference affiliation: independent | Championships: none
Rivier announced in October of 2020, in the heart of the pandemic, that it was adding men’s and women’s hockey to its intercollegiate athletic offerings this season, and it’s followed through.
The Raiders, playing just up the road at Conway Arena in Nashua, N.H., are 4-8-2 this season playing games so far largely against teams from the MASCAC and Northeast-10.
5. DANIEL WEBSTER
First NCAA season: 2015-16 | Record: 4-42-3
Conference affiliation: independent | Championships: none
This program at this Nashua, N.H., college known for its aviation program lasted just two seasons. After one year as an independent, it was slated to join the NEHC for the 2016-17 season, but the college’s parent company declared bankruptcy over the summer.
The Eagles played one more season as an independent, winning just one game.
6. WESTERN CONNECTICUT STATE
First NCAA season: none | Record: 0-0
Conference affiliation: MASCAC | Championships: none
Like Endicott, the program at Western was originally slated to make the jump to Division 3 in 2015-16; it was invited to join the MASCAC as that conference’s eighth team.
A club program since 1994, the program never did make that jump to D-3. It remains at the club level.
@MikeZhe603
mzhe@hockeyjournal.com
