No, this is not Penn State's NCAA D1 team, this is their ACHA D2 team, same level as us. ACHA is the most prominent non-varsity collegiate hockey association, and has 3 divisions for men, and 2 for women. Here's why this game matters:
Every season, 16 teams at the D2 level qualify for the ACHA National Tournament, 4 teams from each of the 4 geographical regions; Southeast (our region), Northeast, Central, and West. The geography of who is in what region is a bit weird, but essentially it roughly looks like this:
- Northeast: basically anyone in New York and New England
- Southeast: anyone else in the eastern time zone who isn't in the Northeast region (this includes a team like Penn State).
- Central: basically anyone in Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and some of Michigan.
- West: everyone else
Starting in roughly early November, the ACHA begins releasing computerized rankings for each region. These are based on winning percentage, goal differential, and strength of schedule. At the end of the season, the top 2 teams in each region receive an automatic bid to Nationals. Teams ranked 3-12 in each region qualify for a separate Regional tournament, which yields the final 2 teams from each region, making a total of 16 teams.
In 2019, the Pack qualified for Regionals for just the 2nd time in program history as the #8 seed. As you may recall, we did not lose a game in the regular season that year, but because we played a very weak schedule, we relied almost entirely on blowing out most of our opponents, and probably would have missed out with a couple losses. That said, the team did earn its ranking, dispatching #5 Rider and #3 Liberty to secure a spot at Nationals for the first time.
Getting to Nationals got us on the radar of some of the better programs in the country, which has allowed us to schedule games against big time opponents over the last couple seasons such as Florida Gulf Coast (4 time national champs), Liberty, MSU Denver, UMass-Lowell, Delaware, Cincinnati, Penn State, and New Hampshire (future opponent). Our improved strength of schedule allowed us to finish #4 in the Southeast region in 2020 and qualify for Nationals (modified format) as the #8 overall seed in 2021. It has also allowed us to further monopolize the best available talent in NC. We are now able to attract many players who in the past would've likely otherwise played for a small NCAA D3 team up north.
Friday's game is significant for 2 reasons:
1 - it is very rare for us to have a prominent opponent from up north come to our barn. We had Liberty come down here for the first time last season. These teams have so many more options to play good competition from a geographical standpoint, so it is vital for us to build relationships with these programs such that they believe a trip down to NC is a valuable use of time and money that will strengthen their program.
2 - this season, it's pretty much a given that we will at least qualify for Regionals. We have our eye on getting one of the two automatic bids for Nationals. In order to accomplish this, we need to beat the best teams on our schedule. Getting an auto bid also further elevates our program on the National stage.
We could beat UNC 100 times in a row and it would not come close to moving the needle on our program. For the Icepack, playing UNC is essentially the football equivalent of playing an FCS team. This applies to pretty much every other team in the ACCHL as well, with maybe one or two exceptions. There's a reason we don't play teams like Duke, Charlotte, and Elon anymore (hint: very bad at hockey). Playing UNC does draw fans, which in turn makes money for the program, but playing them (3 times this season) absolutely torpedos our strength of schedule. That's why it's vital that we not only beat them, but blow them out every single time. Is it fun to beat them? Absolutely. But it does nothing for us from a competition standpoint. Our players come here to play against other talented teams and compete for titles.
We will win our 4th consecutive ACCHL title this year, and while such an accomplishment is certainly worth celebrating, it's relatively low on the list of team goals. The Icepack have the talent to win a national title this year. Games like the one on Friday are what will help us get there.
Every season, 16 teams at the D2 level qualify for the ACHA National Tournament, 4 teams from each of the 4 geographical regions; Southeast (our region), Northeast, Central, and West. The geography of who is in what region is a bit weird, but essentially it roughly looks like this:
- Northeast: basically anyone in New York and New England
- Southeast: anyone else in the eastern time zone who isn't in the Northeast region (this includes a team like Penn State).
- Central: basically anyone in Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and some of Michigan.
- West: everyone else
Starting in roughly early November, the ACHA begins releasing computerized rankings for each region. These are based on winning percentage, goal differential, and strength of schedule. At the end of the season, the top 2 teams in each region receive an automatic bid to Nationals. Teams ranked 3-12 in each region qualify for a separate Regional tournament, which yields the final 2 teams from each region, making a total of 16 teams.
In 2019, the Pack qualified for Regionals for just the 2nd time in program history as the #8 seed. As you may recall, we did not lose a game in the regular season that year, but because we played a very weak schedule, we relied almost entirely on blowing out most of our opponents, and probably would have missed out with a couple losses. That said, the team did earn its ranking, dispatching #5 Rider and #3 Liberty to secure a spot at Nationals for the first time.
Getting to Nationals got us on the radar of some of the better programs in the country, which has allowed us to schedule games against big time opponents over the last couple seasons such as Florida Gulf Coast (4 time national champs), Liberty, MSU Denver, UMass-Lowell, Delaware, Cincinnati, Penn State, and New Hampshire (future opponent). Our improved strength of schedule allowed us to finish #4 in the Southeast region in 2020 and qualify for Nationals (modified format) as the #8 overall seed in 2021. It has also allowed us to further monopolize the best available talent in NC. We are now able to attract many players who in the past would've likely otherwise played for a small NCAA D3 team up north.
Friday's game is significant for 2 reasons:
1 - it is very rare for us to have a prominent opponent from up north come to our barn. We had Liberty come down here for the first time last season. These teams have so many more options to play good competition from a geographical standpoint, so it is vital for us to build relationships with these programs such that they believe a trip down to NC is a valuable use of time and money that will strengthen their program.
2 - this season, it's pretty much a given that we will at least qualify for Regionals. We have our eye on getting one of the two automatic bids for Nationals. In order to accomplish this, we need to beat the best teams on our schedule. Getting an auto bid also further elevates our program on the National stage.
We could beat UNC 100 times in a row and it would not come close to moving the needle on our program. For the Icepack, playing UNC is essentially the football equivalent of playing an FCS team. This applies to pretty much every other team in the ACCHL as well, with maybe one or two exceptions. There's a reason we don't play teams like Duke, Charlotte, and Elon anymore (hint: very bad at hockey). Playing UNC does draw fans, which in turn makes money for the program, but playing them (3 times this season) absolutely torpedos our strength of schedule. That's why it's vital that we not only beat them, but blow them out every single time. Is it fun to beat them? Absolutely. But it does nothing for us from a competition standpoint. Our players come here to play against other talented teams and compete for titles.
We will win our 4th consecutive ACCHL title this year, and while such an accomplishment is certainly worth celebrating, it's relatively low on the list of team goals. The Icepack have the talent to win a national title this year. Games like the one on Friday are what will help us get there.
