D1 vs. D2

[Ben Lambert]

After completing our first year of DI hockey, I must say that without a doubt, DI is far superior to DII roller hockey. This is coming from a person who played DII for years and always thought it was better. (It still is in some ways: everyone doesn't already know they have to face LU for the championship no matter what in DII)

Every team at the national level was a challenge for us this year which is something that I could never have said in the past while playing DII. Going into each game, our team knew that if we didn't skate hard, we were going to lose. That was never the case in the past--we knew that we would run into a cupcake here and there that we could pad stats against. We almost made early exits in our first two elimination games against teams that you'd have thought we'd blow away on paper. These teams (Long Beach, Florida, etc.) were tough as nails and would do well in any conference out there. I think it's also safe to say that the southeast is underrated as a whole.

Anyway, the time for teams like Neumann to move up is now. I hate calling people out, but come on. Neumann has been good since at least 2004 and show no signs of slowing down. Make the move. Follow SBU's lead and let's make DI what it should be: the level with the best teams and players.

[sanford]

i would say that neumann should enjoy this championship and see what next year's team is going to look like. im not sure who is going to graduate but they have some key players that are in their 4th and 5th year (scotto,wlazel, cras, sangeorgio, lamont). the 05-06 freshman are sr's next year (donahue, klenk, geirshbach, mariotti, yingling). if they want to have a team that will compete at the D1 level, next year may be their last chance for awhile.

Neumann is always in danger of having a big drop off from year to year. its a fine line with a school where the enrollment is less than 1,700.

whatever they decide to do...great season. best of luck next year whether they go D1 or D2.

[GoRangrHky]

I'm going to agree with Ben. We did exactly what we should NOT have done- didn't prepare properly, didn't skate for 36 minutes a game, didn't do the things we needed to do during the course of the weekend to be ready for games, and the results showed. For the previous few years, we were able to get away with playing this way, because like Ben said, playing against DII teams, you knew that you could just go out there and win regardless. Definitely not the case in DI.

Despite the fact that we also have no idea who's coming in, we got thumped our first season, that we're losing our top 3 goalies, and that it's becoming harder and harder to recruit at a school whos tuition is growing practically exponentially, our guys want to stick with DI. I give them a lot of credit, and expect a totally different team on the rink than what many of you saw this year, which will come from a LOT of hard work. I totally expect the 7 one goal losses or ties that we had this year to turn into wins.

And that level of work that they will have to put in is the difference between DI and DII hockey.

[get2it]

come on...hofstra does not even come close to being D1 without Dino and Mosenson...You have to have the core of 3-4 strong players surrounded by the guys who work hard and do all the little things...hofstra, having 15 plugs who just skate hard doesnt get you past house league...

[Patn Lawton]

I give Hofstra a lot of credit for moving up to D1 after having a successful run in D2 for 3-4 years. Same goes for AJ Frey who basically turned a roller hockey team into a strong program. Every team has turnover and will have a down-year every now and then. Hopefully Hofstra will be more successful next year.

[warwick]

ben

you stated that d1 is far superior to d2 and the challenge was greater at the national level, is it possible that the umsl team is not as good as past teams? i would like to hear your opinion on this. sanford made a good point about trying to replace 4-5 players in each of the of the next 2 yrs, especially being a small school. i don't recall anyone from the ncrha stating that the leagues would be divided by talent level. maybe the league should look into having the d1 and d2 champs playing each other. i would have liked to see neumann and lindenwood play each other, since they both play a similar style.

[Mtour71]

We have been hearing that every year...Oh, "That team can definitely take out Lindenwood." No one seems to be able to do it when it matters though..A similar game? Lindenwood is on a completely different level. During that National Championship game against UMSL you could tell LU was on a MISSION! They were DETERMINED and were FLYING out there. From the drop of the first puck you can tell that. When LU needs to step it up they do. Like I might have said in previous posts...Until a team can have 6-7 deep like Lindenwood it is going to be hard to knock them off. Gouge, Bruce, Fudge, Hill, Barnette, McGuinness, Thiefault, etc..

[warwick]

i never said neumann "could take out lindenwood". i said they play a similar style to lindenwood. i guess neumann wasn't on a mission in their games. how many neumann games did you watch? i never said lindenwood wasn't deep. all you did was mention players names (yes they are all very good players), are you trying to say neumann is not a very good team.

[Mtour71]

Well I guess I'm just trying to say that NO ONE is Lindenwood...Everyone knows that already. Neumann is a solid team and do not play a similar style like LU. The forechecking on that LU team is incredible and I haven't seen a team throughout the country who can skate with them. Lindenwood doesn't play one style either. They play a couple of different styles depending on who they are playing. Like I said Neumann is a solid team but don't have the names like LU does.

[eXpress19]

All of you are forgetting that Neumann is already playing a Division up. In all reality they should be playing in D3, they have a very small population in Neumann and for the talent they have to be winning the D2 National Championship is a great accomplishment all in its own. Just stop bashing them for not moving up and give them credit for what they have done with the small amount of players they have to choose from. Congrats Neumann on a Great and Undefeated season.

[topshelf]

If Neumann thought that they could compete in D1 they would have moved up by now. Teams and programs like UMSL, Stony Brook, Hofstra and Long Beach will continue to get better by playing against the much better competition in D1. A championship in D1 is much harder to achieve than one in D2.

DI teams will also attract the higher level players that are only interested in playing at the highest level in college.

[TSUMoody89]

I disagree with all these calls for Neumann to move up to Division 1. I feel like the size of the school would prevent them from potentially being able to compete at the level that they are. Sure they will get new guys on the team, but it is possible that a year or two could go by without new talent, and that would cripple them in terms of competing in Division 1.

Attending a school twice the size of Neumann, we face the same thing. We had two guys join the club my freshman year, six the next, NONE the next, and two this year. If there aren't new kids coming into the program, which the size of the school could prevent from happening, there is a downward spiral once the bigger class leaves the program.

Perhaps instead of calling them out for not moving up, people should be congratulating Neumann on their national championship. They had an unbelievable season and played fantastic in the tournament.

Let's not take that away from them.

[smiller]

All of you are forgetting that Neumann is already playing a Division up. In all reality they should be playing in D3, they have a very small population in Neumann and for the talent they have to be winning the D2 National Championship is a great accomplishment all in its own. Just stop bashing them for not moving up and give them credit for what they have done with the small amount of players they have to choose from. Congrats Neumann on a Great and Undefeated season.

Neumann isnt a community college. Its a private school with a very small enrollment. Infact, they have applied to become a university. Its amazing what you can learn on the internet in 2 mins.

[bigdave9]

ben

you stated that d1 is far superior to d2 and the challenge was greater at the national level, is it possible that the umsl team is not as good as past teams? i would like to hear your opinion on this.

Not possible, is the only answer to that question. Not even close, and anyone who played them or watched would agree. The '08 team would have beat our team last year by five goals, at least.

[oldschool22]

I doubt Neumann Will ever move up. Now that they are the premier team in D2, they'll always have a reason for staying there. They probably would be a 3-6 loss team in D1. While I can see the benefit of playing at a higher level, I doubt they would risk hindering their potential dynasty in D2.