Here is an article that gets one thinking – will it be that long before CIS schools are playing in the NCAA Division I hockey? Why or why not? Also, I didn’t know that fellow Big Sky Conference School
Eastern Washington is currently playing in a league with teams from the CIS.
Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) --- That once-thought pipe dream took a step toward becoming reality several weeks ago when it was announced that Burnaby's Simon Fraser University was approved as the first international school in the NCAA.
While SFU currently does not have a varsity hockey team - it has a sports club which competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League, a 6- year-old organization which boasts seven members including, one American team from Eastern Washington University - that hasn't stopped school officials from openly pondering the possibility of the school competing in NCAA Division I hockey sometime in the near future.
SFU's 17 NCAA varsity sports teams compete in NCAA Division II, meaning they would have to petition to be allowed to play in Division I hockey. There is no Division II hockey available and, as per NCAA regulations, they would not be permitted to play in the lower-tier Division III hockey.
NCAA hockey almost certainly would thrive in a market like Vancouver which is not only unwavering in its support of the NHL's Canucks - they have the longest active consecutive sellout streak in the NHL at 407 games, counting regular season and playoffs - but also has embraced major junior hockey in the form of the WHL's Giants and Junior "A" hockey with a handful of BCHL teams located within the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley region.
While it would be untrue to suggest that any hockey league based in the area will automatically succeed in terms of gaining instant fan support - the AHL's Abbotsford Heat and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Men's University of British Columbia Thunderbirds have proven to be exceptions to the rule - the high profile of the NCAA combined with the fact the league is seen as a stepping-stone to the NHL for many of the top-end talent playing there would certainly help it garner attention not only among the student population but in the general public as well.
