Norwich to join the State University of New York, Plattsburgh; Elmira College; and Adrian College in tourney at Kreitzberg Arena
You deck the halls, we’ll drop the puck. It’s time for Norwich University to host the East-West Hockey Classic, featuring four of the nation’s top Division III women’s hockey teams.
The 11th annual classic, as ever at Kreitzberg Arena, features Northfield Savings Bank as the title sponsor. Plattsburgh State and Elmira College of New York state and Adrian College of Michigan join Norwich in the tournament.
On Saturday, Norwich and Adrian will open the tournament at 4 p.m.; Plattsburgh will play Elmira at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the consolation game will run at 1 p.m. Sunday; the championship game will follow at 4 p.m.
All four games will be livestreamed on www.norwichathletics.com/livestream.
In the nine years the NCAA Division III Tournament for women’s hockey has existed, the eventual national champion has played in the East-West Hockey Classic. Plattsburgh State has won five of the last six national championships, including the 2019 title. Elmira has three national championships, its most recent in 2013. Norwich University has won two national championships (2011, 2018).
Adrian has appeared in six NCAA Tournaments, its most recent in 2017.
All four teams enter the Classic among the 10 highest-ranked teams in the U.S. College Hockey Association's Dec. 6 Women's Division III Coach’s poll —Elmira (10-1-0, 8-0-0 New England Hockey Conference) is third, Plattsburgh State (8-2-0, 7-0-0 New England Women's Hockey League) is fourth, Adrian (6-1-0, 4-0-0 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association) is eighth and Norwich (6-2-0, 6-0-0 New England Hockey Conference) is 10th.
The tournament debuted on Oct. 29, 2010; its name date back to the old Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) divisions in which the four inaugural teams — Rochester Institute of Technology, New England College and Elmira — played. (Norwich and New England College represented the ECAC East; RIT and Elmira represented the ECAC West.)
Norwich is 6-10-4 all-time in the Classic.
EXPLORE:
READ MORE:
- Women’s basketball: Norwich falls to Eastern Nazarene, 79-45
- Men’s basketball: Cadets top Northern Vermont University, Lyndon 97-77
- Men’s hockey: Norwich ties Plattsburgh State, 2-2
