CCC Assumes Control of Hockey Operation

1. Commonwealth Coast Assumes Colonial Hockey Operation   The Commonwealth Coast Conference announced Friday that the CCC will begin to oversee women’s hockey as a championship sport beginning in 2020-21. The CCC will assume operation of a renamed Colonial Hockey Conference. The addition of women’s hockey was perpetuated by two big announcements within the conference – the addition of Suffolk to the league membership and current CCC member Western New England announcing it would be starting a varsity program in 2020-21.   Prior to those news items, there were four CCC full members with women’s hockey programs, all competing in the CHC — Endicott, Nichols, Salve Regina, and University of New England. Suffolk and WNE will become the league’s fifth and sixth members. Becker, the only remaining non-CCC member of the league, will remain in the rebranded conference as an associate. The Hawks are already CCC associate members in men’s hockey. As a seven-team league, the conference will retain the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III women’s tournament. >> What They're Saying: "Our presidents and athletic directors have worked diligently to expand the quality competition synonymous with the CCC brand. Adding women’s ice hockey to our inventory of sport offerings is a natural step in continuing our recent pattern of growth.” - Gregg Kaye, commissioner >> The Big Picture: “CHC commissioner Katie Boldvich has been totally supportive during the conversations that have led to the CCC’s historic announcement. Katie’s priority has always been promoting and growing the great sport of women’s ice hockey and increasing opportunities for female student-athletes in the sport." >> Worth Noting: For the past two seasons, the CHC was granted an automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III tournament. Last season, Endicott won the CHC title and made the only national tournament appearance of the teams set to play in the rebranded league.

2. Top-Ranked Jumbos Fall   Babson College scored a pair of first-half goals and senior goalkeeper Steven Heintzelman finished with a season-high nine saves as the Beavers stunned top-ranked Tufts University, 2-0, in non-conference men's soccer action on Tuesday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field. With the win, Babson improves to 6-4-2 on the year, while Tufts, which is the defending Division III national champions, slips to 8-1-1 and sees its 30-game unbeaten streak come to an end. >> The Key Stat: The Beavers are just the fourth team to score at least two goals against Tufts going back to the start of the 2016 season, a stretch that spans 74 matches.

3.  ADR Institute Congratulations to the Division III Athletic Direct Reports (ADR) Institute 2020 cohort.  Thirty-four (34) athletics direct reports were selected to attend the fifth annual ADR Institute January 22-23 in conjunction with the 2020 NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California.   The purpose of the program is to engage Division III ADRs in best practices to oversee and manage athletics departments and to improve the relationships between ADRs and their presidents, athletics directors and conference commissioners.   Click here to see the 2020 cohort.   SPONSORED MESSAGE Searching for talent for your athletic department? Need assistance with a departmental review or a strategic plan? Time to refresh your conference's policies and procedures? ASC is dedicated to small colleges and is committed to providing solutions for your concerns. Contact steveulrich.asc@gmail.com to see how ASC can help your organization.

4. Podcast Recently Jack Ford conducted a podcast interview with Tori Murden McClure, the president of Spalding University and vice-chair of the Division III Presidents Council.  McClure was the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first woman to ski to the South Pole. And she can fix your car.  Click here to listen to the podcast.

5. Polls   Soccer (M) - United Soccer Coaches Tufts (8-0-1) Amherst (8-0-2) Calvin (11-1) Franklin & Marshall (10-1) Washington and Lee (8-1-2) Chicago (5-1-4) Johns Hopkins (9-2) Ithaca (10-1-1) Kenyon (10-1) Penn State Behrend (11-0) 11. Oneonta, 12. Central, 13. Rensselaer, 14. Luther, 15. Hardin-Simmons, 16. John Carroll, 17. Messiah, 18. Roanoke, 19. Catholic, 20. Middlebury, 21. Christopher Newport, 22. Claremont-M-S, 23. North Park, 24. Mary Washington, 25. Loras. >> Moving Up: Kenyon (+7), Messiah (+6), Rensselaer (+6) >> Moving Down: Loras (-16), Mary Washington (-13) >> Hello: Central, Roanoke, Christoper Newport, North Park. >> Goodbye: Rowan, Connecticut College, Cortland, Kalamazoo Soccer (M) - D3Soccer.com Tufts (8-0-1) Amherst (8-0-2) Calvin (11-1) Kenyon (10-1) Oneonta (10-1) Franklin & Marshall (10-1) Johns Hopkins (9-2) Ithaca (10-1-1) Washington and Lee (8-1-2) Roanoke (9-0-2) 11. Chicago, 12. John Carroll, 13. Rensselaer, 14. Connecticut C., 15. Hardin-Simmons, 16. Messiah, 17. Mary Washington, 18. Cortland, 19. Mount Union, 20. Catholic, 21. Penn State Behrend, 22. Rowan, 23. Christopher Newport, 24. Ohio Wesleyan, 25. Middlebury. >> Higher: Chicago (+8), Rensselaer (+7), Messiah (+7) >> Lower: Hardin-Simmons (-8), Mary Washington (-7) >> In: Christopher Newport, Ohio Wesleyan >> Out: Loras, Rochester Soccer (W) - United Soccer Coaches Messiah (10-1) Middlebury (8-0-1) Christopher Newport (10-0-2) William Smith (8-1-1) Washington-St. Louis (10-1-1) Johns Hopkins (7-1-3) College of New Jersey (10-1) Pomona-Pitzer (9-0-1) Wheaton, Ill. (10-1-1) MIT (9-1-2) 11. Chicago, 12. Centre, 13. Tufts, 14. Arcadia, 15. Geneseo, 16. Case Western Reserve, 17. Dickinson, 18. New York U., 19. Rochester, 20. St. Thomas, 21. Otterbein, 22. Wesleyan, 23. Stevens, 24. Williams, 25. Trinity, Texas >> Moving Up: Centre (+3) >> Moving Down: Case Western (-6), St. Thomas (-3) >> Hello: NYU, Trinity, Texas >> Bye-Bye: Puget Sound, Connecticut College Soccer (W) - D3Soccer.com Messiah (10-1) Middlebury (8-0-1) Christopher Newport (10-0-2) College of New Jersey (10-1) Washington-St. Louis (10-1-1) William Smith (8-1-1) Johns Hopkins (7-1-3) Wheaton, Ill. (10-1-1) Centre (13-0) Pomona-Pitzer (9-0-1) 11. Chicago, 12. MIT, 13. Tufts, 14. Williams, 15. Arcadia, 16. Washington and Lee, 17. Amherst, 18. Dickinson, 19. Trinity, Texas, 20. Randolph-Macon, 21. Emory, 22. Case Western Reserve, 23. Swarthmore, 24. Stevens, 25. Gettysburg >> Higher: Washington and Lee (+4) >> Lower: Case Western (-7), Emory (-3) >> In: Gettysburg >> Out: St. Thomas Field Hockey - NFHCA Middlebury (10-0) College of New Jersey (9-0) Salisbury (9-1) Rowan (8-1) Vassar (10-0) Bowdoin (8-1) Tufts (7-2) Franklin & Marshall (9-1) Williams (9-1) Johns Hopkins (8-2) 11. Ursinus, 12. Messiah, 13. Bates, 14. Christopher Newport, 15. Centre, 16. Kean, 17. Colby, 18. Montclair State, 19. Babson, 20. Lynchburg.  >> Moving Up: Bowdoin, Williams, Kean (+2) >> Moving Down: Tufts, Ursinus, CNU, Montclair (-2) >> Hello: Lynchburg >> Goodbye: Trinity Volleyball - AVCA Emory (15-1) Calvin (13-1) Chicago (16-1) Carthage (18-1) Saint Benedict (17-1) Berry (15-3) Claremont-M-S (14-3) Colorado College (18-2) UW-Whitewater (14-3) Trinity, Texas (16-4) 11. Ohio Northern, 12. Johns Hopkins, 13. Carnegie Mellon, T14. Juniata, T14. Tufts, 16. Augsburg, 17. Johnson & Wales, R.I., 18. St. Thomas (Minn.), 19. Muskingum, 20. Hope, 21. Transylvania, 22. UW-Eau Claire, 23. Babson, 24. Wesleyan, Conn., 25. Wittenberg.  >> Moving Up: Johns Hopkins (+4), Tufts (+3) >> Moving Down: Augsburg (-5), UW-Eau Claire (-4)

6. Different Conference, Same Result After claiming six Midwest Conference titles in a row, the Grinnell College women's golf team moved over to the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) as an affiliate member this season. But the result was the same, as the Pioneers fired a 330 Tuesday at The Links golf course to claim the SLIAC title and earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament next spring.  It will mark the fourth trip to nationals in program history and the second in a row after the Pioneers placed ninth last spring. St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (W) The Links, Jacksonville, Ill. 1. Grinnell 651, 2. Illinois College 663, 3. Lake Forest 673, 4. Monmouth 682, 5. Knox 729, 6. Fontbonne 755, 7. Iowa Wesleyan 792, 8. Blackburn 932, 9. Eureka 1013, 10. Westminster 1028, Spalding NTS, Monmouth NTS T1. Nina Kouchi (G) 153, T1. Kassidy Wallin (S) 153, 3. Shelby Keen (K) 157, T4. Amanda Lee (LF) 158, T4. Teresa Diez Dorta (IW) 158. Kouchi won playoff on 1st extra hole

7.  1 Gymnastics Thing   Simone Biles, who is 22 years old, "just officially became the most decorated female gymnast in history," CNN reports. Biles "won her 21st World Championship medal in Stuttgart, Germany. (The win Tuesday beats the record of retired gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, who had 20.)" The bottom line: 15 of her 21 medals are gold, CNN notes.