Silver to Move to ACHA Division D3

 A much anticipated topic at the MACHA League meeting on Saturday was the possibility for many teams to move to the ACHA Division 3 league next season. The Cougars Silver team, along with Illinois State - Icebirds, Missouri State - White, and Northwestern, have full intentions upon placing their teams in the ACHA D3 Division. As time passed during the meeting, an additional 5 teams are showing increased interest in making the move to D3: Purdue, Iowa Black, Wheaton, McKendree, and Bradley.

ACHA Division 3 has many similarities to Division 2, but is intended for colleges and universities with a smaller student base, as well as schools who have already formed a Division 2 team. The big draw to moving to D3 is simple, every game will mean something more than just a Silver Division Title. Division 3 has a rankings system like Division 2: teams are separated into 4 regions based on geographic location. Regional rankings will come out at 5 designated dates throughout the year, and after the last ranking period, the top 3-10 teams will move on to Regional Play, seeds #1 and #2 recieve direct byes into Nationals. Also, Division 3 League fees for teams are $1200, $200 less than the Division 2.

In its current format, the Silver Division is comprised of many upstart teams and school's "JV" teams. With the Silver's Divisional North and South structure, only games played within a team's division count for standings, and other games have no real effect after the final buzzer. Now teams joining D3 can justify spending the money to travel to play teams in the opposing division, as those games may strengthen their schedule, and the results may strengthen their rank in Division 3 play. In addition, the MACHA Silver Division will remain intact, as D2 teams can compete against D3 teams under the MACHA umbrella for the MACHA Silver Championship.

This possible 9 team movement would fill a huge void in the amount of Division 3 teams playing in the Midwest, escpecially in Missouri and Illinois, where there is currently 1 D3 team between the 2 states.

What does this mean for SIUE Silver? It means that upon approval by the ACHA of their D3 application, the Silver squad will still have the opportunity to win the MACHA Silver Championship, but will have the chance at making regionals and playing for a Division 3 National Championship.