January 17, 2008

10th Annual Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships To Be Held April 9-14, 2008

***NOTE: Location has been changed to Colorado Springs***

Games to be played under majestic snow-capped Rocky Mountains.

***NOTE: LOCATION HAS BEEN CHANGED TO COLORADO SPRINGS. PLEASE SEE UPDATED NEWS ARTICLE.*** The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association proudly announces the 10th Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships, to be held April 9-14, 2008 in Ft. Collins, CO. OD’s Sports Crossing in Ft. Collins (www.ods-sports.com) will be the host facility for the event, with overflow games to be played at JBS Sports Center (www.jbssports.com) in Greeley . The event will bring 60 teams in 4 divisions (Division I, Division II, Division III, and B Division) together to compete for the title of Collegiate National Champion. The teams selected to participate in the tournament will be announced the week of March 3-7, 2008, on the NCRHA website www.NCRHA.org.

Teams in Division I and Division II will begin competition on Wednesday evening, April 9, with the Championship games to be held mid-day on Sunday April 13, times TBA. Teams in Division III and in the B Division will begin competition on Friday morning April 11 and conclude the event with Championship games to be held mid-day on Monday April 14.

Assisting the NCRHA in hosting the 10^th Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships, or CRHC X, is the Northern Colorado Sports Commission (NCSC, www.nocosport.com). The NCSC, based in Ft. Collins, CO (Money Magazine’s #1 city in America to live in), is dedicated to serving all of the sport and sporting event needs of the citizens, organizations, teams, leagues, and businesses of the Northern Colorado communities of Larimer, Weld, Morgan, and Logan Counties. Two NCRHA member schools are located in the area it serves, Colorado State University in Ft. Collins and the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

In the past year the NCSC has also assisted with the ACHA’s 2007 Division II National Championships (collegiate club ice hockey) as well as the CHSCA’s Colorado All-State Games. A website dedicated to CRHC X will be available soon that will include information on topics such as travel, discounted hotels, facilities, ticket prices and ordering, and activities and other opportunities to enjoy in Colorado during the national championships.

Once again Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships will coincide with the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Men’s Frozen Four event which will be held the same weekend in downtown Denver at the Pepsi Center . The NCAA will hold men’s ice hockey national semi-finals on April 10, with the national championship game played on April 12. Other events include, “Friday Night at the Frozen Four” – which includes the Pontiac Frozen Four Skills Challenge and the presentations of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award and the Hockey Humanitarian Award – on April 11. Tickets for the semi-final and championship games are sold out, however tickets for “Friday Night at the Frozen Four” are not yet on sale. For more information on the NCAA Frozen Four, please visit http://www.denver.org/FrozenFour/default.htm.

For the second consecutive year the NCRHA will be hosting the Mission Hockey College during the CRHC. This event, sponsored by Mission-Itech Hockey, features no-charge instructional clinics given to local youth roller hockey players. The instructors for the Mission Hockey College are current college hockey players and are regarded as some of the most talented players in the world. The Mission Hockey College gives the youth players the opportunity to interact with the college players in an atmosphere where they can receive tips and pointers and have some fun. More details will be released on ncrha.org and on the CRHC website as the event approaches.

The 2007 Collegiate Roller Hockey National Championships were held in St. Louis , MO at Matteson Square Gardens and the Omni Sportsplex. Lindenwood University (MO) claimed its 5th consecutive Division I National Championship by defeating the University of Rhode Island, Stony Brook University defeated St. Louis University for the Division II National Championship, St Charles Community College (MO) claimed the Division III National Championship by defeating Broward County Community College (FL), and Lindenwood University B took home their 4th consecutive B Division National Championship by defeating St. Louis Community College – Meramec’s B squad in a repeat of the 2006 title game. You can view the results from the 2007 Collegiate Roller Hockey National Championships, as well as 2004-2006 at www.NCRHA.org.

This will be the tenth consecutive year that college roller hockey will crown national champions, going back to 1999. It is the third time that the event will be held in a repeat location, as Ft. Collins also hosted CRHC VII. Last year’s host, St. Louis , also hosted CRHC IV under the former Collegiate Roller Hockey League in April of 2002. The other location that has hosted the event twice is Southern California in 2001 and 2004.

Several NCRHA Member Organizations have announced dates for their Regional Championship Tournaments. The MCRHL will host their Regional Championship Tournament on February 22-24, 2008. The ECRHA, GPCIHL, RMCRHA, SCHL, SECRHL, and WCRHL Regional Championship Tournaments will be on the weekend of February 29 – March 2, 2008.

The NCRHA would like to thank the following partners and sponsors for their continued support of this event and the growth of collegiate level roller hockey: USA Hockey InLine, the Northern Colorado Sports Commission, Mission-Itech Hockey, Ace Jerseys, and Revision Hockey.

For more information, stay tuned to www.NCRHA.org.