With bids being posted on Selection Monday for the 2022 National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships, to be held April 6-10, 2022, in Kalamazoo, MI, the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) has released the following additional statement regarding the way champions will be determined in Division I and Division II.

The 2021-22 season has brought a welcome resumption of play after the Covid-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 National Championships, and the loss of virtually the entire 2020-21 season. The current season has been much more ‘normal,’ as all six conferences plus a number of at-large teams and affiliates began to compete during the regular season spanning the months of October through March, but it has still seen its fair share of challenges. As with many collegiate club sports organizations, participation numbers are down from pre-covid numbers, but are on the rise. Collegiate roller hockey club programs across the country have seen challenges resuming play following the graduation of two classes of junior and senior level leadership, as well as many experiencing significant funding cutbacks from their colleges and universities.

In anticipation and recognition of these challenges, the NCRHA made several temporary changes to the league structure, including relaxing the expectations and requirements for teams in choosing what division to play in during the regular season, hosting the National Championships on one rink instead of the customary two, and a reduction in the total number of teams being selected for the event from the traditional 56-60 down to 32. The result of the changes in pre-season divisional self-selection by some teams has brought about a situation where it is clear there are teams in both Division I and Division II that are very competitive with each other across these top two divisions, and that there is a need to allow teams in both divisions to recalibrate during the National Championships into more appropriate placements. Therefore, the six Division I teams and six Division II teams will be placed together for pool play, and the results of pool play will determine which elimination bracket (DI or DII) they will compete in during the 2022 Championships.

Please check back soon for the release of pools, followed by the complete round robin schedule for all divisions and elimination bracket play. The NCRHA looks forward to welcoming all teams and fans of collegiate roller hockey to Kalamazoo in April.