What about CIAU/CIS

[Rocket 0]

Does anyone know here anything about the CIS/CIAU university hockey league in Canada?

I have not seen a game yet but I am a little bit confused about what I have been told about that level?

I heard very different opinions about the CIS, some guys told me it's comparable with NCAA d3,

others told me it's sometimes better than AA Pro level,

Does anyone know about the average level of that league?

[Jordan 13]

The level varies greatly fom top to bottom teams. The very top teams, like U of A are similar to D1, but there aren't many of those teams around. The bottom teams couldn't compete well in D3.

The majority players are guys who have finished their major junior A eligibility, so they are a little older and stronger than the typical university athlete one would imagine.

With all of that out of the way, go to a game! The games are fast and very physical and are a ton of fun. they offer great value for the price of a ticket.

[QandA 0]

UNB, defending National Champs I might add, knocked off U of Maine a few weeks ago, yes the D1 teams, and they beat the team Van Riemsdyk's on to. The Atlantic Conference I believe is the strongest of the three, the West is next, and Ontario seems to always be weak. As mentioned aboved it is often guys who finish their major junior careers who get education packages and attend university. I've seen U Maine play 2 years ago, and watched UNB my whole life, and I continue to argue that they are almost the same caliber. UNB is the best right now, but that takes nothing away from the other teams. Most players could play pro easily, ECHL, CHL...THe better players could play AHL caliber easily. The diffence between NCAA and CIS, is that NCAA is a breeding ground for the pros, similar to the CanHL, where as the CIS is more of a fallback league.

[Ti-girl 0]

Most of the CIS teams are made up of CHL players who decided not to go pro.

[D3nZ 0]

UNB, defending National Champs I might add, knocked off U of Maine a few weeks ago, yes the D1 teams, and they beat the team Van Riemsdyk's on to. The Atlantic Conference I believe is the strongest of the three, the West is next, and Ontario seems to always be weak. As mentioned aboved it is often guys who finish their major junior careers who get education packages and attend university. I've seen U Maine play 2 years ago, and watched UNB my whole life, and I continue to argue that they are almost the same caliber. UNB is the best right now, but that takes nothing away from the other teams. Most players could play pro easily, ECHL, CHL...THe better players could play AHL caliber easily. The diffence between NCAA and CIS, is that NCAA is a breeding ground for the pros, similar to the CanHL, where as the CIS is more of a fallback league.

Yeah the NCAA D1 and the CIS Atlantic Conference are mostly the same caliber. The game between Maine and UNB was pretty tight 3-2 or 2-1 something like that and let's not forget that UNB is the best team in Canada right now. The only french schools that have a hockey program are Moncton and UQTR. But lots of players decide to go play for english universities. Dominic Noel played for the Dal Tigers a couple of years back, he was signed to the Leafs with Making The Cut and now switches between the ECHL and CHL, he was a good player but wasn't burning up the league. Lots of players following their studies play in the North American Hockey League in Quebec. I know the caliber pretty well since I covered the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus all year as a sports journalist for the student paper.