
Despite a combined lopsided record of 5-28-4, CIS clubs fared better against NCAA competition than their counterparts in the Atlantic Hockey Conference have so far this year.
Queens tied Canisius, McGill did the same against Denver, UNB tied Mass-Lowell and Carelton and Colgate ended equal as well.
That's a winning percentage of just .135, not a success rate that anyone would really brag about. But reflecting on an August conversation we had with USCHO.com writer/RIT voice Chris Lerch, I found it interesting to compare with a DIV I conference.

As was the norm for the CIS schools, there were some one-sided scores to be found. Regina was spanked 8-1 by North Dakota, RPI thumped Acadia 7-0 and Western Michigan beat Toronto 7-2.
AHA teams were also on the receiving end of a few butt kickings including Union over Army 8-1, Nebraska-Omaha's 5-1 pasting of Mercyhurst and the Minnesota Golden Gophers embarrassing Sacred Heart in two games by a combined score of 15-0.
"Been covering D-I and D-III for decades. Most CIS teams are on D-III level. Most OUA teams regularly lose to D-III teams," was a line from Chris Lerch that really stuck with me. The above certainly doesn't disprove what he's saying because no D-III three teams were involved in any of these games. Considering the .135 winning record against DIV-I programs, it's quite possible that the overall CIS record against DIV-III is also sub-.500.

The OUA, the league mentioned by Lerch, is the weakest conference in CIS hockey, much like the AHA is clearly the weak sister in NCAA circles. Obviously we don't judge the overall quality of NCAA hockey by the performance of Niagara, Bentley, American International and Army so doing the same for CIS without Saskatchewan, Alberta, Calgary, etc is just as silly.
That said, if we allow for the possibility that CIS overall is generally on par or even slightly weaker than DIV-III, what do these results mean? If CIS is really no better than DIV-III caliber and yet managed to post a better record against NCAA opponents than the AHA... what does that say about Atlantic Hockey?

Now that's a conversation.
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