March 13, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team was one of seven Division I hockey programs to achieve a perfect score of 1,000 in the second annual NCAA Academic Performance Rate (APR) standards released on March 1, while being one of 14 Irish athletic teams to achieve a perfect score.
The Irish hockey program is also just one of six Division I programs to have perfect scores in both years of the APR statistics, joining American International, Holy Cross, Harvard, Rensselaer and Sacred Heart in repeating with Yale being the seventh hockey program this season.
The APR uses a series of formulas related to student-athlete retention and eligibility to measure the academic performance of all participants who receive a grant-in-aid on every team at every Division I college and university. The scores issued this year are combined two-year figures based on information from the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years.
Nationally, among all men’s Division I sports covered by the NCAA in its review, hockey ranks fourth with an average APR of 971, trailing water polo (974), fencing (974) and gymnastics (973).
Notre Dame was the lone Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) team to record a perfect score of 1,000. The remaining six schools included three from the ECAC Hockey League – Harvard, Rensselaer and Yale – and three from Atlantic Hockey – American International, Holy Cross and Sacred Heart.
The Irish were tops in the CCHA followed by Northern Michigan (989) and Bowling Green (987). As a whole, the conference average of 974 ranked third behind the ECACHL (987) and Atlantic Hockey (981).
The NCAA presented public recognition awards to both the top 10 percent of teams by school and to the top 10 percent of teams by sport – with the same 14 Notre Dame men’s and women’s teams that earned 1,000 scores all honored in both categories. No other NCAA Division I-A institution had more programs honored in the by-institution category than Notre Dame with its 14 programs.
Seven Notre Dame men’s programs – cross country, fencing, golf, hockey, swimming, indoor and outdoor track – had perfect scores of 1,000 as did seven women’s programs – cross country, fencing, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball and tennis.
Beginning this year, programs that failed to earn an APR score of 925 or better will be barred from replacing a scholarship athlete who leaves the institution while academically ineligible (scholarship reductions must be taken this year or next). Programs with chronically poor academic records based upon the eventual, rolling, four-year rate ultimately will be barred from postseason competition, in addition to losing scholarships.