On Friday, prior to the NHL draft in Chicago, the NHL announced an initiative to grow college hockey, helping five schools with feasibility studies to add men's and women's programs. The first program to undertake such a study will be the University of Illinois, a Big Ten school that hasn't had varsity hockey since the 1940s.
Adding a program is an expensive proposition, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman admitted during a news conference streamed online. The last schools to add varsity hockey, of course, were Penn State and Arizona State. The former was made possible with a $102 million donation from Terry Pegula, which included funding for an arena for men's and women's hockey. The latter is still looking for a proper rink but got $32 million in seed money to start a men's program.
Whitman sure sounded like someone interested in having hockey at his school. Illinois certainly makes sense as it is in a state that produces a lot of hockey players and is crazy about its Blackhawks. It would give the Big Ten an eighth program, too, joining Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and (starting this season) Notre Dame. (Of those schools, only Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State have women's hockey.)
We'll see what happens, but it seems like a good step in trying to grow a sport that should keep growing. What other schools might take the NHL up on its study? What schools would you like to see add hockey?
1 comment:
I'm quite skeptical about this. WhenI see this it looks like the NHL and the NHLPA are only interested in helping power 5 schools gain hockey. I doubt they would be interested in helping smaller institutions that are more serious about adding hockey. So while we can expect to see them push for Hockey at Illinois or Nebraska, I doubt we would see them lift a finger to try and help Minot State or Moorhead State which have much greater interest in adding hockey.
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