OT: Arizona State to become 60th D1 Hockey Program

[Pat Kelly]

Penn State adding a team last year was one thing, but now Arizona State??

http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/arizona-state-to-launch-division-i-hockey-program-111814


^The atmosphere at that Penn State game is electric. For those of you who woe the loss of local rivalries due to college football and basketball realignment, college hockey is completely centered around the Northeast and (upper?) Midwest, with the major exceptions of Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska-Anchorage and now Arizona State.

To be very local we could join ECAC (Colgate, Clarkson, reigning national champs Union) or if we want to keep the ACC thing going join Hockey East (BC, Notre Dame).

We've added a women's hockey program within the past ten years… a men's team makes wayyyy too much sense not to happen. Please Daryl!!!

 

[DoubleDee]

What's hockey?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Phoenix can't even support NHL hockey.

 

[SUfaninAZ]

Phoenix can't even support NHL hockey.

If they built the arena in east valley it would've been
different. Takes forever to get to weekday game.

Phoenix can't even support NHL hockey.

 

[CuseTroop]

Penn State adding a team last year was one thing, but now Arizona State??

http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/arizona-state-to-launch-division-i-hockey-program-111814


^The atmosphere at that Penn State game is electric. For those of you who woe the loss of local rivalries due to college football and basketball realignment, college hockey is completely centered around the Northeast and (upper?) Midwest, with the major exceptions of Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska-Anchorage and now Arizona State.

To be very local we could join ECAC (Colgate, Clarkson, reigning national champs Union) or if we want to keep the ACC thing going join Hockey East (BC, Notre Dame).

We've added a women's hockey program within the past ten years… a men's team makes wayyyy too much sense not to happen. Please Daryl!!!

How dare you leave out my Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks! We make those warm weather sallies in Anchorage look like a pee wee team

 

[Pat Kelly]

How dare you leave out my Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks! We make those warm weather sallies in Anchorage look like a pee wee team

Tried to do it off the top of my head!!! I've never been that far west, excuse my ignorance.

 

[CuseTroop]

Tried to do it off the top of my head!!! I've never been that far west, excuse my ignorance.

All good brotha, We just really hate Anchorage.

 

[jekelish]

Arizona State has a men's hockey team...Syracuse doesn't. Someone explain that bit of logic to me.

 

[tep624]

Alabama-Huntsville attempts to play hockey

 

[CuseTroop]

Alabama-Huntsville attempts to play hockey

They come up here in a few weeks. They arent going to have any fun

 

[Full_Rebar]

Arizona State has a men's hockey team...Syracuse doesn't. Someone explain that bit of logic to me.

32 million reasons apparently

 

[tbonezone]

hope we kick their butsz in shuffleboard.

 

[tep624]

They come up here in a few weeks. They arent going to have any fun

Haven't they won like 10 games in 4 years? And we thought we had a bad stretch under GRob...err wait a minute. Is GRob their head coach???

 

[sabach]

Utica College has a following even now with the Comets in town. No reason we cannot have a following even with the Crunch.

 

[GFTakedown]

Arizona State is the largest university with a whole lot of Northern transplants. Why not try to bring more prestige to your school by adding new sports.

Syracuse unfortunately has 1/4 the size of the enrollment and no state funding.

 

[Pat Kelly]

Arizona State is the largest university with a whole lot of Northern transplants. Why not try to bring more prestige to your school by adding new sports.

Syracuse unfortunately has 1/4 the size of the enrollment and no state funding.

We are a well-known school in a great location for recruiting New York talent or Canadian talent. Obviously the main issue for a new program would be finding a donor.

 

[cto]

Obviously the main issue for a new program would be finding a donor.

And a new women's sport or two to balance the gender equity equation. Skiing, golf, gymnastics, fencing, whatever? ... take your pick

 

[ClamOtto]

AZ State's president was at SU earlier this week. He has a PhD from Maxwell. Whether or not you agree with the direction he's taking the university, it's impressive how much he has accomplished and how much money he's raised. He has a vision.

 

[Pat Kelly]

And a new women's sport or two to balance the gender equity equation. Skiing, golf, gymnastics, fencing, whatever? ... take your pick

Yep. Golf would be kind of cool to have. Bottom line is, if someone is willing to donate that kind of big money to support a program at SU, the school will find a way to deal with whatever obstacle title IX would present.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

We've added a women's hockey program within the past ten years… a men's team makes wayyyy too much sense not to happen. Please Daryl!!!

I think there is more of a chance for Oswego to go D-1 than Cuse. They already have all of the infrastructure in place.

 

[tep624]

I think there is more of a chance for Oswego to go D-1 than Cuse. They already have all of the infrastructure in place.

They could go D1 but isn't that rule still in effect that they can't offer scholarships unless they take all of their sports D1? If it is, then SU inherently has a huge advantage.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

They could go D1 but isn't that rule still in effect that they can't offer scholarships unless they take all of their sports D1? If it is, then SU inherently has a huge advantage.

I'm not 100% sure but here is an excerpt from an article about Union College last season. It says there are 10 D-1 schools that don't have scholarships for hockey.
The actual angle-of-interest here is that Union is one of only 10 D-I hockey programs to not offer athletic scholarships. The others? RIT, service academies Army and Air Force, and the six Ivy League programs: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Read more: http://www.uscho.com/2012/03/28/fro...ment-for-non-scholarship-union/#ixzz3JZ3Ww3Nr

Now RPI is not on that list and they are D-3 in all of their other sports. I once had one of their basketball coaches explain it to me that because they do offer hockey scholarships that they have to fund a similar amount for the other sports. It's convoluted but if Oswego did go D-1 I would guess it would be similar to RPI or even Union.

 

[syr14]

SU's club team is on the path to D1 Varsity. They have made great strides in the past 4 years. The current coach of SU's team has made it known that his goal is to go D1 and the plan starts with putting together a highly competitive club team which they have now (currently among the top 25 club teams in the country).

Obvious hurdles are funding and title IX. Encouraging to see Penn St and ASU show the way.

The Men's SU Hockey team plays West Virginia in the dome this Friday night. Head over and check out the team.

 

[Pat Kelly]

And for those of you unfamiliar with the viability of college hockey, let's compare it to a sport many people find to be similar to hockey--lacrosse.

11 college lax teams averaged over 2000 fans per game in 2014. SU was the only school who averaged more than 4000.
http://www.syracuse.com/patrick-stevens/index.ssf/2014/05/college_lacrosse_syracuse_fini_1.html

43 college hockey programs drew over 2000 per game in 2013-14 including 3 who average over 10,000.
http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/division-i-men/2013-2014/

This sport brings in $$$$$$

 

[cto]

The rink where the women's hockey team plays would need some work for it to be acceptable for a D-1 men's hockey team. Bleachers and locker rooms, for example. Or they could play downtown where the Crunch play (for a fee, of course). If the school can solve the Title IX issue, I think there is a lot of interest in men's hockey.