What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Mercyhurst Announces Academic Adjustments and Discontinuation of its Division I Mens Ice Hockey Program

Boy if I donated money in the past few days for Giving Day, I'd be pissed. It's sad to see another program get axed, hopefully there's a route to them coming back.
 
Disappointing to see another program disappear, especially before the tourney is even finished. Going to be a rough time for anyone trying to transfer in this environment. At the very least it sounds like scholarships are being honored but still not enough esp with how donors were misled.
 
jwheeler001 said:
Following in AIC's footsteps, Mercyhurst will discontinue its mens program at the end of this year. The division 1 womens program will still compete.


Mercyhurst University announces strategic program adjustments to strengthen future growth

www.mercyhurst.edu www.mercyhurst.edu
Click to expand...
Mercyhurst had 37 games last year 20 of them away games not sure how many with flights. Hockey has one of the longest if not longest seasons. Their mens lacrosse team had 13 games total. You could add multiple other sports with the money saved from hockey unfortunately. On another part of the forum is a “who will be next for d1” seems kind of moot if just as many fold. Very sad. I wonder if mercyhurst will move whole athletics down eventually like AIC as well. Might as well.
 
BrooksideHH said:
Mercyhurst had 37 games last year 20 of them away games not sure how many with flights. Hockey has one of the longest if not longest seasons. Their mens lacrosse team had 13 games total. You could add multiple other sports with the money saved from hockey unfortunately. On another part of the forum is a “who will be next for d1” seems kind of moot if just as many fold. Very sad. I wonder if mercyhurst will move whole athletics down eventually like AIC as well. Might as well.
Click to expand...
What's ironic is the success and path of the men's and women's hockey teams are probably what paved the way for the addition of so many sports at Mercyhurst, including the eventual elevation of the entire athletic department to Division I.
 
I think the MAAC and early (relative) success of Mercyhurst probably led to other smaller athletic programs keeping or pushing forward with hockey. IIRC they were one of the driving programs of AHA slowly raising scholarship caps. The overall landscape improved through their participation - hard to believe much of that was 20+ years ago, and hard to believe they’ll be gone.
 
Disappointing to read about Mercyhurst, especially for the players and everyone involved with the program over the years. How many schools can sustain D1 athletic programs in today's environment.
 
I have fond memories of DII play in late '80s = early '90s with Union, Elmira, RIT and Mercyhurst. ECAC West was a very strong league. Still think Scott Burfoot from Mercyhurst was oner of the best DIII players I have ever seen.
 
Let's not forget Notre Dame went to the Big10 bc Hockey East travel was eating their lunch and they cried Uncle. Going way back it was also a major factor why Notre Dame, Michigan State and Michigan left the WCHA in 1981. The original CCHA provided easy bus travel for most every team.

This is something the smaller schools are going to have to look at that dont have budgets like HE/Big 10 schools....realigning to limit costs. There are few big programs even that are revenue generators.

Mercyhurst comms dept should have been fired to fund the hockey prgm judging on how they rolled this one out.
 
ericredaxe said:
As the NIL era evolves I suspect there will be more to come - especially in “Olympic” / non big revenue sports.
Click to expand...
To be honest I feel that NIL has very little to do with the folding of programs like AIC and Mercyhurst

They may say or people may speculate it was but we’ve seen waves of teams rise and fall over the years before well before NIL.

The main issue with hockey is the pure cost of the sport from scholarships to equipment to cost etc. It’s an incredibly expensive sport for a school to sponsor and administrators often look at it to be the first sport to eliminate or find ways to cut the budget.

Also schools are operating at massive deficits and there’s going to be more, I suspect that some of the other AHA schools may be at risk and I continuously wonder what Minnesota D2 schools may do as well. (I believe other schools that have a rich hockey history have discussed it but thanks to powerful NHL alums those talks were tabled)
 
phillyfan2113 said:
To be honest I feel that NIL has very little to do with the folding of programs like AIC and Mercyhurst

They may say or people may speculate it was but we’ve seen waves of teams rise and fall over the years before well before NIL.

The main issue with hockey is the pure cost of the sport from scholarships to equipment to cost etc. It’s an incredibly expensive sport for a school to sponsor and administrators often look at it to be the first sport to eliminate or find ways to cut the budget.

Also schools are operating at massive deficits and there’s going to be more, I suspect that some of the other AHA schools may be at risk and I continuously wonder what Minnesota D2 schools may do as well. (I believe other schools that have a rich hockey history have discussed it but thanks to powerful NHL alums those talks were tabled)
Click to expand...
I suspect the same thing for some AHA schools. Programs like canisius or Niagara I would say are most likely candidates to lose hockey. I hope not but unfortunately the costs are insane. These small schools are operating in deficits. Unfortunately
 
phillyfan2113 said:
...The main issue with hockey is the pure cost of the sport, from scholarships to equipment to cost etc. It’s an incredibly expensive sport for a school to sponsor...
Click to expand...
And let's not forget the costs of maintaining ice making equipment at schools that have their own arenas and ice rental costs at schools that don't. But the cost issue is much bigger than school budgets and affect the very foundations of the game itself. Hockey has increasingly become a country club sport because the ever-soaring equipment and participation costs are now beyond the reach of most middle-class families. Blue-collar kids, like those at the core of the 1980 Gold Medal team, are fewer and further between. Not good for the long-term interests of the sport, IMO.
 
Capital expenditures are surely a big cost, but once in place, it's not too terribly difficult to maintain with a competent ice team. Travel is a huge cost as well.

The bigger issue to me is how college hockey existed for so long on small rinks/arenas that seat 2000-4000 ppl, save for a few places. And you could compete regionally with regional talent to make the NCAAs.

Now, to attract top players, you need top facilities, equipment, and training staff. The number of kids making the NHL out of the NCAAs has significantly gone up since the 80s/90s. NHL teams wont let their picks play at colleges that dont have those resources in place. Esp with transfers so easy.

I dont really see the smaller schools in AHA or CCHA really sniffing a Frozen Four birth any time soon.
 
Engineers said:
I suspect the same thing for some AHA schools. Programs like canisius or Niagara I would say are most likely candidates to lose hockey. I hope not but unfortunately the costs are insane. These small schools are operating in deficits. Unfortunately
Click to expand...
And of course, Niagara already dropped women's hockey a long time ago.
 
Alumni-led effort to keep the program going now has a website and a petition, no commitments or anything just gathering numbers.

On March 27, Mercyhurst University announced it was ending its men's D1 ice hockey program. We respectfully request that the University simply pause--not eliminate--the program. This will create time for us to leverage the incredible talent and connections in our community and build a sustainable path forward. We are building a team of business-minded Mercyhurst alumni, former Lakers players, Erie leaders, and hockey experts and influencers who are committed to working with the University to find a solution for the men's program and support the women's program over the long term.

To the University: (1) Pause the men's program, don't eliminate it. (2) Engage with the Lakers hockey community that has been built over the past 40 years to find a creative solution, don't shut us out. (3) Share our business model with other small colleges so we can preserve and grow college hockey and expand opportunities for the next generation of players.

Please sign our petition to show the University how many people care about the Mercyhurst men's and women's hockey programs. No obligations or commitments. Just show your appreciation for Mercyhurst Lakers hockey--as a fan, player, parent, or even a rival--and encourage the University to engage with our hockey community to find a sustainable solution for our programs.
Click to expand...

Petition here
 
phillyfan2113 said:
To be honest I feel that NIL has very little to do with the folding of programs like AIC and Mercyhurst

They may say or people may speculate it was but we’ve seen waves of teams rise and fall over the years before well before NIL.

The main issue with hockey is the pure cost of the sport from scholarships to equipment to cost etc. It’s an incredibly expensive sport for a school to sponsor and administrators often look at it to be the first sport to eliminate or find ways to cut the budget.

Also schools are operating at massive deficits and there’s going to be more, I suspect that some of the other AHA schools may be at risk and I continuously wonder what Minnesota D2 schools may do as well. (I believe other schools that have a rich hockey history have discussed it but thanks to powerful NHL alums those talks were tabled)
Click to expand...
I thought Mercyhurst had moved up all their other sports to D1, soo NIL adjacent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top