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Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

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PUBand09

Registered User
I'm fairly new to following college hockey, so I've been reading a lot about it and have been intrigued by the small number of schools playing it, allegations of new schools adding it, and the schools that have had to drop it.

Firstly, I wanted to find out how big the sport used to be, so I tried to find schools that used to have the sport, of which I found 9 (last season, conference):

Wayne State 07-08 CHA
Findlay 03-04 CHA
Fairfield 02-03 AH
Iona 02-03 AH
U Illinois-Chicago 95-96 CCHA
Kent State 93-94 ?
St. Louis University 78-79 CCHA
U Penn 77-78 - ECAC
Ohio U sometime in the '70s ?

All of the articles I read stated that budgetary concerns were the reason for canceling the programs. Once you've built a campus rink, is hockey really any more expensive than other sports? Or did they actuallu mean plunging ticket sales? Are there any schools that have added D-I hockey lately?

Two other things I find somewhat interesting are that 1) there were never any NYC teams. Why not Fordham? Or Columbia, the only Ivy school never to play hockey. 2) There is no hockey culture in the pacific northwest.

If you know any other schools that used to have teams, or schools that have added them within the past decade or so, let me know here. Other discussion about the sport in general is welcome as well.
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

As far as the PAC-West, look at the region. If you take notice, the majority of college hockey fans (and pro hockey fans, for the most part) reside in the MN (and surrounding area) and New England/Northeast. It's a very regional sport, and the PNW doesn't cut it, yet. Honestly, I don't know if they ever will.

As for expansion/sustainability, Title IX is a big part and the fact that many schools dedicate their dollars to one or two sports also is a factor. For example:

Iowa is dedicated to basketball and football. Hockey doesn't really register, despite any rumor you may hear. This also goes for Penn St, Northwestern, etc.

The jump to DI from DIII (there is no DII anymore for hockey) also hinders growth, given the commitment regulations. On the flipside, smaller DI programs also have had a hard time finding a conference (see: the demise of the CHA, and the failure of U of Alabama-Huntsville finding a conference).

Other than that, welcome to the board, and I hope you're ready for fun and serious hockey talk. Since you're new, you'll get more of the former than the latter until you establish yourself. Just a warning. ;) :D
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

Brenthoven said:
Other than that, welcome to the board, and I hope you're ready for fun and serious hockey talk. Since you're new, you'll get more of the former than the latter until you establish yourself. Just a warning. ;) :D
Click to expand...

Who actually talks about playing hockey here? All it is are threads on firing coaches, yelling at refs, why UAH should've been accepted to the CCHA, why poles are irrelevant, Jon sobbing over the Friars (usually), and who Freddy Meyer hacked today.
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

This is from collegehockeynews.com

* Boston State (1961-1982)
* Carnegie Tech (1905-1921)
* Fairfield (1974-2003)
* Findlay (1996-2004)
* Illinois (1937-1943)
* Illinois-Chicago (1966-1996)
* Iona (1967-2003)
* Johns Hopkins (1895-1898)
* Kent (1986-1994)
* MIT (1906-1975)
* Mass Coll Lib Arts (1947-2003)
* Northern Arizona (1980-1986)
* Ohio University (1970-1973)
* Pennsylvania (1898-1978)
* Scranton (1947-2005)
* St. Louis (1971-1979)
* Syracuse (1911-1940)
* U.S. International (1979-1988)
* Villanova (1929-1998)
* Wayne State (1999-2008)
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

PUBand09 said:
Are there any schools that have added D-I hockey lately?
Click to expand...

RIT is the most recent addition in 2005. RIT is a DIII school with a strong hockey tradition and no football team. Hockey is THE sport at RIT. RIT is also large for a DIII school (about 15K undergrads), so I'm sure that helps a bit with some of the financial issues.
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

I often wondered why Columbia never had a team. These days, there's virtually no chance that they would add a program. Their club team has to travel to Hackensack to play home games (which is actually further than a couple of their road games). Trying to find a place to build a rink sufficient for D-1 hockey in NYC is a futile effort.

One would wonder if NYC could support one college hockey team. They sell out the Rangers virtually every night and they support several D-1 basketball teams in the city. While hockey doesn't get a ton of attention around here, those who do follow the teams are into the game more than most.

The last metro-NYC team to play D-1 hockey was Iona and their effort largely failed. Their facility was in a mall/amusement park, the team was horrible, and honestly, nobody outside of Westchester County even knows where Iona is. I guess Yale could be considered metro-NYC barely and they draw well.

Honestly though, I would list Syracuse, Buffalo, Buff State, Albany, Siena, Stony Brook and Marist as potential hockey schools before any in the metro area (and none of those are happening any time soon). I'm always hoping for a Marist program; they have an arena available that could support D-1 hockey (at least as an AHA program), they have a good sports following, and hockey is growing in the Hudson Valley.
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

Ralph Baer said:
Columbia did have a team a loooooooong time ago.
Click to expand...

I just looked it up in Princeton's hockey media guide. Princeton and Columbia played @Princeton and "@Columbia" (unclear what rink) on-and-off between 1900 (Princeton's first recorded year) and the 1922-23 season, when Columbia presumably canceled their program. This was before the NCAA, and Princeton played a lot of teams that are now D-III, like MIT (who sadly just dropped hockey this year).
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

I have a simple (perhaps silly) question that i've wondered for.. a while. I don't want to start a new thread for it.. but why is it that we have Div 1 hockey & then its Div 3?

Is there no division 2 in coll hockey? Does div 3 also offer scholarships? Very curious about this.. any info appreciated. thanks.
 
Re: Schools That Used to Have D-I Hockey

northeastern said:
I have a simple (perhaps silly) question that i've wondered for.. a while. I don't want to start a new thread for it.. but why is it that we have Div 1 hockey & then its Div 3?

Is there no division 2 in coll hockey? Does div 3 also offer scholarships? Very curious about this.. any info appreciated. thanks.
Click to expand...

Not enough D2 schools sponsor the sport for there to be an NCAA championship at that level. If they wanted to remain D2, they'd have nothing to play for except pride. Consequently, those who do sponsor the sport use their "play-up in one sport per gender" option to field a D1 team.
 
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