College Hockey for the Big East ?

[robinreed]

How many, if any Big East schools have hockey?

I know hockey is a fast growing college sport. I recently had an opportunity to visit Miami University (Ohio) and saw their very impressive hockey arena. You must understand that Miami is a school which currently has almost no successful sports programs. I was surprised to find out that they are among the best college hockey programs in the nation.

I know the BE does not sponsor hockey but how many of our schools actually have hockey and how many are any good at it. Unless it is under the radar as a club sport I know that XU does not offer this sport but I wonder if other members do. It seems like a good opportunity to generate income. Most of our schools are in cities which contain large hockey arenas or other such facilities. If attendance is as good as the Miami people claim and costs are lower than basketball (fewer scholarships, less travel) which is also the claim it would be worth looking into. As we have no deep south teams I expect everyone from Providence to Omaha knows the game and has seen it played either in high school, college or the pro leagues. Most of our cities have either minor league hockey or NHL teams.

Please give me your view and if there is any interest in this or hope for the future of BE hockey.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Creighton has zero chance of adding hockey. Nebraska-Omaha plays D-1 in town already and isn't that big a draw, plus you'd have to match scholarships for women.

[Omaha1]

Can't see anyone adding hockey frankly. That's an expensive non-revenue sport and if the P5 do their thing, will that impact hockey too? Plus Title IX.

[bmorex]

Xavier actually has a very successful club hockey team. I'm pretty sure they were close to a club national championship in their division in the last year or so.

But I don't see it ever becoming D1 (due mainly to the costs and having to build a facility).

[robinreed]

Xavier actually has a very successful club hockey team. I'm pretty sure they were close to a club national championship in their division in the last year or so.

But I don't see it ever becoming D1 (due mainly to the costs and having to build a facility).

Thanks bmorex for the information on the club program. Do you know where they play?

If X developed such an intercollegiate program I suspect they could play at the Cincinnati Gardens and building an arena would be unnecessary. There would of course have to be a decision as to the nature of the scholarships. It is possible to play with only 6 or 8 scollies and 2 coaches. Some schools offer no scholarships for baseball or lax, if necessary we could go that route.

Of course if grant in aids were offered to men a similar number would need to be offered to women. That is where my next great idea originated. A Muskie women's college roller derby team !

2012 stats on college hockey attendance:

http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/d ... 2012-2013/

[Professor_Bulldog]

There was a group trying to restart Butler's club program when I was there, but I don't think they ever started (maybe they have since I left). I would LOVE to see varsity hockey programs in this conference but don't think it would ever happen.

[billyjack]

Providence is the only Big East school that has Division-1 ice hockey. There are only around 58 schools in the country that have Div-1 men's. It's an great sport, and it's exciting to watch in person.

In 1984, five years after Gavitt put together the Big East, Friar coach Lou Lamoriello (built the New Jersey Devils champions) put together Hockey East, which became a powerhouse conference. Started with 7 schools in New England (including 3 out of the 4 Beanpot schools), expanded bit by bit, and next year will have 12 teams (only Notre Dame is outside of New England).

PC made a Frozen Four in 1964 (one of my cousins was on the team) and a couple of others in the 80's (had Chris Terreri from Warwick RI in net). Last year we made the Final-8, but lost to eventual champion Union. Interesting that PC hired coach Nate Leaman from Union three years ago, so his recruits as seniors won the national championship.

From what I hear, it's a tough sport to start up... expensive anyway. Would be tough to cobble together a conference from scratch. Hockey East has schools from many different conferences, so many of us wondered why football couldn't do the same type thing. HE has Boston U (Patriot), PC (Big East), BC and Notre Dame (ACC), UMass (A-10), Vermont, UNH, Maine and Lowell (America East), Northeastern (Colonial), Merrimack (Division-2), and starting next year UConn (AAC). 7 different Div-1 conferences, plus 1 in Div-2.

[HoosierPal]

There was a group trying to restart Butler's club program when I was there, but I don't think they ever started (maybe they have since I left). I would LOVE to see varsity hockey programs in this conference but don't think it would ever happen.

Still has not happened at Butler and highly likely never will. As you know, Indy is a hoops state. The Ice play at BLF, and a new team the Fire are going to try the Coliseum. The Ice only averaged about 2,300 last year. I can't see the town supporting two minor league teams, let alone a college team.

[marquette]

Marquette doesn't play D1 hockey but has had a club hockey team for a long time. From what I hear they are pretty good. Attendance at our hockey games was around 500/game in 2012-13, but I don't know what it was last year. We have plenty of places to play in town (10,000 seat US Cellular arena and the Bradley Center have both hosted hockey games. Club team currently plays in the suburbs, I think). However, we just started up a lacrosse program, and are still developing a following for that sport. We are already above the NCAA minimum, so there is really no reason to add another sport. The added expenditure involved with adding a women's sport, as well as whatever comes from the recent NCAA vote probably makes it cost prohibitive as well. There's also a storied program at UW that we would have to compete with for any decent recruits. As popular as hockey is in the area, I don't see us picking it up.

[Boyee]

Of the current Big East Conference schools, only Butler University and St. John's University have no club level ACHA ice hockey programs.