NHL To Sponsor Feasibility Studies On Bringing More Big Schools Into D-I Hockey

The NHL will announce later today that the league will sponsor studies at five U.S. colleges to examine the feasibility of a Division I hockey program on those campuses, according to an NHL source. The University of Illinois will be the first university to undergo the study.
http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2017/06/23_NHL-Hopes-to-Help-Bring-More.php

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2017/10/17_Oakland-U-Joins-NHLs-Feasibility.php

Oakland joins the study.

”There’s still a couple hurdles to overcome,” Princeton alumnus Kevin Westgarth told the Detroit News. Westgarth played in the NHL after leaving Princeton, and is now the NHL's vice president of business development and international affairs. “Finding funding for expensive programs is huge. But with the amount of passionate hockey people at Oakland, people in Michigan, hockey people, we think this has a very high probability of happening.”

Everyone here is oh-so-happy you followed up on this thread, considering the number of us who responded to your first post.

Oakland? lame, should have a couple teams in the boonies like Iowa and Nebraska and how the hell doesn't Northwestern have a team... bush league B10

tGreenWay wrote:Everyone here is oh-so-happy you followed up on this thread, considering the number of us who responded to your first post.

The bump specifically references Oakland University. If you are unaware, Oakland University is an institution of higher education located in Michigan. The original post did not mention anything specific to the state of Michigan, whereas the content of the bump is relevant to our interests at Spartan Swill. In short, the possibility of Oakland University adding a DI hockey program is worth noting on a board generally interested in college hockey in the state of Michigan.

MattyFresh wrote:Oakland? lame, should have a couple teams in the boonies like Iowa and Nebraska and how the hell doesn't Northwestern have a team... bush league B10

College hockey does not seem to do well in Chicago or the Chicago area. Remember the UIC team? The program shut down after the 1995 season. It lasted 15 years, and there are no other DI hockey programs in the state. For as much as Chicago loves the Blackhawks, it is not a hockey town much less a hockey state.

Turtleneck wrote:

MattyFresh wrote:Oakland? lame, should have a couple teams in the boonies like Iowa and Nebraska and how the hell doesn't Northwestern have a team... bush league B10

College hockey does not seem to do well in Chicago or the Chicago area. Remember the UIC team? The program shut down after the 1995 season. It lasted 15 years, and there are no other DI hockey programs in the state. For as much as Chicago loves the Blackhawks, it is not a hockey town much less a hockey state.

Is that really a fair comparison? I am still all in for Iowa, or maybe Buttgers can get a team and recruit some talent from the east coast in a sport for once

MattyFresh wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

College hockey does not seem to do well in Chicago or the Chicago area. Remember the UIC team? The program shut down after the 1995 season. It lasted 15 years, and there are no other DI hockey programs in the state. For as much as Chicago loves the Blackhawks, it is not a hockey town much less a hockey state.

Is that really a fair comparison? I am still all in for Iowa, or maybe Buttgers can get a team and recruit some talent from the east coast in a sport for once

What is not a fair comparison? I think it is fair to say a NW team would flounder.

just comparing nw vs uic... I am just trying to think what b10 school could and should have a program.

MattyFresh wrote:just comparing nw vs uic... I am just trying to think what b10 school could and should have a program.

Maybe not. However, I do not think hockey would be successful at NW. NW has approximately 20k students, but over half of those are graduate, law, or medical school students. Athletics are pretty secondary to that population. UIC has close to 20k undergraduate students. So UIC had a stronger campus population to draw from in terms of team support. NW markets its athletics as Chicago's Big Ten Teams, but nobody really pays attention to NW outside the NW community. I am not sure hockey would draw too many outside the NW community.

You might make the argument that NW could recruit better than UIC, win more than UIC, and therefore be successful. I could maybe buy that argument, but I am still skeptical. NW could contribute more resources than UIC for sure, but I am just not sure I see it as a sustainable endeavor. I almost feel like NW would have already done it if they really wanted a program.

For the record, I hate Big Ten hockey and wish it no success whatsoever. I will forever live in a world where the CCHA exists.

Turtleneck wrote:

MattyFresh wrote:just comparing nw vs uic... I am just trying to think what b10 school could and should have a program.

Maybe not. However, I do not think hockey would be successful at NW. NW has approximately 20k students, but over half of those are graduate, law, or medical school students. Athletics are pretty secondary to that population. UIC has close to 20k undergraduate students. So UIC had a stronger campus population to draw from in terms of team support. NW markets its athletics as Chicago's Big Ten Teams, but nobody really pays attention to NW outside the NW community. I am not sure hockey would draw too many outside the NW community.

You might make the argument that NW could recruit better than UIC, win more than UIC, and therefore be successful. I could maybe buy that argument, but I am still skeptical. NW could contribute more resources than UIC for sure, but I am just not sure I see it as a sustainable endeavor. I almost feel like NW would have already done it if they really wanted a program.

For the record, I hate Big Ten hockey and wish it no success whatsoever. I will forever live in a world where the CCHA exists.

tl:dr

tGreenWay wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

Maybe not. However, I do not think hockey would be successful at NW. NW has approximately 20k students, but over half of those are graduate, law, or medical school students. Athletics are pretty secondary to that population. UIC has close to 20k undergraduate students. So UIC had a stronger campus population to draw from in terms of team support. NW markets its athletics as Chicago's Big Ten Teams, but nobody really pays attention to NW outside the NW community. I am not sure hockey would draw too many outside the NW community.

You might make the argument that NW could recruit better than UIC, win more than UIC, and therefore be successful. I could maybe buy that argument, but I am still skeptical. NW could contribute more resources than UIC for sure, but I am just not sure I see it as a sustainable endeavor. I almost feel like NW would have already done it if they really wanted a program.

For the record, I hate Big Ten hockey and wish it no success whatsoever. I will forever live in a world where the CCHA exists.

tl:dr

GDNKHTR

Turtleneck wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:

tl:dr

GDNKHTR

FU2

Also, ID2

KHTR, I mean.

The Detroit News with an article and video about a possible DI hockey program at OU.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2017/10/16/oakland-explores-adding-di-mens-womens-hockey/106716122/

MattyFresh wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

College hockey does not seem to do well in Chicago or the Chicago area. Remember the UIC team? The program shut down after the 1995 season. It lasted 15 years, and there are no other DI hockey programs in the state. For as much as Chicago loves the Blackhawks, it is not a hockey town much less a hockey state.

I am still all in for Iowa

Is Matty a BLACK YELLOW???

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

MattyFresh wrote:

I am still all in for Iowa

Is Matty a BLACK YELLOW???

He seems oddly pro-Iowa. An investigation of Matty might be necessary. When did he start posting? Where does he claim to be from? How often does he reference corn, pigs, or ethanol?

This thread remains greeeaaat.