Archive for March 20, 2012
March 20, 2011 — A decision of dollars, but no sense
Today’s Game of the Day
Houston Episcopal (Tex.) at Cypress Cy-Fair (Tex.)
After losing their last time out to Milton (Ga.), Cy-Fair needs a good result in this contest to rebound for the rest of the season.
Yesterday, a decision on how to bolster a sports team with only minimal success the last decade was made, one that had millions of dollars at stake. But this had nothing to do with a football quarterback during free agency.
Instead, Niagara University, a small Roman Catholic university in Lewiston, N.Y., has decided to drop its women’s ice hockey program.
Niagara, a decade ago, was seen as one of the rising powers in NCAA ice hockey. It placed third in the 2001 Frozen Four and helped bridge the development of the collegiate game between the Midwest and New England.
But now, the program is no more. The dropping of the program, in favor of adding women’s track and shifting resources to women’s lacrosse, will not immediately impact the spread of the game, as Rochester Institute of Technology, Penn State, and Lindenwood have all announced plans to join NCAA Division I and College Hockey America, the league in which Niagara helped to build.
The decision is, to me, a bit befuddling. Niagara got a lot of publicity and fundraising opportunities out of the women’s hockey team’s successes the last decade. It also was able to diversify its campus a bit, bringing in students from places other than New York.
Meanwhile, the men’s hockey program remains untouched.
Hmmmmmm.
