Following Atlantic Hockey’s annual directors meeting, the league has announced that the scholarship limit will once again increase in the conference.
A major move regarding the future of Atlantic Hockey, the directors voted to move to 18 scholarships, the maximum allowed per the NCAA.
“This is another step forward for our league” said Atlantic Hockey commissioner Ron DeGregorio in a statement. “Increasing the scholarship limit to 18 incrementally will allow us to maintain our vision of not leaving any of our members behind while increasing our competitiveness nationally. Our teams have made great strides in recent years and this will continue that trend.”
Lou Spiotti, Jr., executive director of intercollegiate athletics at RIT and chair of the Atlantic Hockey executive committee, said the move will improve parity across the NCAA.
“Atlantic Hockey continues to advance in quality and overall competitiveness,” said Spiotti in a statement. “This most recent initiative to bring the number of allowable athletic grants in aid up to the NCAA limit of 18 will put our collective membership in position to compete every year for the NCAA championship against the benchmark leagues in the nation.
“I applaud my league partners for supporting this important step forward.”
“I could not be more excited about the direction of Atlantic Hockey,” adde Niagara deputy director of athletics Steve Butler. “Removing the scholarship limitation will provide Coach [Dave] Burkholder and his staff the resources necessary to strengthen our storied program. From a league perspective, it is exciting to see eleven institutions commit to competing at a higher level.”
Two Atlantic Hockey coaches also released statements on today’s announcement.
“This is an exciting time to be a member of Atlantic Hockey,” said Robert Morris’ Derek Schooley. “The increase in scholarships as well as the increased commitment to all aspects of our programs show that Atlantic Hockey is serious about NCAA Division I hockey. Our teams, our coaches, and our programs have been getting better every year. By increasing scholarships, our teams will continue the rise of Atlantic Hockey.”
“Obviously, this is a very exciting development for Atlantic Hockey,” added Holy Cross coach David Berard. “Thanks to the quality and talent of the players, coaches, and administrators, we have witnessed tremendous growth as a league in recent years. This announcement is the next step forward in our evolution as a conference. Implementation of scholarships to the full NCAA allotment signals the continued commitment to raise the profile our league, which will have a resounding impact on recruiting student-athletes to our member schools and provide us a level playing field as we compete against schools from the other five Division I conferences.”
Minnesota will welcome a pair of alums to its coaching staff with Ben Gordon being named assistant director of hockey operations and Corey Millen joining the program as an undergraduate assistant.
“Ben and Corey share our passion and vision for the Gopher Hockey program, and we are excited to welcome them back to campus as members of our staff,” Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said in a statement. “Ben and Corey have had great success both as players and coaches and that wealth of experience will be a tremendous asset for our players and our program.”
Gordon, who played for Minnesota from 2004 to 2008, will oversee the day-to-day video operations for the Gophers program while also assisting with general hockey operations responsibilities. He returns to the Gophers after serving as an assistant coach in the United States Hockey League last season, helping the Tri-City Storm capture the 2016 Clark Cup. Prior to joining the Tri-City staff, Gordon spent the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach and later as interim head coach at St. Scholastica.
Millen will work with the Gophers staff while completing his undergraduate degree in recreation, park and leisure studies. He returns to the Gophers after spending the last four seasons as a head coach in the North American Hockey League. Most recently, he led the Minnesota Wilderness to three NAHL playoff appearances in the club’s first three years of league play, including the 2015 Robertson Cup as NAHL champions. Millen also served as head coach of the Alaska Avalanche during the 2011-12 season.
He went on to play professionally for 14 years, including 331 games in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames – totaling 209 points (90 goals, 119 assists) – after playing for the Gophers from 1982 to 1987.
Recent news that Minnesota State and Arizona State have applied for membership in the NCHC prompted conference commissioner Josh Fenton to release a statement today.
“After careful consideration and a thorough vetting process, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s Board of Directors announced the Conference will not move forward with membership expansion at this time. We will continue to be attentive to the college hockey landscape and any future changes that may come.
However, our focus right now is guided by what we can do to strengthen our current membership into the future.”
Wilkes University will add men’s and women’s hockey to its list of NCAA Division III varsity sports, effective for the 2017-18 school year, and also announced an affiliation with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins organization that will allow Wilkes to practice and compete at the Toyota SportsPlex at Coal Street Park.
Wilkes University is located in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., and dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence through mentoring in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional programs.
“Adding men’s and women’s ice hockey to Wilkes University’s NCAA Division III sports roster helps fulfill several strategic initiatives,” Wilkes president Patrick Leahy said in a statement. “It will attract talented students both nationally and internationally and allow us to work with an outstanding community partner like the Penguins. Their commitment to growing ice hockey in the community ensures Wilkes’ program will be exceptional.”
“The Penguins are looking forward to helping Wilkes University develop a successful and prominent program in Division III hockey,” added WBS Penguins CEO Jeff Barrett. “They have been a leader both academically and athletically in Northeast Pennsylvania. Adding Colonels hockey to the Toyota SportsPlex, along with other youth programs such as the Junior Pens and Wyoming Seminary teams, will allow children in the community to pursue their hockey dreams throughout their formative years and into adulthood.”
“For several reasons, I am delighted that Wilkes University has announced the addition of men’s and women’s ice hockey,” said MAC executive director Ken Andrews. “The MAC places a high priority on offering a wide variety of sports, and Wilkes has been a leader in making that commitment in recent years by funding seven new intercollegiate teams. The MAC has experienced rapid growth in ice hockey as seven new programs (four men’s and three women’s) have been added in the past year.”
The school will begin a search for its new men’s head coach and women’s head coach immediately.
“We are excited to have James join our staff as our head men’s ice hockey coach,” J & W director of athletics Jamie Marcoux said in a news release. “He has worked with some excellent hockey programs and coaches in his tenure as an assistant. He has tremendous knowledge, a genuine excitement and love for the game and is ready to take over the reins for the Wildcats.”
This past season, LaCour worked on the staff at Bemidji State as the Beavers’ goaltending coach and prior to coaching at Bemidji State, LaCour spent three seasons on the staff at Williams.
“I’m thrilled for the opportunity to be part of the Johnson and Wales community,” LaCour added. “With their commitment to growth and the student-athlete experience, it is an exciting time. I look forward to leading the men’s ice hockey program as we grow and compete in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.”
LaCour played four seasons between the pipes at Salem State University. He amassed a 20-8-2 record with a career 2.55 GAA. His senior year, he helped the Vikings to an 18-7-2 record and a runner-up finish in the MASCAC tournament. He played one year professionally in France.
Mike Nepsa and Dan Johansson have joined the Canisius staff for the 2016-17 season.
Nepsa will serve as volunteer assistant coach working with the goaltenders and Johansson is the team’s equipment manager.
In addition, former volunteer assistant coach David Smith will serve as director of player development/assistant strength and fitness coach with the Griffs.
“We are excited to have Mike join the program as goalie coach,” Canisius coach Dave Smith said in a statement. “Having a full-time coach who can work directly with the goalies on a day-to-day basis is really important, especially with four goaltenders on the roster this season. Mike has experience working with elite goalies and we’re excited to add him to our staff.
“Dan has been with our program for three years already as an undergraduate assistant and we are excited that he can continue with our team. It’s also important that David can continue to work with us in an area that he is very experienced in, focusing on fitness and player development. He will be with us in practice and on the bench on game days and will be a key piece for our staff and helping the team move forward.”
Nepsa has worked as a goaltending consultant in the United States with the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL and the Johnstown Tomahawks of the NAHL, helping a number of goalies land at Division I schools. Johansson has worked with the Canisius program in each of the last three seasons as an undergraduate assistant. He also spent the 2015-16 season as the equipment manager with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres of the OJHL.
In his new role, Smith will lead instruction for fitness and agility, while also assisting with player development.
Rich Mest, a longtime employee of Kent State University, paints the ice at the Kent State Ice Arena (photo: Bob Christy/Kent State University).
Several years ago, the college hockey world was upended by the news that longtime club level powerhouse Penn State would finally be making the jump to NCAA Division I. Last season, Arizona State became the latest and 60th school overall to join the same race.
The emergence of ice hockey at traditional football/basketball schools, such as with the Nittany Lions and Sun Devils, also recalls a time of other schools that once boasted NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey. Once, that is, but no longer — including a mid-sized school situated in northeast Ohio.
Kent State, now more commonly known as Kent, got its start in ice hockey in the 1970s when the Kent Ice Arena was built. The school joined the NCAA Division I ledger in 1985 and then transitioned from the independent ranks to the CCHA in 1992. In their Division I tenure, the Golden Flashes recorded victories over Michigan State and Boston College, won the Nissan Jeep Classic hosted by Alaska-Anchorage, and seemed to be settling in for a regular run as part of a solid Midwestern league — and then they were no more.
Kent discontinued ice hockey at the varsity level following the 1993-94 campaign, although the on-campus Kent Ice Arena now gets as much use as ever. The man running the rink these days has a somewhat unique perspective on the situation — mainly because he was at the helm when everything changed.
Bill Switaj, who starred in goal at Boston College before getting into coaching, was head coach of the Golden Flashes when Kent chose not to continue with the sport at the NCAA level.
Switaj took over the Kent hockey program in 1989-90 and led the Golden Flashes in three seasons as a Division I independent, the last one a 15-14-2 campaign in 1992-93 before the university joined the CCHA. Kent then sported a better-than-.500 overall record (10-8-1) in its second full season of CCHA competition, 1993-94, before the new calendar year began.
“It was a pretty good start,” Switaj said. “We just kept doing well, and had a good following.”
He also recalled how his team was battling injuries at the time, and ultimately finished with an 11-26-2 record, according to hockeydb.com, after posting a 13-22-3 mark the year before.
There was optimism for 1994-95, especially since Kent was returning players such as forward Dean Sylvester, a Massachusetts native and supplemental draft choice of the San Jose Sharks who had scored 33 goals as a sophomore before adding 22 goals as a junior.
That optimism quickly eroded, however.
“The season ended, and then word spread that [Kent would] drop hockey,” Switaj said.
That happened several weeks before the hammer actually fell. When it finally did, via a vote of the board of trustees in support of a recommendation made by then-president Carol Cartwright in early April 1994, it was more of a formality then actual imposition of a death sentence — even if the result was the same.
And just like that, the Golden Flashes were gone.
“It was kind of wild,” said Switaj.
Calls made by the CCHA’s commissioner at the time, Bill Beagan, to Cartwright following Kent’s announcement that it was dropping ice hockey were not returned, according to published reports. Kent was also supposed to have given the CCHA no less than 12 months notice of voluntary termination of its membership, but that didn’t occur, either.
“It is common knowledge that KSU’s athletic department has been in a state of turmoil since athletic director Paul Amodio was reassigned to a teaching position at KSU in January,” Beagan said in an article that was reprinted in The Michigan Daily in April 1994. “It would be accurate to say that I was upset upon hearing about … Cartwright’s recommendation to terminate the hockey program from the media.”
In situations where a program is eliminated, players are free to transfer to another NCAA Division I school without having to endure the usual stricture of sitting out one full academic year, and Sylvester was one skater who did so. He went to Michigan State, where he scored 15 goals and helped the Spartans to the CCHA championship game and the NCAA tournament as a senior. He then embarked upon a six-year professional career that included nearly 100 NHL outings with the Buffalo Sabres and Atlanta Thrashers.
It was a little different for the former Kent coaching staff. Switaj said he needed some time to figure things out after spending five seasons as a Division I head coach, as he would have had to have packed up and gone elsewhere to continue in that capacity.
The university, however, came to him with a proposition.
“Kent wanted me to manage the rink, and [now] I’ve done it for 21 years,” said Switaj, who had a young family back then he didn’t want to uproot. That family eventually included a daughter, Gabri, who grew up in Kent and is now a junior netminder at her father’s alma mater, Boston College.
Switaj decided he’d give running Kent’s rink, which boasts two ice sheets, a year’s try, and that try has now turned into two decades of steady work.
“I’ve kind of enjoyed managing the rink, and I’ve also gotten involved with USA Hockey and have been doing it ever since,” he said. “I’m still involved in hockey and in running hockey camps, just not at the college level.”
Golden Flash hockey as a whole has also again transitioned itself. Where there was once an independent joining one of the more prestigious conferences in NCAA Division I, now there is a club team competing at the top level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. The club squad indirectly reports to Switaj, although the head coach is his assistant rink manager, Jim Underwood.
“The kids work hard and try to create involvement,” Switaj said of the club program. “There’s no scholarships, and four to five practices a week. We get 600 to 700 [fans] at a [home] game. It’s a great atmosphere, and it’s pretty exciting.”
The players are also paying to play for the privilege.
“For our team, it’s $2,500 per player per season,” Underwood said of surviving at the ACHA Division I club level these days. “We’re not the most expensive.”
Although the program does get some funding from the university, Underwood added that players and coaches do some fundraising work in their spare time. The team also sells advertising in its home rink, takes buses to road games in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and elsewhere against ACHA Division I competition, and provides study halls for its players like NCAA-sponsored teams.
“It’s a good level of hockey,” said Switaj. “There’s a lot of passion, and you don’t have to be [NCAA] Division I to be passionate. They really take it serious, and you see how they love the game.”
Underwood explained that Kent draws its current player stock from leagues like the NA3HL, the Western States Hockey League and the U.S. Premier Hockey League.
“We look at the potential empire divisions of those leagues,” he said. “It’s sometimes hard to find guys to come here. A lot of these kids are looking to go NCAA Division I or Division III, and [club is] a tough sell to them.”
Yet come they do — enough to help Kent to a 14-12-0-2 overall mark last regular season. A number of players hail from the Midwest, particularly Ohio, Michigan and Indiana — but Arizona, California, Canada, Connecticut, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee also were represented last season.
Switaj admitted that he’s probably gained a greater appreciation of hockey himself by not coaching and obtaining a different perspective of the game from the grassroots and volunteer level, along with seeing the many adult players who all use Kent’s rink.
“I don’t think I appreciated it [all] as much as before,” he said
He also noted the giving nature provided by hockey volunteers, whose dedication he said spurs him to want to do more in turn.
Kent wasn’t the last CCHA school to drop NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey. Illinois-Chicago, which had iced a varsity hockey squad since 1967, joined the CCHA in 1982 and then called it quits after the 1995-96 campaign. The CCHA itself breathed its last in 2013, after 42 seasons and eight NCAA national championships. The Big Ten and the NCHC emerged in the wake of Penn State upgrading to NCAA Division I, and the WCHA then siphoned off the rest of the CCHA’s remaining schools.
As to if Kent might ever return to playing hockey under the NCAA banner, Switaj said it would have to first overcome the stipulation facing most schools that might wish to add the sport at the varsity level: Title IX, which guarantees equal intercollegiate opportunities to both male and female NCAA student-athletes.
Underwood admitted that from time to time he gets asked about the chances of the Golden Flashes going back to the college varsity level, but he said he has enough to keep him occupied in the present instead of dwelling on a possible future.
“Right now, we’re very pleased with the ACHA program,” Underwood said of the attendance and atmosphere enjoyed at Kent’s home games. “We do well in terms of the excitement we draw on campus.”
Pursuing NCAA readmission above all else would also simply take the fun out of what Kent has and could accomplish now, added Switaj.
“There’s 25 kids getting an education and playing hockey,” he said. “They chose the school, and it’s great. I feel great for them, and it’s perspective and how you look at it.”
Merrimack announced Wednesday the hiring of Steph Moberg as the new assistant coach of the women’s team ahead of the program’s second season.
Moberg comes to North Andover after two years as the head coach of the Castleton women’s program. She stepped down on Aug. 19.
“We are very excited to welcome Coach Moberg to our staff,” said Merrimack head coach Erin Hamlen in a statement. “She is a seasoned coach at the Division III level and knows both the coaching and recruiting world well. Steph did a tremendous job leading Castleton to a spot in the national rankings, and she shares our staff’s strong desire to better our student-athletes in all areas.”
Last season, the Spartans received a national ranking in the USCHO.com poll for the first time in program history, reaching as high as sixth in the nation. Moberg led Castleton to the program’s first wins over nationally-ranked Middlebury and Norwich on their way to posting a school-record 17 victories.
In 2014-15, Moberg led Castleton to a 14-12-2 record, leading the team to a No. 3 seed in its conference tournament and an upset in the semifinals to reach the NEHC championship game in her first year at the helm.
Prior to Castleton, Moberg spent a season as an assistant coach with Colby. She also served as an assistant coach for two years at Connecticut College.
A 2010 graduate of Plattsburgh, Moberg won Division III titles in 2007 and 2008 with the Cardinals. She was also named the ECAC West Player of the Year in 2010 and finished as the runner-up for National Player of the Year that same season.
Merrimack announced Wednesday the hiring of David Nies as the team’s video coordinator, where he will oversee all aspects of team video, including film breakdown/exchange, and will also assist in analytics.
Nies, who was an assistant coach at Curry last season, also played at Southern Maine, captaining the club in 2012-13.
“We are thrilled to have David joining our organization,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy said in a statement. “Any time that we have an opening, we are looking to get better. David’s experience at Curry College has him prepared to bring his role here to another level.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to join the Merrimack College staff and become a part of the Warrior family,” Nies added. “I look forward to working alongside a team of such skilled professionals and adding value to such a progressive college hockey program.”
Previous coaching stints for Nies include a year at Ohio University (ACHA D-I) in 2014-15 and another year as a volunteer assistant coach at Southern Maine during the 2013-14 academic year.
Might Arizona State wind up in the NCHC? The school’s athletic director, Ray Anderson, has inquired with NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton (photo: Rachel Lewis).
According to the Grand Forks Herald, Arizona State has officially applied to be a member of the NCHC.
Anderson also explained plans to pay the rest of the $500,000 entry fee.
The letter also stated that ASU plans to have a new facility in place by the start of the 2018-19 season. The team currently plays out of the Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, a rink that holds less than 800 fans for hockey (747, according to the official website).
The Herald piece said NCHC presidents are expected to decide on potential expansion before the end of the year.
WCHA games will all have wind up with a winner during the upcoming 2016-17 season (photo: Jim Rosvold).
The WCHA announced Tuesday three pivotal changes to take effect for the upcoming 2016-17 season.
The changes include the introduction of 3-on-3 overtime and shootout (both if necessary) for regular-season league games, a three-point-per-game structure to the league standings and mandatory NHL nets in all arenas.
“The WCHA is committed to evolving and adapting however possible to maximize the overall experience for our student-athletes, programs and fans,” said WCHA commissioner Bill Robertson in a statement. “These initiatives will bring a new element of excitement to all areas of WCHA hockey, from opening up more space on the ice, to bringing resolution for each league game and adding another wrinkle to the always-thrilling races for home-ice advantage and the MacNaughton Cup. It is a testament to our member institution administrators and coaches that, together, we brought forth positive changes that have proven to be successful, and are in line with what our fans and players want.”
Ensuring that each contest will have a “winner” in the league standings, each WCHA regular-season league game that remains tied after regulation and the NCAA-mandated, five-minute 5-on-5 overtime period will now advance to a second five-minute overtime period of 3-on-3 play; if the game is still tied, it will be settled in a sudden death shootout (wherein each team will receive a minimum of one shot, and the second team to shoot can match if the first team to shoot, scores).
All WCHA postseason games will revert to the NCAA standard of sudden death, 20-minute overtime periods to determine a winner.
Beginning with the 2016-17 season, each WCHA regular-season league game will be worth three points, awarded as follows:
• Game decided in regulation: three points to winning team
• Game decided in 5-on-5 overtime (five minutes, sudden death): three points to winning team
• Game decided in 3-on-3 overtime (five minutes, sudden death): two points to winning team, one point to losing team
• Game decided in shootout (sudden death): two points to winning team, one point to losing team
The 3-on-3 overtime and shootouts will only affect the WCHA standings, while any game that is tied after the 5-on-5 overtime remains officially a tie for NCAA purposes. Thus, the WCHA standings will show Wins, Losses, Ties and 3-on-3/Shootout Wins (“W-L-T-3/SW”). In this format, W-L-T will add up to games played, with the “Tie” column signifying how many times a team has been to a 3-on-3 overtime or shootout and the “3-on-3/Shootout Wins” column representing how many games a team has won in that fashion.
All 10 WCHA teams will install the 40-inch goal frame that is standard across the NHL. A vast majority of WCHA arenas in 2015-16 had the 44-inch frames that long have been a staple of college hockey.
“These changes put the WCHA on par with the future of college hockey, along with the present format for the highest professional leagues,” said Damon Whitten, head coach at Lake Superior State and WCHA coaches’ chair, in a statement. “As coaches, we are ecstatic for the development of our student-athletes to expose them to the same conditions they will experience when playing at the next level. We’re also thrilled for our fans, as they will now get to go home each night with a winner for every game.
“We applaud the league for these important steps and look forward to a terrific season ahead.”
Finlandia is going to have a familiar face leading the team this season as the winningest coach in team history, Joe Burcar, has been hired as the Lions’ new head coach.
Burcar replaces Dane Litke, who stepped down for personal reasons earlier this summer after two seasons with the Lions.
“I am proud and excited to come back to Finlandia University,” said Burcar in a statement. “I love this community, the atmosphere of collegiate athletics, and the level of play you see in NCAA Division III hockey.”
Burcar’s initial stint at the school included a 104-96-11 overall record and a 2007 Harris Cup championship.
“Our team that year put together an incredible season,” Burcar added. “I have never seen Houghton County Arena that packed, that energetic. It’s my goal to bring that level of excitement back to our community, and that level of success back to our hockey team.”
The Lions have a combined record of 29-130-9 in the years since Burcar was coach.
“Joe is the right person to lead our men’s hockey program back to prominence,” noted Finlandia athletic director Kristan Schuster in a news release. “I’ve spoken with many of his former players and they all loved him as a coach. I’m beyond excited to see what he will do with this team.”
Burcar has been coaching in California since 2010, including working with the OC Hockey Club, Anaheim Jr. Ducks and Edison High School. In 2015, he led the Jr. Ducks to a state championship and a spot in the national semifinals.
Aside from coaching, Burcar has also been working with teams in the USHL, NAHL and BCHL as a scout.
Castleton women’s head coach Steph Moberg has resigned her position “to pursue other college coaching positions,” the school announced Thursday.
A search for Moberg’s successor will begin immediately.
“I would like to thank Steph for her work with our women’s program over the last two years,” said Castleton associate dean for athletics and recreation Deanna Tyson in a statement. “She was instrumental in helping the team rise to the top of the conference, as well as earning the first national ranking in the program’s history. I wish her the best in her future coaching career.”
In two seasons, Moberg led the Spartans to a 31-20-4 record, while reaching the conference championship once and making a semifinal appearance last year.
Moberg is a 2010 graduate of Plattsburgh, where she won two NCAA titles and was a First-Team All-American as a senior. She served as an assistant coach at both Connecticut College and Colby before being hired at Castleton.
Josh Couturier skated in 33 games during the 2015-16 season with Boston College (photo: Candace Horgan).
Defenseman Josh Couturier has joined Massachusetts as a transfer from Boston College.
Couturier will sit out the 2016-17 campaign, per NCAA transfer rules.
“Josh is a big defenseman that plays a rugged style,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel in a statement. “He is very solid defensively, has a heavy shot and skates well for his size.”
Last season with the Eagles, Couturier tallied two goals and four assists in 33 games and finished with a plus-14 rating.
The school offered no details beyond confirming Potter’s departure from the position and announcing that it is in the process of filling the role.
A former star player at Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota and with the U.S. Olympic team, Potter coached at Division III Trinity for two seasons before joining the Buckeyes in 2015.
Ohio State was 10-25-1 overall in Potter’s only season at the helm, finishing seventh in the eight-team WCHA.
The Buckeyes open the 2016-17 season on Sept. 30 at Rensselaer.
Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage have been together in the WCHA since 2013 (photo: Sam Wasson).
The elimination of men’s hockey programs at Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage were among options presented by the state’s university system to address a budget crisis.
Alaska-Anchorage athletic director Keith Hackett emphasized at a news conference Thursday that no decisions have yet been made about program changes.
But Hackett also said the schools are in “very, very trying times” and face “significant challenges” in all campus financing matters.
In Anchorage, the athletic department is facing a budget cut of $1.7 million in general funding from the state in the 2017-18 fiscal year. That’s nearly one-third of the money the department gets from the state, and 16 percent of the overall $10.5 million athletics budget.
The budget for the Seawolves’ hockey program last season was $1.9 million, Hackett said.
Variations on three options were released Thursday as part of the University of Alaska System’s Strategic Pathways reports on finding more cost-efficient approaches to higher education.
They are:
• Elimination of one or both Alaska athletics programs.
• Combining the athletics programs from the two campuses, which are separated by more than 350 road miles, in a so-called consortium model.
• Replacing programs that compete at the Division I level with Division II sports.
The last option could mean both UAA and UAF lose their hockey programs, or UAF keeps hockey while UAA drops it.
Hackett said it isn’t certain that the system’s Board of Regents will select one of those options or pick another direction.
Hackett said that in Anchorage, 3 percent of the total university budget goes to athletics. It’s 2 percent in Fairbanks. That’s compared to a national average of 6 percent, he said.
“We’re not nearly as costly as other institutions, but nobody else is in the situation that Alaska is in,” Hackett said. “It’s a very, very troubling and challenging thing we have to talk about. But I know this is what the new Alaska looks like until we figure out our budget circumstances.”
Athletics is going to feel the pinch, but both campuses as a whole will as well.
“I think there’s going to be significant change on our campus,” Hackett said. “All programs are going to be affected.”
Fairbanks has sponsored hockey continuously since 1980 and has been a Division I program since 1985. When the CCHA dissolved after the 2012-13 season, the Nanooks joined the WCHA.
Anchorage joined the Division I ranks in 1979 and has played in the WCHA since 1993.
A Board of Regents decision on the future of hockey and athletics isn’t expected until the fall, Hackett said.
Penn State announced Thursday the hiring of Alex Dawes as its new director of hockey operations.
Dawes replaces Bill Downey, who has accepted the role of manger of hockey operations for the American Hockey League affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms .
“Alex Dawes has impressed the athletic department, our administration and our hockey staff with his tireless work ethic, attention to detail and his communication skills,” said Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky in a statement. “He is well respected outside of PSU and with previous experience in Division I men’s hockey operations, he will provide a seamless transition.
“We will miss Billy very much and wish him and his family the very best with the Flyers.”
Dawes, now entering his fourth year at Penn State, has served as assistant women’s hockey coach and director of operations for the past two seasons. He is a 2012 graduate of Utica, where he also spent time as an assistant coach and director of hockey operations for the Pioneer men’s team from 2009 to 2013.
Largen was 18-7-3 in one season at Marian after coaching stints in the USHL, NAHL and Minnesota Junior Hockey League.
“I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the Fairbanks community and the Nanook hockey family once again,” Largen said in a news release. “I would like to thank Coach [Dallas] Ferguson and the Alaska Nanooks Department of Athletics for providing me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Largen was as assistant coach for the NAHL’s Fairbanks Ice Dogs from 2009 to 2011, helping the team win the league championship in his final season.
“Erik brings a unique coaching resume with him,” Ferguson said. “He has worked in the NAHL, the USHL and most recently the NCAA. Through all of his experiences, Erik has built up a great reputation amongst his peers.”
The United States defeated Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland to win the U17 Five Nations Tournament in Frisco, Texas, from Aug. 9 to Aug. 13. Here are photos of some of the players who have committed to colleges.
