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D-I Hockey at CU

Gary Indiana

Club Member
Club Member
Just curious, I am originally from hockey crazy New England and was wondering if CU has ever seriously considered fielding a D-I hockey program? CU would add to the DU, CC, AFA rivalry and I think it could be well received. I apologize if this has been brought up before but I could not find anything in other threads.
 
or minnesota, wisconsin, michigan, and north dakota (who all make more than those teams you mentioned) you anti midwestern POS.
i was trying to focus on teams that used it as its main revenue sports... forgot north dakota :lol: BUT if it would make you happier Hockey is UMD's only D1 sport St cloud St Michigan Tech Alabama Huntsville Bemidji St Northern Michigan
 
I think there is a lot of fan interest in hockey and CU could at least break even with it if not generate some revenue. That would be countered by the fact that hockey has large rosters and big budgets so the balancing womens sports would also cost a bunch.

With that I don't think you will see it anytime soon. The CEC doesn't have the floor space for a hockey sheet. There isn't a satisfactory arena in Boulder although they could play in Broomfield and draw from Boulder and the north end of Denver. A bigger problem is having a practice facility.

Also working against it is that none of our PAC 12 conference mates play hockey. I get a sense that any additional sports will be looked at from a standpoint of conference participation.
 
i was trying to focus on teams that used it as its main revenue sports... forgot north dakota :lol: BUT if it would make you happier Hockey is UMD's only D1 sport St cloud St Michigan Tech Alabama Huntsville Bemidji St Northern Michigan
yeah i really wasn't that mad.
 
hockey can produce revenue... just ask DU CC New Hampshire Vermont, Maine and BU

Yeah I don't see it at CU. DU and CC are top level hockey teams all the time, and I don't see CU's hockey time generating money consistently. There's really no recruiting base around Colorado and I'd rather focus on makin football and basketball top level before adding anything new.
 
Yeah I don't see it at CU. DU and CC are top level hockey teams all the time, and I don't see CU's hockey time generating money consistently. There's really no recruiting base around Colorado and I'd rather focus on makin football and basketball top level before adding anything new.
are you high? there is no recruiting base here? efforting stats but colorado is very fertile for hockey and surrounding areas are good to recruit for like nevada california texas are all growing and there is always canada
 
are you high? there is no recruiting base here? efforting stats but colorado is very fertile for hockey and surrounding areas are good to recruit for like nevada california texas are all growing and there is always canada

No I'm not but I do remember this discussion back in March or so and that was one of the reasons. I just don't see the need for it, especially since we just got even or in good standing with Title IX and would have to add a women's sport as well. So...I just don't see it as bringing in enough money to justify adding two scholarship sports while football carries the AD
 
I think there is a lot of fan interest in hockey and CU could at least break even with it if not generate some revenue. That would be countered by the fact that hockey has large rosters and big budgets so the balancing womens sports would also cost a bunch.

With that I don't think you will see it anytime soon. The CEC doesn't have the floor space for a hockey sheet. There isn't a satisfactory arena in Boulder although they could play in Broomfield and draw from Boulder and the north end of Denver. A bigger problem is having a practice facility.

Also working against it is that none of our PAC 12 conference mates play hockey. I get a sense that any additional sports will be looked at from a standpoint of conference participation.

Hey, at least we'd have a lot of pac 12 champion banners.
 
yeah i really wasn't that mad.

lol-he-mad.jpg
 
No I'm not but I do remember this discussion back in March or so and that was one of the reasons. I just don't see the need for it, especially since we just got even or in good standing with Title IX and would have to add a women's sport as well. So...I just don't see it as bringing in enough money to justify adding two scholarship sports while football carries the AD
did anyone say to add this today?
 
College hockey is fantastic and I would love to see CU get it. I regularly attend DU games and find it to be a good value for good hockey.

In my ideal world, baseball and hockey would be on my short list of sports to add at CU. However, at this time all focus MUST be on football and basketball.

P.S. Hockey can be cash flow positive and Colorado does produce a decent number of hockey prospects on a fairly regular basis.
 
I just asked the original question hoping someone knew if the CU AD has ever considered it. I think CU would have a recruiting edge over DU and CC because of location and campus size, particularly with American recruits. Also I believe ticket sales would be great considering the growth of youth hockey etc. in Boulder and Colorado. As a former UNH student I can say that I enjoyed attending the hockey games as much or more than any fball game.
 
I just asked the original question hoping someone knew if the CU AD has ever considered it. I think CU would have a recruiting edge over DU and CC because of location and campus size, particularly with American recruits. Also I believe ticket sales would be great considering the growth of youth hockey etc. in Boulder and Colorado. As a former UNH student I can say that I enjoyed attending the hockey games as much or more than any fball game.

I don't think you would get a lot of student attendance since the games would be in Broomfield (they aren't building a hockey arena in Boulder with all the other facility needs they have) and a high percentage of the out of state students are from states where hockey isn't a big fan draw.

Not saying it wouldn't work, I'd probably take in a few games when I am visiting family in north Denver. DU draws very well but they have the tradition and don't do football and up till recently were D2 for basketball. They are also south so a lot of fans in the north suburbs may be a ticket base.

That all said I very much doubt it would happen for lots of other reasons.
 
I don't think you would get a lot of student attendance since the games would be in Broomfield (they aren't building a hockey arena in Boulder with all the other facility needs they have) and a high percentage of the out of state students are from states where hockey isn't a big fan draw.

Not saying it wouldn't work, I'd probably take in a few games when I am visiting family in north Denver. DU draws very well but they have the tradition and don't do football and up till recently were D2 for basketball. They are also south so a lot of fans in the north suburbs may be a ticket base.

That all said I very much doubt it would happen for lots of other reasons.
CC is division 3 for everything except hockey
 
We've had this discussion many times. I, too, would absolutely love it. I'd be first in line for season tickets. However, there are so many things this athletic department has to get straightened out before we even consider adding D-1 hockey. We need a respectable football program, for one. We probably need to add 3-4 women's sports just to comply with Title IX. Then we need a facility. Actually, we probably need more than one facility. We'd need a place to practice and a place to play games. Then we'd need to find a division to play in. It's not like the WCHA would just say "ok fellas, we just happen to have a little room here for another school. C'mon in!"
 
I don't think you would get a lot of student attendance since the games would be in Broomfield (they aren't building a hockey arena in Boulder with all the other facility needs they have) and a high percentage of the out of state students are from states where hockey isn't a big fan draw.

Couldn't the CEC be retrofitted to allow for hockey? Also the vast majority of CU's out of state population is from California, which is now amazingly enough a hotbed for hockey recruits. Most of these recruits are forced to play Junior Hockey and NCAA hockey on the east coast or Midwest. I am of the opinion CU could corner the market on California and In-State recruits. As for hockey tradition, I see your view, but if University of Nebraska-Omaha and University of Alabama-Huntsville can field D-I hockey teams (and find recruits) CU should have no problem. Also if you look specifically at the Big-10 schools, Ohio State, Mich, Mich State, and Wisconsin they all field terrific football and hockey programs, the same is true of Notre Dame. I would really get behind this idea if it were ever proposed. You could alternate home and away with B-ball maximizing revenue for the CEC and athletic dept. while opening up your school to a whole new potential student base.
 
Couldn't the CEC be retrofitted to allow for hockey? Also the vast majority of CU's out of state population is from California, which is now amazingly enough a hotbed for hockey recruits. Most of these recruits are forced to play Junior Hockey and NCAA hockey on the east coast or Midwest. I am of the opinion CU could corner the market on California and In-State recruits. As for hockey tradition, I see your view, but if University of Nebraska-Omaha and University of Alabama-Huntsville can field D-I hockey teams (and find recruits) CU should have no problem. Also if you look specifically at the Big-10 schools, Ohio State, Mich, Mich State, and Wisconsin they all field terrific football and hockey programs, the same is true of Notre Dame. I would really get behind this idea if it were ever proposed. You could alternate home and away with B-ball maximizing revenue for the CEC and athletic dept. while opening up your school to a whole new potential student base.
it would be part of the renovation if they did it
 
The CEC's not big enough for a hockey rink.

Just about all dual use arenas have the seated areas on each end of the ice removable for hockey and able to be wheeled back into place for hoops. I know very little about construction, but is there a reason why the CEC could not make alterations to allow for this?
 
As for a practice facility, generally college hockey teams practice on the same ice they play on. This was the case at UNH, one of the top NCAA Hockey schools, the team played and practiced at the Whittemore Center.
 
As for a practice facility, generally college hockey teams practice on the same ice they play on. This was the case at UNH, one of the top NCAA Hockey schools, the team played and practiced at the Whittemore Center.
cu could practice on campus too in the rec center
 
Just about all dual use arenas have the seated areas on each end of the ice removable for hockey and able to be wheeled back into place for hoops. I know very little about construction, but is there a reason why the CEC could not make alterations to allow for this?

I don't know what the overall dimensions of the CEC are including the concourses, but my guess is they'd need to cut into the concourses to do that. All the NCAA D-1 hockey rinks are at least 200 feet in length with the exception of RIT, and they just broke ground on a new arena. If CU was to play on campus it would probably be cheaper to just build a new hockey arena, but my guess is they would play off campus like CC does.
 
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The CEC is pretty tight down to the BB court. As Carolina states college rinks are now all 200 feet and most are olympic width at about 100 feet wide, a few still use the NHL size at 85 feet. I'm assuming that the BB floor in the CEC is the college standard of 84 feet by 50 feet. To fit an ice sheet in there you would be doing huge amounts of remodeling including some major restructuring of foundational elements. You would also be cutting major amounts of seating capacity in the process. The cost of doing this would be a big chunk of what a new arena would cost and still end up with a sub-par facility for hockey with a strange seating configuration well above the ice.
 
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