[comments about the condition od OSU Hockey deleted]
 
When you consider what poor support Coach Welsh gets from the University, it is
not too hard to see why the program suffers so.  As stated, the facility is
awful.  If not the worst arena in Div. I, I'll wager that it has the smallest
ice surface.  I once overheard a conversation between blueline club members in
which one commented on the visit of a recruiting prospect, "Are teh facilities
really as bad as I have heard?"  The player wasn't interested in the school,
academics or even teh program - he wanted to know if the rink was really as
bad as he had heard up in Canada.
 
With that in mind, I don't think that Ohio State can recruit competatively with
the other CCHA schools.  And as such, I think Jerry Welsh has done an excellent
job with what he is given.  The athletic department (and even president Gee) is
always commenting that the ice rink needs to be upgraded.  But they are on a
perpetual five-year plan to do it.  (I think they have been on a five year
plan since 1985 at least.)  But building a new rink is not a minor endevor, but
it is not impossible.
 
Among other assests, the OSU rink it is the only rink in Columbus.  That means
that with good management and scheduling of public skating and hockey, the new
rink could turn into a money maker.  Perhaps witht the Columbus Chill now
playing in the ECHA, the public demand for a quality ice rink will be high
enough that OSU will pursue building a new one.  (Yeah - fat chance . . . :-)
 
     - Pat
.
 
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