While I wish it would happen, the possibility of the remaining
six Big 10 schools (Penn St, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana, and
Purdue) adding hockey as a varsity sport is wishful thinking for some
of the schools and in my opinion will not happen in any of our lifetimes
at the two schools that I am most familiar with.
        Penn State and Illinois have two of the premier club teams in the
country so they might be possibilities, but let me describe why I believe
that Indiana and Purdue will not add hockey.
        Having attended both universities as a student, having worked for
both universities, and having coached Purdue's club hockey team for two
years, I feel that I am familiar with the situation.   The primary reason
that neither school will add hockey deals with facilities.  Purdue has no
rink.  The closest rinks are in Danville, Illinois or Indianapolis, IN --
both about sixty miles from West Lafayette.  Indiana (unless something
new has been built in the last year or two) has either one of those rinks
built several years ago with "outdoor recreation" money (meaning that
only in the last few years could it be fully enclosed and also meaning
that spectator seating is very limited) or Indianapolis.
        With the conservative nature of the legislature in Indiana, the
possibility of money for the construction of a new facility is virtually
zero for either school.  Governor Bayh (a Democrat) has taken great pride
in the fact that he not has not increased taxes during his first seven
years in office.  The Republicans who now hold the majority in both
houses of the legislature act as if the governor was a wild spending
liberal.  Therefore, the possibility of the state assisting in the
construction of a new facility is basically nil.
        Private funds for a facility will not happen either because of
one basic flaw found in the majority of residents of Indiana.  That flaw
is the fact that people in Indiana care only about BASKETBALL!  Several
high school basketball teams have average attendance of 5,000 - 10,000.
There are girls high school coaches with their own TV shows.  IU,
Purdue regularly sell out their basketball games.  But the state does not
support other sports.  This can be demonstrated by the fact that there
are still 10,000 tickets for sale for the weekends game between the Colts
and Bills (both tied for first place).
        True, the students at both schools seem to enjoy hockey and
support it as best they can.  However, there is no one in the
administration, legislature, alumni, or general public who is willing to
make the kind of commitment necessary to bring varsity hockey to Purdue
or Indiana.
        The club team players play because they love the game and have a
good time, but varsity hockey simply will not happen at either of these
universities.
 
Mike Hodgson
 
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