At 01:59 PM 4/4/98 -0700, John T. Whelan wrote:
>>what's with the Rhode Island
>>stuff? Did Mr. Levy figure he could toss all those puny little New England
>>states in his metaphorical hat, and draw out any name he "chose" as being
>>basically interchangeable? Yeeks!
 
>        The amusing thing is that he picked out the one New England
>state whose "University of X" doesn't have a D1 hockey team!  (UConn
>is technically D1 and will be in the MAAC next year.)
 
In the funny you should mention that category, I bumped into URI AD Ron
Petro at the finals in Boston. I didn't think to ask at the time if he was
there in any official capacity but got the impression he was just there as
a fan.
 
I did ask him if URI would be upgrading their club program and he rsponded
that they were working on putting together a bond package to upgrade the
athletic facilities. The existing facility (Keaney Gym) from everything
I've ever heard is comparable to Merrimack's Volpe rink, but older.
The political viability of a new facility of course increased tremendously
with the Rams bball success this year. But he was clear that the new
building would include two sheets and related amenities and that an upgrade
of the hockey program was intended. Articles I've seen since have
concentrated on the potential impact on the hoop program and only mentioned
that adding ice surfacs would increase the cost 20% to $50 million.
 
Prior to coming to URI, Petro was AD at Alaska Anchorage. What, if any,
impact he had on the UAA hockey program might give some insight on his
committment to developing a program at URI. Can anyone comment on that?
 
And, before UAA, Petro was bball coach and AD at Marist College when I was
an undergrad in the early '70's. Marist now has a successful ACHA club
program that draws SRO cowds (1000+) to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, that
I've been told draws more student support than its D1 hoop program
(presumably at least since Rik Smits graduated.) I'm fuzzy on whether Petro
was still there when the club program really took hold, sometime after the
MHCC was built in he late '70s, and have no idea if he was, if he had
anything to do with it. Marist joined the MAAC this year, but from the lack
of any mention of the Red Foxes by those following the development of the
hockey component of that league, I think what I was told when I met the
head coach there about three years ago is still true - it ain't gonna happen.
 
-Bill Schneller
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