To pick up on Tim Newman's comments about why UIC would shut down its hockey program... College hockey fans need to understand that it is a VERY expensive sport for a campus to maintain. The cost of a full-fledged D-I program is astronomical: the combination of salaries, scholarships (especially for private schools), equipment, operating costs, travel, rink maintenance, and so on is second only to football. Some schools can handle these costs fairly well: they may enjoy, as Tim noted, corporate or alumni support; and/or generate revenue from their ice rink; and/or generate decent revenue from ticket sales or from revenues from other sports (I'd suspect that Michigan football carries a big part of the athletic department's budget). Absent that kind of $$$ support, hockey can be a rather large budgetary black hole. Again, however, if the sport helps to put the institution on the map (it is the "flagship" sport for that school, as at Alaska-Fairbanks; or it enjoys significant popularity, as at Vermont), it may well be considered worth the cost by the institution. But if all those factors are absent, then it shouldn't be a surprise to see a college reconsider continuation of a hockey program. That was certainly the case at Kent State, was almost the case at Ferris State, and appears to be the case at UIC -- though I'd certainly agree that UIC didn't handle the issue very well at all. With budget problems increasing at colleges and universities all over the U.S., hockey programs that are marginal or not strongly competitive are more likely to come under scrutiny. I suspect UIC won't be the last D-I hockey program to go under.... --------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Stephen E. Roth [log in to unmask] Dean of Student Services Canisius College (716) 888-2522 Buffalo, New York 14226 FAX (716) 888-3190 --------------------------------------------------------- HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.