REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

[Nowheresville]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

I am really curious how UND thinks they'll be able to pass Title IX cutting two womens programs but only cutting one mens program. There are a few different ways you can be in compliance, but with a roughly 50/50 mix of men and women in the student body and a football program that takes up a lot of resources/roster spots on the male side of things it's hard for me to see how they make this work legally.

I see that UND's golf program was saved thanks to private donations from similar cuts, and with the support the teams hockey program has, I wonder if someone would step forward to support the womens hockey team.

Of course, at this point, even if the program is saved, Its hard to see how it overcomes the damage of today's news, especially with how the team was(n't) informed.

[Iceburg]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Not only that, they would need to redshirt a year first if they transfer to another WCHA team.

Guessing that would not apply in this case.

[BuckyPete]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Guessing that would not apply in this case.

Correct. Sitting out a year within the conference only applies if your program still exists. For example, when Alabama-Birmingham cut football in 2014, those players could transfer within Conference USA without sitting out.

[Arafel]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

I am really curious how UND thinks they'll be able to pass Title IX cutting two womens programs but only cutting one mens program. There are a few different ways you can be in compliance, but with a roughly 50/50 mix of men and women in the student body and a football program that takes up a lot of resources/roster spots on the male side of things it's hard for me to see how they make this work legally.

I see that UND's golf program was saved thanks to private donations from similar cuts, and with the support the teams hockey program has, I wonder if someone would step forward to support the womens hockey team.

Of course, at this point, even if the program is saved, Its hard to see how it overcomes the damage of today's news, especially with how the team was(n't) informed.

Probably because they cut men's baseball last year, and men's golf is up for the chop as well.

[Puckdrop14]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

This really plays poorly on the school and the Athletics department. Good luck with your recruiting going forward. I really do feel for the girls and sincerely hope that all of them are successful with transfers to other more respectful programs! As for sitting out a year if they find a WCHA home, you would think that the rule would not apply in a situation like this one. Brutal.

[Reggie44]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Bad precedent set here. St. Cloud has had budget issues also and could save themselves a million dollars in one fell swoop. Bad day for women's hockey.

[ne7minder]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

This really plays poorly on the school and the Athletics department. Good luck with your recruiting going forward. I really do feel for the girls and sincerely hope that all of them are successful with transfers to other more respectful programs! As for sitting out a year if they find a WCHA home, you would think that the rule would not apply in a situation like this one. Brutal.

If the program does not exist there is no 1-year wait. While I won't miss the goon squad in green I do feel terrible for the women who committed there. Many could play on other programs but what about credits and I doubt there are scholarships just sitting there to be used. What a horrible thing for them. I don't know what UNDs options were, maybe this is the best they could do. About the only thing I could think would be to play one more year to give the kids a chance to shop around a little. But I suppose that would be pretty bleak for the team too.

[MadCityRich]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Sad news for the hockey community.

I wonder if UND reached out to the Engelstad family because of it's past donations in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls. If UND did, and the family said NO because of the Sioux thing...that would be interesting.

[ne7minder]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Sad news for the hockey community.

I wonder if UND reached out to the Engelstad family because of it's past donations in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls. If UND did, and the family said NO because of the Sioux thing...that would be interesting.

more likely they would say no because of the girl thing. I was really disappointed when we went to games there. There is a relatively small set of pictures for their national championships & huge images of formr players hoisting the Stanley Cup. Apparently the school only wants to be a farm team for the NHL.

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Man, NoDak looks terrible here.

Can we even call UND a university anymore? seems clear to me there's no class

[Puckdrop14]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

I am sure that a few Canadian schools would welcome some talent from south of the border!

[drewkal]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

Very, very sad, a top notch program in Women's Hockey premier league gone? I've always enjoyed the drives form Mpls to the Ralph. Last years was right into a monster blizzard, and that's what we will remember, I guess.

Interesting observation: Isn't the State of North Dakota afloat on a ocean of oil and natural gas? Aren't/haven't they been collecting lots of taxes on this natural resource? The amount of $$ to support a program that already has one of the finest arenas in the world, in a city with, sorry, not much going on, is minimal. They can afford the gals hockey, and their swim teams!! Did the legislature have a say in this decision?

[SJHovey]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

more likely they would say no because of the girl thing. I was really disappointed when we went to games there. There is a relatively small set of pictures for their national championships & huge images of formr players hoisting the Stanley Cup. Apparently the school only wants to be a farm team for the NHL.

They'd probably say no because it wouldn't solve the problem. Are they just going to write a check every year to cover the cost of the team?

It sucks the story leaked to the Herald before the team was notified. But that's not the first time something like this has happened in sports, and it won't be the last. But until that I hear it was the President or AD who leaked it, that's on the individual(s) within the University who felt selfish enough to spill the beans to the Herald without thinking about the team.

It is extremely sad that at a school with the hockey tradition of North Dakota they can't make a women's team viable. But there are also some very simple truths the University faced that probably left them with no choice.

They were compelled by the Legislature to cut $1.3 million from their athletic budget. Women's hockey cost the school more than $1.5 million to operate, but generated less than $100,000 in revenue. That's for about 25 student athletes. The choice is to cut one expensive program or a whole lot of inexpensive programs. If you take option #2, you affect a lot more student athletes.

I feel terrible for the coaching staff and team, and even for those athletes who brought the program to where it was. But I'm not exactly sure what real alternatives existed.

[MND3Dad]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

I bet a couple there are MIAC schools who would EAGERLY pick up those Minnesota-born No Dak players if they can't find a DI school with open roster spots. But there is a plethora of foreign imports on that roster, wonder what happens to them?

[Arafel]

Re: REPORT: North Dakota cutting women's hockey

It wasn't just leaked to the Herald. It's been out there for a while. I heard about it from some reporters I knew when I was at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. I tweeted about a possible bad thing happening over the weekend. It was a badly kept secret, and as such they really should have talked to the players well in advance.