Sports
Ohio Hockey: Club vs Division I
By: Duncan Goldberg
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Ohio University hockey is one of the best teams in ACHA Division I year in and year out. The Bobcats have been in ACHA DI since 1991 and have won three national championships; They also have never placed lower than 10th in the final national rankings. ACHA stands for American Collegiate Hockey Association and has three divisions (one, two and three), with division one being the best. Teams in the ACHA are not allowed to give scholarships to their players because it is club hockey, which means the university does not fund the program; it is funded by the hockey team itself.
Most experts describe ACHA DI players to be about as good as players that play NCAA DIII hockey, but for the top teams in the ACHA, that is not completely true. For the Bobcats, many of the players on their team were recruited to play NCAA DI hockey but just missed out on one of the teams final spots. This is one of the reasons why Ohio hockey is so good year in and year out. So the question is, why have the Bobcats not made the switch from ACHA DI to NCAA DI?
One of things that not many people know about Ohio hockey is the fact that from 1966-73, the Bobcats were actually in NCAA DI. In only their second season in the NCAA, the Bobcats finished 16-11 and showed promise that they could have success at such a high level of hockey. After the 1972-73 season, the program left the NCAA and became a club hockey team. The exact reason why the program left the NCAA is not known.
The reason why Ohio hockey hasn’t made the shift back to the NCAA is quite simple: money. In order for Ohio to make this shift, it would require millions and millions of dollars. The exact number is not known, but to put things in perspective, when Penn State made the switch from ACHA to NCAA, their hockey program got an $89 million donation. When Arizona State made the switch, they got a $35 million donation. The reason why teams need so much money to make the move is because the school would be funding the program. It takes a lot of money to start up a program like this, because NCAA players are awarded scholarships. It would cost a lot of money to fund the things the program might need, like a new arena, travel expenses, equipment and much more.
Head coach Sean Hogan believes that if the Bobcats made the shift from the ACHA to the NCAA that “Ohio hockey would make money and would win games at that level.” So if anyone out there reading this is sitting on $89 million and would like to help, give coach Hogan a call.