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RMU cutting hockey programs


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Even if the rink is bought, even if the change.org petitions reaches tens of thousands of signatures, even if they can somehow raise a significant amount of money for the programs, the university will not reinstate the programs. Where was all this support when the teams were playing? Seems like a little too little, a little too late now. 

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24 minutes ago, forbin said:

Even if the rink is bought, even if the change.org petitions reaches tens of thousands of signatures, even if they can somehow raise a significant amount of money for the programs, the university will not reinstate the programs. Where was all this support when the teams were playing? Seems like a little too little, a little too late now. 

Agreed. The petition isn't going to make a difference anyway when nobody pays to see what was a very good hockey program play.

I'm more concerned about the rink staying open, which is something that someone like Black Bear could actually ensure.

Even if the program was resurrected, who would still be willing to play there after the way the school dissolved it without warning once already? I'm sure there are players without another option, but recruiting could never recover from that.

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18 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

No, in order to make it work you would need a market that would support it, which Pittsburgh does not have.  They don’t support the ACHA teams, they don’t support Chatham, they don’t support the Vengeance Junior Team, and they didn’t support RMU.  All of these programs had family and a few friends in the stands and that was it.  No school or AD is going to “take a chance” on that. But if it makes you feel better go ahead and keep hoping.

Um, this is why the term "marketing" exists. None of these teams have that. 

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6 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

Um, this is why the term "marketing" exists. None of these teams have that. 

Ah, so no one from the community goes to these games or supports these teams because the schools or the organization’s don’t market it.  And here I thought it was because the area only really follows or cares about the pro teams.  My mistake.  Please don’t take my comments as an attack on Pittsburgh as being a crappy hockey town, they don’t support the schools other sports either.  Probably because of not knowing schools like Pitt have a football or basketball team.  

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11 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

Ah, so no one from the community goes to these games or supports these teams because the schools or the organization’s don’t market it.  And here I thought it was because the area only really follows or cares about the pro teams.  My mistake.  Please don’t take my comments as an attack on Pittsburgh as being a crappy hockey town, they don’t support the schools other sports either.  Probably because of not knowing schools like Pitt have a football or basketball team.  

No, you're right. Having no marketing to create appeal, interest, or simply let people know where and when you're playing HELPS organizations to grow a crowd. 

Never once have I seen a representative of one of the schools at a tournament so much as handing out some free tickets to the kids. 

Going to games isn't in anyone's minds, so they don't go. 

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38 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

Ah, so no one from the community goes to these games or supports these teams because the schools or the organization’s don’t market it.  And here I thought it was because the area only really follows or cares about the pro teams.  My mistake.  Please don’t take my comments as an attack on Pittsburgh as being a crappy hockey town, they don’t support the schools other sports either.  Probably because of not knowing schools like Pitt have a football or basketball team.  

Pitt basketball ha sucked for years, not unlike the Pirates.  You win, people show up.

Pitt football?  That is a joke - students need to get on a bus to attend games and help the program to boost a "home field advantage?"  That is laughable.  Schools with on-site facilities that are much smaller and lesser funded programs than Pitt support their teams because they have an on-campus presence.  Hell, teams in the MAC get better support than Pitt does.  

Look at Miami, Bowling Green, OU hockey get great support because their rinks are on campus.  Students can have a few beers at the dorm, then walk to the games.  RMU never had the student support those schools get.

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1 minute ago, fafa fohi said:

Pitt basketball ha sucked for years, not unlike the Pirates.  You win, people show up.

Pitt football?  That is a joke - students need to get on a bus to attend games and help the program to boost a "home field advantage?"  That is laughable.  Schools with on-site facilities that are much smaller and lesser funded programs than Pitt support their teams because they have an on-campus presence.  Hell, teams in the MAC get better support than Pitt does.  

Look at Miami, Bowling Green, OU hockey get great support because their rinks are on campus.  Students can have a few beers at the dorm, then walk to the games.  RMU never had the student support those schools get.

I agree, Athens is a great place to watch a game, have been to tons, but when you go there, half the rink is students, and half is the community from around the area, who have never even attended college, but they come to the games anyway.  My question is why do they support hockey there, but if you went to watch RMU, Slippery Rock, Duquesne or Pitt there are very few if any non-family or friends at the game?  It can’t because these teams suck, because at this time Pitt was better than the Bobcats and beat them every time.  So, I’ll ask again, why do these schools get little support? The answers I have gotten are, they don’t market well, they don’t support teams that don’t win, and they don’t have a rink on campus.  Is this correct?

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12 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

I agree, Athens is a great place to watch a game, have been to tons, but when you go there, half the rink is students, and half is the community from around the area, who have never even attended college, but they come to the games anyway.  My question is why do they support hockey there, but if you went to watch RMU, Slippery Rock, Duquesne or Pitt there are very few if any non-family or friends at the game?  It can’t because these teams suck, because at this time Pitt was better than the Bobcats and beat them every time.  So, I’ll ask again, why do these schools get little support? The answers I have gotten are, they don’t market well, they don’t support teams that don’t win, and they don’t have a rink on campus.  Is this correct?

What else is there to do in Athens? Maybe Pittsburgh has a lot of entertainment options.

 Also, with our kids' own hockey schedules, we rarely have time to catch another team's games.

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8 minutes ago, Saucey said:

What else is there to do in Athens? Maybe Pittsburgh has a lot of entertainment options.

 Also, with our kids' own hockey schedules, we rarely have time to catch another team's games.

Yes! The answer I was looking for! I agree, Pittsburgh supports the pro teams, and rarely is there time for anything else. This lack of support then leads to sometimes why certain programs go away.  RMU is just one instance.  No one’s fault, I just didn’t believe it was because the schools don’t market well, or there is no rink in campus.  Thank you Saucey, for the honest response.  I gotta go now, thanks again.

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1 hour ago, Eddie Shore said:

I agree, Athens is a great place to watch a game, have been to tons, but when you go there, half the rink is students, and half is the community from around the area, who have never even attended college, but they come to the games anyway.  My question is why do they support hockey there, but if you went to watch RMU, Slippery Rock, Duquesne or Pitt there are very few if any non-family or friends at the game?  It can’t because these teams suck, because at this time Pitt was better than the Bobcats and beat them every time.  So, I’ll ask again, why do these schools get little support? The answers I have gotten are, they don’t market well, they don’t support teams that don’t win, and they don’t have a rink on campus.  Is this correct?

liberty university sells out every game and their acha d1. 

 

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8 minutes ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

liberty university sells out every game and their acha d1. 

 

Yep, been there, great school and great programs (actually they have D1 and D2, at least they did).  Roanoke supports the school but much like Athens not much else to do there (no pro teams).  This is why I don’t think a school or AD will “just take a chance” on pushing for NCAA hockey, it won’t have enough support to sustain.  

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6 minutes ago, Saucey said:

Black Bear tweeted they are ready to buy the Island and will commit to keep the programs.

Yeah he has a good plan and the right intentions but there is a zero percent chance that RMU reinstates the programs unless the powers at be at RMU are out of a job soon. Apparently there’s more to this whole story than meets the eye. 

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Any idea what will happen to the RMU Island Sports Center then?   If they don't want to pay for the facility upgrades, I'd imagine they would sell it at some point.   The FB page says they aren't going anywhere... but with the way the D1 hockey announcement was conducted, I wouldn't be surprised to hear anything now in the guise of saving money.

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1 hour ago, bb2j3z said:

Any idea what will happen to the RMU Island Sports Center then?   If they don't want to pay for the facility upgrades, I'd imagine they would sell it at some point.   The FB page says they aren't going anywhere... but with the way the D1 hockey announcement was conducted, I wouldn't be surprised to hear anything now in the guise of saving money.

Their FB says they aren't going anywhere because they don't want all their families pulling out thinking their kids wont have a place to play in the fall. I am fairly certain we can expect an announcement in coming weeks about the sale to someone like Black Bear. No idea what that will mean for the programs there. I hope for everyone's sake its business as usual.

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2 hours ago, bb2j3z said:

Any idea what will happen to the RMU Island Sports Center then?   If they don't want to pay for the facility upgrades, I'd imagine they would sell it at some point.   The FB page says they aren't going anywhere... but with the way the D1 hockey announcement was conducted, I wouldn't be surprised to hear anything now in the guise of saving money.

I agree with @forbin. It's hard to imagine that they did what they did without a plan for selling the rink - why cancel the D1 programs if you plan to keep owning the ice? (The reverse - selling the facility but not cancelling the programs - would be MUCH more understandable, and it'll be much cheaper to rent ice for the club teams than it is to maintain the entire facility.)

I don't have insider information here, but it would not surprise me to learn that they had a plan to cancel the D1 programs and sell the rink, possibly/probably including already knowing who would actually be buying the rink, at the time they were planning the basketball arena. I know this is pure unsupported conspiracy theory, but it just has the feel of a long term plan to stay relevant in D1 sports while transitioning to a less expensive sport.

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If they would have just outfitted the new UPMC center on campus for hockey when they were building it, they could have had their cake and ate it too. More fans, more money, better facility attracts better prospects, which could equal more winning, more exposure, more donor money etc...

NOT TO MENTION they still could have went and sold the island sports center to whomever and made enough money to build the dumb "diversity center" that they wanted too. But again, when these plans for the new UPMC center were being purposed they didn't even once consider their hockey teams involvement. The bottom line is Howard DOES NOT CARE ABOUT HOCKEY and will be happy that its one less thing he has to worry about. 

It seriously pisses me off how poorly this whole situation was handled. They could have had it all. That place would have been rocking on a Friday night with hockey fans. Might even put some of the others smaller D1 programs to shame.

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13 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

To stay relevant, you would have had to actually have been relevant. Other than Hockey, I don't think any of their other sports can be considered relevant.

What I meant was substitute another D1 sport for hockey, and then become relevant. You are, of course, correct.

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  • 1 month later...
52 minutes ago, HockeyMom5 said:

Still begs the question of why anyone who can play anywhere else wouldn't prefer it, but this is good news.

I'll believe in the continuation of the programs when I see them take the ice, though. I won't be holding my breath.

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On 7/14/2021 at 11:54 AM, Lifelongbender said:

Still begs the question of why anyone who can play anywhere else wouldn't prefer it, but this is good news.

I'll believe in the continuation of the programs when I see them take the ice, though. I won't be holding my breath.

didn't they lose a decent amount of players to transfers ? Something like 7-10 kids and it was the better ones too.... Guess a bunch of club kids will move up for a season. BUT who in their right mind would wanna go there after this rug pull?

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