Upgrading the Ice Hockey Team to Varsity Status Makes More Sense

In some recent posts on the www.cyclonefanatic.com message board, people are talking about bringing back the baseball program to ISU, as the ISU Athletic Dept., probably, is getting up to ten more million dollars per year with the new TV deal through the reformed Big 12 conference. I'm doubtful that baseball will be brought back -- why? Here are my reasons:

• The collegiate baseball season starts in February when there still is a strong possibility of below zero temperatures in Ames. Yes, February is still the dead of Winter here in Iowa. Not practical to play baseball here during Winter weather. The NCAA isn't about to change when the season starts so long as the southern teams have their way.
• ISU does not have the facilities to be competitive in baseball and would have to massively spend money in upgrading them.
• The ISU baseball team never had the attendance it needed to be a viable varsity sport. Most crowds at Cap Timm Field were, at most, two or three dozen rarely breaking a hundred. The Ames High baseball team frequently draws larger crowds at Brookside Park. BTW, ISU attendance for baseball games was free of charge.

Here are my reasons why upgrading the Cyclone ice hockey team to varsity status makes more sense:

• Iowa is a cold weather state and the October through March season coincides with our cold weather time.
• ISU has facilities in place to be a competitive hockey program. Hilton Coliseum is a fantastic place to see a hockey game. I know this from personal experience as I watched hockey games at Hilton when the ACHA championships were held there some years back. The Ames/ISU Ice Arena offers a ready made practice facility. All there needs to be added is a dedicated weight room at the ice arena, and offices in the Athletic Dept. office space in the Jacobsen Building.
• For a club program, the ISU hockey team has fantastic attendance almost always exceeding 1,000 and often filling the ice arena to capacity of about 2,100. If the games are held at Hilton, I'm sure attendance will only go up as other marquee programs play ISU such as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The likely association (conference) the Cyclone hockey team will end up in will be the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) if upgraded. This league's current membership comprises of:

• University of Minnesota
• University of Wisconsin
• U of Minn, Duluth
• Minnesota State University
• University of North Dakota
• St. Cloud State University
• Denver University
• University of Alaska at Anchorage
• Colorado College
• Michigan Technical University (who dat?)

For most of these teams, the ice hockey program is their pride and joy, so they will bring fairly large followings to Ames for home games. ISU owns a wonderful reputation in ice hockey thanks to Dr. Alan Murdoch, AKA "Dr. Hockey", the hockey team coaching staff, and the cooperation of the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau. Yeah, the team would have to travel to Anchorage, Alaska once a year, otherwise, with so many teams in neighboring states, travel should not be a problem. With all these positives vis-a-vis baseball, I really believe ice hockey is the sport to add if the ISU Athletic Dept. should choose to expand.

Still, the hockey team will need help in reaching varsity status from sources other than the Athletic Dept. Large donors will be needed in order to show there is viable support for a varsity hockey program. Instead of trying to field a professional hockey team in Central Iowa, why not take advantage of Iowans' love of college sports and fund the upgrade of the Cyclone hockey program? I would have no problem trading some games with Wells Fargo Arena as home ice instead of Hilton if that is what would be needed in order for this upgrade to happen. There is an already established passionate following for Cyclone hockey and, if they are successful, that following can only expand. Otherwise, the hockey association in Des Moines could just donate the money and take the tax break. The ice hockey team is one the few championship traditions at ISU. Why not feature this tradition?