A number of prominant members of the hockey community have formed committee with the sole purpose of promoting college hockey to current non-varsity college hockey programs. Committee members will make themselves available to all colleges and universities to provide testimony as to the benefits of developing a varsity program.
Some members of the committee include Herb Brooks, head coach of the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team; Brian Burke, president and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks; Bill Cleary, athletic director at Harvard; Craig Dahl, St. Cloud State head coach; Don Lucia, Minnesota head coach; Brian Mullen, NHL Enterprises; Andy Murray, Los Angeles Kings head coach; and Julie Sasner, Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach.
“It’s a wonderful idea,” said Brooks. “It’s important that we must do everything we can to expand opportunities for our youth players coming up through the ranks.”
In 1998, there were 131 men’s and 40 women’s NCAA varsity hockey teams. For men, there were 52 Division I, 13 Division II and 66 Division III programs, and for women, 16 Division I, four Division II and 20 Division III programs.
