Alabama Huntsville hockey program given chance to return; current players already transferring

In an article posted Tuesday on AL.com, Alabama Huntsville has unveiled a plan to give the hockey program time to get funding to keep the team alive.The school announced the termination of the hockey program on Friday, citing budget issues.According to the AL.com report, the plan is to raise $750,000 by this Friday, May 29, from donors and alumni.As of Wednesday afternoon, more than $182,000 had been raised in a GoFundMe fundraiser. An email to UAH sent Tuesday asking if the school is backing that fundraiser had not been returned as of Wednesday afternoon.Alabama Huntsville athletic director Cade Smith told AL.com that if the money was raised, the hockey team would be back on the ice.”[UAH president] Dr. [Darren] Dawson had given them a number, if we can raise this amount for one year, then we can play this next season and that would give time to figure out how they’re going to raise additional funds,” Smith said. “We were asking them these are the terms that have to be raised long-term.”In last Friday’s announcement, endorsed by both Dawson and Smith, the first sentence reads, “UAH is experiencing enormous challenges as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”On Tuesday, however, Smith said there is more to the cutting of the hockey and tennis programs than the virus.“Was it just COVID? No,” Smith said to AL.com. “Did that make it go faster? Yes. Was it just the conference thing? No. Did that add to it? Yes. Was it that our record wasn’t very strong? No. Did that add to it? Yes.”Alabama Huntsville, along with Alaska and Alaska Anchorage, was not named as part of the new CCHA set to begin play in 2021-22 that will boast current WCHA teams.Record-wise, UAH went 2-26-6 (2-20-6 WCHA) in 2019-20 and 8-28-2 (8-18-2 WCHA) in 2018-19.Since the announcement, two freshman UAH players from the 2019-29 season have announced their plans to transfer via Twitter as defenseman Tanner Hickey is off to Arizona State and freshman forward Liam Izyk will play next for Boston College.https://twitter.com/hicks_8/status/1265415103916265473?s=11https://twitter.com/liamizyk11/status/1265387576585846785?s=11Hickey compiled three goals and 10 points in 30 games last season, while Izyk registered three goals among 11 points over 32 games for the Chargers.