With the arrival of the Frozen Four here in D.C. just a month away, this news is extremely troubling:
“Bowling Green, a program with a storied past including a national
championship in 1984, could be eliminated as a varsity program under
cost-cutting measures at the university — confirming rumors that have
swirled for weeks.”
BG’s is a program with a rich history — Ron Mason and Jerry York as former coaches, Rob Blake, Ken Morrow, Nelson Emerson, and Brian MacLellan as alumni. Brian Holzinger and George McPhee won Hobey Baker trophies as Falcons.
But the program for some years has been a pale reflection of its once powerful past. The Falcons haven’t enjoyed a winning season since 1997. The team plays in what is easily one of the worst rinks in all of D-I college hockey, and promises to renovate and upgrade now have been obliterated. Now news that budget woes are such that the school’s hockey team is on death row. College hockey is an expensive undertaking for any school; my fear is that in our current economy BG’s program may not be alone.
3 Comments
I clicked on this hoping it was not going to be about my grad school alma mater.
I agree about the rink. It was not that great 15 years ago.
I was there during the Holzinger Era and it was a fun time to be a fan there, even though there was never CCHA or NCAA success.
A very sad bit of news. I have many many memories of the old building. The boards and glass have been upgraded to the latest technology and the overhead lighting has been added to, so I don’t feel its an unsafe place to play. The attendance is just not up to a viable level.
I hope someone can get creative in raising the funds to keep hockey at BGSU. Please!!!
As a Michigan undergrad in the 80′s when the hockey program went from bad to respectable, we could always count on a tough game when BG came to town. Seats in Yost were easier to get back then so you could also count on at least a few hundred traveling BG fans in the hideous brown/orange color scheme. I have plenty of family in the Toledo/NW Ohio area and things are tough there right now in a way few of us in DC can imagine. I hope they can get their act together in a responsible way that makes sense for the school and for the whole community.
Go Blue,
Paul
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