Lack of varsity status puzzles hockey club

Since 1979, Penn has been without the excitement and the rich tradition of the other Ivy League schools, with the one exception of Columbia. What sets Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, and Harvard apart from Columbia and Penn is the existence of a varsity ice hockey program. "I'd love to have ice hockey, but the energy and time and commitments necessary to get that going would take away what we needed to do to make our existing programs better," Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. Jake Glaser, co-president of the Penn hockey club, said he has made the effort to bring the varsity ice hockey program back to Penn by trying to get in touch with Bilsky and other Penn officials, but information has not been forthcoming. Glaser cited Title IX as the probable reason why Penn officials have been unresponsive. "The University doesn't want to bring another men's team that would cost a lot of money, because they would then have to add a costly women's team." While Penn has been unable to make the commitment to a varsity ice hockey team, the other Ivy League schools have. In addition to continued success at or near the top of the ECAC standings, Harvard's varsity ice hockey team has enjoyed national television coverage in Boston's Beanpot Tournament.This annual event features Harvard and three other schools in the Boston area -- Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern University. And while students at Penn camp out hours in advance to get basketball tickets, Cornell students camp out two or three days in advance in order to get varsity ice hockey tickets. Since Penn lacks a varsity ice hockey program, the student body cannot share in the excitement experienced by students at Cornell and the other Ivy League colleges. Glaser, a College senior, found it "ridiculous that an Ivy League school does not have a varsity ice hockey team." While he admits that it would be unlikely he would play on a bona fide Division I varsity ice hockey team, Glaser would still "love to have a team at the University." Andrew Kramar, the other co-president and a College senior, added that he felt "cheated" by the University's lack of a varsity program. Kramar was puzzled as to the exact reasons why the University has no ice hockey team. While Columbia's director of sports information, Bill Steinman, cited a lack of facilities as Columbia's reason for not having a varsity ice hockey program, the University has the Class of 1923 Ice Rink at its disposal. According to Glaser, the varsity ice hockey program was disbanded 16 years ago after then-Athletic Director Andy Geiger attended a game in which several fights broke out on the ice. In addition to the on-ice brawls, many members of the crowd added to the problems by being rowdy and throwing debris on the ice.