It has been 24 years since the University, under an intense financial crunch, decided to eliminate several varsity sports in order to save money.
Penn students protested the decision with a sit-in at College Hall and were able to save a few teams, like golf and gymnastics, but varsity ice hockey could not be rescued from the purge.
Hockey has lived on at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink in the form of Penn's men's and women's club teams. For their part, the men have done quite well recently, improving by leaps and bounds over the past four years from being mediocre at best to being a very successful team.
Last Friday, Penn dealt Montclair its first league loss in two years and closed in on the championship of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association.
Perhaps, the most impressive thing about the club, however, is that despite virtually no publicity, and an arena on the far eastern frontier of Penn's campus, people actually show up for the games. At least 60 fans showed up to watch the Quakers play Montclair, and an even greater number can probably be expected for Friday's home finale against Lafayette.
Sixty fans might not seem like a lot next to the thousands who go to the Palestra for men's basketball, until you consider the attendance figures for some of the other major varsity sports, all of which benefit from pregame write-ups in the Daily Pennsylvanian and promotion by the Athletic Department.
The Penn men's soccer team averaged 243 fans at its home games this fall, while the women drew 228 per game. Last spring, the Penn baseball team averaged 164 fans per home date.
Even the defending Ivy League champion women's basketball team could not entice more than 284 and 293 fans to come to the Palestra for last month's games with league powers Harvard and Dartmouth.
There is clearly some interest in hockey on campus, and bringing back the game of sticks and pucks at the varsity level at Penn could only serve to expand that interest, not to mention to boost interest in the Red and Blue's other athletic teams.
There are three major hurdles that the University must clear in order to reinstate varsity hockey.
The most obvious problem has the most obvious solution. Bringing back men's hockey would give Penn trouble complying with Title IX -- that obstacle could easily be overcome by also starting a women's team.
Then, there's the matter of competing. Penn would be hard-pressed to compete in the ECAC, the powerful conference which is home to the other six Ivy schools with hockey. (Columbia does not have a hockey team.)
While the ECAC is not as strong as Hockey East or the leagues of the Midwest, Penn would need to act quickly to build a strong program.
Doing so would be important to keep up interest levels in the team after the reinstatement, and there are plenty of coaches available.
Take, for instance, 1997 NHL Coach of the Year Ted Nolan, who has been looking for a job since he left the Buffalo Sabres after winning that award. And that's not mentioning the possibility of hiring former Flyers stars, any of whom would fit the bill as the leader of a new program with the capability of building Penn into a power within a few years as a draw for recruits and for fans.
Keeping up interest, especially beyond Penn's campus, would be important to solving the final major obstacle involved with reinstating varsity hockey.
Somehow, the team would have to be funded.
Penn students should be able to see the games for free, as they do for every sport on campus other than men's basketball. In order to fund a hockey team, though, the University would need to charge admission to non-students, as it does for football.
Ticket sales alone, however, would not be enough. Penn would need to get creative with funding and promoting a hockey team. One idea would be to use the time-honored minor league baseball idea of a 50/50 raffle. At every game, the school could sell raffle tickets for a dollar, hold a drawing and give half the kitty to a lucky fan. The other half of the proceeds would go to help fund the team.
It will not be easy to bring back hockey, but there is enough interest, and it can and should be done. Until it happens, there will still be fine club hockey to watch at the Class of 1923 Rink.
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