And with that, the end of varsity hockey in the Deep South.
Last month, I wrote about the grassroots effort to save the University of Alabama-Huntsville hockey program in the face of looming budget cuts across the UA system.
Despite the best efforts of the Save the Chargers group and local officials and business owners in Huntsville,
Interim Chancellor Malcolm Portera today killed the only Division 1 hockey program south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
My thin involvement with the Chargers came in March of 2007, when I called the game for Notre Dame as UAH took the #2 Irish to double overtime in the NCAA Regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I saw the passion in the players and the passion in the Chargers fans. As few as they were, they were the seventh man for their beloved Chargers that night.
That passion came to the fore in the past few months as they tried to keep the program alive. Sadly, Dr. Portera would have none of it and just like that, the Chargers will join the likes of Wayne State, Findlay, Iona and Fairfield on the scrap heap of college hockey programs.
I am truly sad for the UAH faithful and truly disgusted with how this has happened. There are dozens upon dozens of blog posts and forum threads expressing the same sentiments.
Nashville Predators' blogger Paul McCann does not mask his contempt for Portera.
Last month, I wrote about the grassroots effort to save the University of Alabama-Huntsville hockey program in the face of looming budget cuts across the UA system.
Despite the best efforts of the Save the Chargers group and local officials and business owners in Huntsville,
Interim Chancellor Malcolm Portera today killed the only Division 1 hockey program south of the Mason-Dixon Line.My thin involvement with the Chargers came in March of 2007, when I called the game for Notre Dame as UAH took the #2 Irish to double overtime in the NCAA Regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I saw the passion in the players and the passion in the Chargers fans. As few as they were, they were the seventh man for their beloved Chargers that night.
That passion came to the fore in the past few months as they tried to keep the program alive. Sadly, Dr. Portera would have none of it and just like that, the Chargers will join the likes of Wayne State, Findlay, Iona and Fairfield on the scrap heap of college hockey programs.
I am truly sad for the UAH faithful and truly disgusted with how this has happened. There are dozens upon dozens of blog posts and forum threads expressing the same sentiments.
Nashville Predators' blogger Paul McCann does not mask his contempt for Portera.
...rest assured, there is one person to blame for this, and that is Interim Chancellor Malcom Portera. Dr. Portera ignored the commitments to fund the program, he ignored the commitments to market the program, he ignored the community support that was overwhelming in its determination to maintain UAH Hockey as a Division I sport. He carried through with the agenda he brought into the position when he came to work in Huntsville earlier this year.
A new Chancellor takes over at the end of this week. As of Friday, Dr. Portera can slink back off to whatever part of Alabama he came from and pass off a university that, quite frankly, is worse than when he found it… a thirty year tradition of hockey gone with the stroke of a pen. Congratulations Doctor… I hope you are happy with the decision you made, I hope you are pleased you negatively impacted the lives of these fine student athletes. I hope you can rest well knowing that you ripped out a big piece of not just the UAH community, but the entire Huntsville area with one uninformed and ill-reasoned decision.
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