The University of Michigan has the next step in bringing an NCAA Division 1 women's hockey team to the school in motion, beginning their feasibility study last month.
The University of Michigan has the next step in bringing an NCAA Division 1 women's hockey team to the school in motion, beginning their feasibility study last month.
After calls for the University of Michigan to bring NCAA Division 1 women's hockey to the state reached a fever pitch this year, the school officially launched a feasibility study.
The study will look into cost, facilities, expenses, options to join a league/conference, and how adding a new program to the University of Michigan's offerings would impact Title IX.
According to MLive, who first reported on the launch of the study, the University of Michigan have hired Collegiate Sports Associates to lead the study, with data support from College Hockey Inc..
It's expected the study will be complete this Fall.
“I’m very excited about it,” Denise Ilitch, a member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents said to MLive. “The athletic department has been very receptive and has moved swiftly, so I’m very excited that we’re in the process now of the study. I’m excited to have everybody be interviewed – I’ll be interviewed as well – so I think it’s going really well. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
While many voices have come into this conversation with the immense level of women's hockey talent coming out of Michigan. This week Elle Hartje was selected 25th overall by New York in the PWHL Draft. The Detroit, Michigan product, who donned a Detroit Lions jacket at the Draft, used a moment of her time in the spotlight to advocate for women's hockey in Michigan.
"Michigan always is churning out grade A players at the national level and the world level, and so it's really bizarre that there's no Division 1 programs there," Hartje said.
If Illitch and Hartje have their ways, and if the University Michigan's feasibility study goes the way women's hockey in Michigan hope, that D1 program could be wearing the maize and blue of the Michigan Wolverines.
"More hockey needs to be brought to Michigan because Michigan is a hockey state," said Hartje.