NHL invests in building college hockey at Michigan school

The state of Michigan has seven Division I colleges with men’s hockey programs and no Division I schools with a women’s hockey program.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the NHL and NHL Players Association, Oakland University is going to see whether it can change that in the near future.

“We will conduct a feasibility study see if we can add men and women’s hockey in some combination,” Oakland athletic director Jeff Konya said. “We should get some good data, everything from facilities, to gender equity to conference affiliation, to revenue, expenses, marketing, branding. It’s pretty comprehensive.”

The grant program, designed to spur growth in Division I hockey, was announced in June. Illinois was the first Division I school to receive money.

Talk of adding hockey at Oakland has been going on for some time.

“We are hoping that an announcement like this will help us identify partners in our community that want to make this happen,” Konya said.

There is history of that happening elsewhere in recent years. Buffalo Sabres and Bills owner Terry Pegula donated the money that launched the Penn State programs.

Roughly 32% of NHL players played college hockey. College Hockey, Inc. has also been involved in working with schools showing an interest in the grants.

“With this opportunity, we might have pushed a little harder on the women’s side because of the potential it could have,” said Kevin Westgarth, NHL Vice President of Business Development and International Affairs. 

Michigan is considered a prime recruiting area for men’s and women’s hockey, and the hope is that if Oakland adds a women’s program, Michigan and/or Michigan State and some of the other schools in the state would add a women’s program.

“The whole project is built around planting a seed in people’s heads,” said Westgarth, a former NHL player. “We are talking to schools that are really serious and excited about the potential to add hockey. "