The Bobcats will test their five-game winning streak against the Frozen Tide, a team in its first ACHA Division I season.
If they were on a football field rather than an ice rink, this weekend’s Ohio versus Alabama matchup would likely garner national attention.
But instead of facing the No. 3 Crimson Tide football team, Ohio (13-2-1) will host the unranked Frozen Tide hockey team.
“Roll Tide kind of goes on every sport at the University of Alabama,” defenseman Reilly Moore said. “It’s pretty cool playing them.”
Alabama is competing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division I for the first time after vaulting up two levels from D-III. The Frozen Tide finished No. 9 in the ACHA D-III last season.
Ohio coach Sean Hogan said he doesn’t know much about the process of jumping two ACHA divisions other than filing paperwork and receiving approval from a committee. He did say the D-III level is significantly more student-run.
“At a school like (Alabama), they probably should be playing at a higher level,” Hogan said. “I’m sure they can recruit well. It’s a good school.”
Moore said he thinks Alabama could have an effective recruiting pitch simply off the appeal of its campus, but “it’s tough because they’re just making the jump this year, so you’ve got to really push players, good players, to come to your program if it’s your first year in Division I.”
It will take a few solid recruiting classes at the D-I level to make the Frozen Tide (2-7) competitive. But given the size of Alabama as a student body (36,000-plus students in 2014), the school seems like a good fit to support an ACHA D-I program.
That said, is it too early to suggest Alabama could leapfrog Ohio at some point and become an NCAA hockey program?
“I would say not in the near future,” Moore said. “But since it is a big school and they’ve got a lot of funding and they bring in a lot of revenue through their sports, at some point they could definitely grow to be (an NCAA) Division I team.”
Moore pointed out that one of Alabama’s greatest concerns — much like Ohio’s — is that its rink is small and would need significant improvements to meet the grade of the NCAA.
The difference is that Alabama reported a $33 million operating surplus in the 2013-14 fiscal year versus Ohio’s $421,000 surplus in that same time, according to a USA Today study of 230 collegiate athletics programs.
So if Alabama feels strongly about putting together an NCAA hockey program, it is well on its way financially to do so.
An NCAA conversation is quite premature for the Frozen Tide, however, considering it is just now in its first year at the top level of club hockey and has much to prove.
A good place to start would be at Bird Arena this weekend against Ohio, who comes in with a five-game winning streak and has outscored opponents 22-7 in that span.
“Playing a team like us, it’s like their biggest game of the year,” Moore said.
Funny, because if this was football it would absolutely be the other way around.
@JordanHorrobin
jh950614@ohio.edu
