PITTSBURGH — Robert Morris University will no longer field NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s ice hockey programs.
According to a news release, university officials said the move will “position the university to be amongst the most agile and professionally focused schools in the nation.”
Officials said the school will honor all current scholarships and will assist those who make the decision to transfer. The decision was reportedly made “based on an analysis which included scholarships and operations costs, and the necessary investments to maintain and improve the current facility.”
About 55 student-athletes and seven staff members are impacted by this decision.
The men’s hockey program first took the ice for the 2004-05 season. It beat nationally ranked Notre Dame in 2006. As of August 2020, the team’s roster included players from as far as Helsinki, Finland, and Surrey, British Columbia, in Canada.
Started in 2005, the university’s women’s program features a number of players that have gone on to have professional success on the ice. Goaltender Brianne McLaughlin has gone on to win two Olympic silver medals as part of the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. The program advanced to the Women’s Frozen Four for the first time ever this past season.
Recently, the university partnered to bring the 2021 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Frozen Four tournament to the Pittsburgh region.
The hockey programs were widely viewed as some of the most successful for the university.
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