Jeremy Robichaud on Hints of the Past

I’m a USCHO poster (jrobes01) and long-time UMass Lowell fan. With UAH coming up to Lowell this Friday, I thought it would be a good time to send you an e-mail.

Although I’ve only seen the web portion of the attempt to keep UAH Hockey alive, I’m very impressed with what you’ve done in the last year or so and also the support you’re getting from the college hockey community. It’s terrible that the administration, with an interim chancellor at that, has taken away the one thing that I honestly think makes your school unique. As you may know, Lowell was in a very similar situation a few years ago when some jerk on the UMass Board of Trustees made the mistake of trying to take out Lowell in order to boost funding for Amherst’s program.

A grassroots effort was started and support from local lawmakers along with a new chancellor that “gets it” helped kill any further talk of the program’s elimination. Now Lowell is on the rise again with a team that’s taking Hockey East by storm and an average attendance of over 5,000 at the Tsongas that beats out Amherst, Maine, Northeastern, and almost edges Boston University. Look at “almost contracted” teams like the Minnesota Twins, the rebirth of the Winnipeg Jets, and many others that have beaten out the close-mindedness of a small group and now have thriving fan bases. Even though things are probably not going as well as you’d like, I hope you and the Charger faithful continue to support the team and fight for what’s yours.

Keep up the battle down there! I’ll be at the Merrimack and Lowell games this week, might even root for UAH in both of them.

Ed.: Mike McMahon of the Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass. notes that Merrimack was once much in the same place. I think both the UML and MC stories provide Charger fans not only hope of retaining the program but hope for future success.