During those weekends in Huntsville and spending time with Nathan and his coaches (many of whom were UAH graduates) we as a family grew very fond of the Charger graduates, the Charger team that opened up their locker room for tours, and the Charger coaches.

8 years later my son has graduated from high school and was accepted to UAH. However, his dream was to play D1 hockey for the Chargers. So he decided to delay his admission and to go to Dallas, Texas and play junior hockey this season in the WSHL to get bigger, stronger, and faster with the hopes of making the Charger team in 2012 or 2013.

Without Charger Hockey, UAH loses it’s luster. Although academically it is an outstanding institution, there are many outstanding institutions that offer D-I or D-III hockey—not club.

After all the good experiences and friends we have made through the years, we are saddened that Charger Hockey will most likely not be a part of his D-I dream.

Sincerely,

George Sauers
Orlando, Florida
Father of Gregory Sauers
Original Player and 7 committed years to Thunder Tier 1 Hockey founded in
Huntsville, AL.

Chris is a little different. He grew up here and he didn’t just watch hockey, he played here in Huntsville for 8 years. No one in his family played hockey, they were all (surprise!) football players, so we don’t know where he picked hockey up, but he started when he was 8. His uncle, Ricky Bates, had been friends with Dave Slifka and while Dave was playing for UAH he was Chris’ hockey teacher. He did one on one classes with Chris for an hour or two a few days a week at the Ice Plex. We still have pictures of Chris and Dave together, he signed EVERYTHING for Chris’ family, hockey pucks, sticks, he gave Chris his jersey. This was all before Dave’s brief stint in the CHL. On his little hockey cards that HAHA had made for the kids back then Chris always put Dave as his favorite player. Chris played for Grissom in the first two years that Grissom had a hockey program (13 and 12 years ago for his freshman and sophomore years of high school) before he left Grissom in 11th grade. I think Dave made Chris the hockey player he was, and hockey made him the man he is today, and today he’s a strong, hard-working, brave kind of guy that will just grit his teeth and work through physical pain or other adversity for what he believes is his duty. Also, he’s not as up front about saying it, but Chris cares a lot about the team too. He wants to see them succeed, because while you hear the term “hockey culture” a lot, I think most folks forget that it really IS a culture and UAH was part of that culture in Huntsville too, and while he didn’t reach that level himself, they were all part of the same thing in a way.

I sent you a picture of our buddy Alec serving over in Korea. He kinda caught hockey fever from us. He had never seen hockey before until we took him to a game last year. It’s great teaching someone else about hockey, sharing your love for something like that. He loves UAH hockey so much now that he wanted to participate in the rally, so he sent that picture. Being on your page completely made his day, he said he didn’t know he would get all the attention he did and he really appreciated the nice things folks were saying to him. He just wanted to be a part of the movement to save the team.

The team gives us something to think about, something to support, saving the team gives us something to strive for. It makes us part of something special. Hockey is Huntsville’s special thing, and the team represents Huntsville in front of the rest of this country and I think they do a pretty good job of it. I don’t really know how else to put into words what the team means to us, I know what I’ve put here is really our stories of our relationship with the team, not really what it MEANS for us, but I just wanted you to see that there’s a lot of love there.

I’m sorry this is so long, when we joined Blue Line Club I tried to say some of this in an e-mail to Chris Luongo, but I was really too shy to say all of this. Thank you so much for taking the time out to listen to us and helping to make us part of something really great.

With a lot of love for the team, their staff, and the Save UAH Hockey fellas,
Alyson Buck (and on behalf of Chris Bertagnolli and Alec Kachel)

Dear Governor Bentley:

This morning, I read a newspaper article that discussed the efforts by State Rep. Phil Williams and potential investors to save the University of Alabama at Huntsville NCAA Division 1 Men’s Ice Hockey program. As a parent of one of the players, I am very pleased to see State Rep. Williams move forward the effort to save the hockey program. I also read that you and State Rep. Williams plan to meet later this week and I hope that you will be onboard as we all work very hard to save the hockey program. My son is a proud member of the Chargers hockey team and he made a four year commitment to the university to be the best student athlete possible. Both he and I expected that the university would follow through on its commitment to provide a place for him to play his four years of Division 1 hockey and to earn his degree. We are hopeful that the university officials will reverse their decision to allow this to happen for all 23 young men who play on this team.

Governor Bentley, this is a great opportunity for you to meet with players, coaches, parents, local and state politicians and university officials to help save what is a very proud tradition in Huntsville. As you are likely aware, there is a great deal of support to see this program continue on for many years to come. Thank you for taking time to read my email.

Kindest regards,

Lisa Hagen

Portera is believed to be making the move solely based upon financial numbers, but SaveUAHHockey.com has learned that solutions to those concerns were brought before Portera and dismissed.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

###PRESS RELEASE###

Community Group Forms to Save UAH Hockey

Group has secured over $500,000 to support program but Chancellor Portera must hear support from the community

Huntsville, AL (September 8, 2011) – Local business leaders and several UAHuntsville Alumni today announced a grassroots effort to save NCAA Division I Hockey at the University. According to recent reports UA Chancellor and UAHuntsville Acting President Mack Portera is considering abandoning NCAA Division I hockey at UAHuntsville. Since word of those plans spread supporters of the program have secured over $500,000 in pledges to support the program and offset any financial losses to the University over the next three years.

“Hockey at UAHuntsville is a part of our community and we need to save it.” Said Doug Martinson, a local attorney and former school board member. “It is Huntsville’s only Division I sports team and brings national recognition not only to the University but to the community as well. We need Dr. Portera to work with us to keep this program at the NCAA Division I level. Going to club level hockey is not an option and will only kill the program and provide no real benefit to the community.”

Several groups of community leaders have met with Chancellor Portera to express their support for NCAA Division I Hockey at UAHuntsville and have asked that the community be consulted in this decision and have pledged to do what it takes to ensure the success of the program. Both the Madison County Commission and the Huntsville City Council have passed resolutions calling on the Administration to work with the community to save hockey at the NCAA Division I level.

“We have reached out to our alumni and friends in the community and have asked them for much needed financial support.” Said Nathan Bowen, a UAHuntsville Hockey alum that now runs the Thunder AAA Hockey Club “All we are asking for is a chance to work with the school, reduce the financial burden on the University and put a long-term plan in place that will allow this program to continue to put the city of Huntsville, the University and our Student/Athletes consistently on a National stage. In a few short weeks we have raised over $500,000 in pledges to support the team and have organized campus and community drives to sell more tickets and raise excitement about NCAA DI college hockey in Huntsville. The outpouring of support shows that hockey at UAHuntsville is important not only to the alum, but to the Huntsville community as a whole.”

Despite several requests from the community Chancellor Portera has not yet disclosed what must be done to save the program or provided a fundraising target required that would keep the program at the NCAA Division I level. Several community efforts are now underway to show support for the program and to persuade the Administration to give the community a chance to save this program.

“We are calling on the community to join our efforts and get involved.” Said Geof Morris, founder of SaveUAHhockey.com. “Go online and sign our petition at Saveuahhockey.com, join our Facebook page, buy a season ticket or just come out to a game. The only way we can be successful is to show Chancellor Portera that we support this program and we are not going to let him take it away from our community.”

The University of Alabama in Huntsville ice hockey team took to the ice for the first time in 1979 to the rock anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” and finished out the season with an impressive 21-1 record. A grass roots effort from the beginning, the UAH hockey program has its roots firmly planted in the melting pot that is Huntsville, Alabama, with multiple National Club Championships, Two NCAA Division II Championships, and made two appearances at the NCAA Division I Tournament losing both times by only one goal. Huntsville, Alabama is the Hockey Capital of the South!

It was a good press conference. The only player alumnus on the dais was Nathan Bowen (2000), so this group can’t be dismissed as a bunch of former players miffed that their beloved team could be going away. These were leaders of the Huntsville community: doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen, and professors. We had Huntsville natives and transplants. All of them love UAH hockey, and it very clearly showed.

I sat in the back to just get a sense of the room, and by the time the conference started, the players who were meeting on their own for conditioning drills had filed in to sit around me. There was a lot of nervous body language at the start, but by the end I could tell that they felt more confident about the program’s future. I know we did. Like many Charger fans, I know that there are a lot of people that love this hockey program as much as I do. It’s easy to know that, but it’s quite another to feel and believe it. I do after this morning, and they guys seemed to get that as well.

If you haven’t yet—and you’re slacking, because 2,350+ had signed as of the time of this writing—go sign our petition to let Mack Portera know that we want UAH hockey to stick around. Many of you have asked about giving, and we’re working to provide you a place to give. We’ll post about that as soon as we have it.

Save UAH Hockey!

Community Group Forms to Save UAH Hockey

WHO: UAH Alumni and Community Leaders

WHAT: Community Leaders will announce grassroots efforts and call on community to get involved to save NCAA Division I Hockey at UAHuntsville. Leaders will ask all UAH alumni and hockey fans to show support for the program and to help persuade the Administration to give the community a chance to save the only NCAA Division 1 Hockey program in the south.

WHEN: 10:00am, Thursday, September 8, 2011

WHERE: Huntsville Municipal IcePlex, 3185 Leeman Ferry Road, SW

For further info: Jennifer Gordon, 256-536-3833

I’ll be there and will have more information tomorrow.

The University of Alabama-Huntsville is nationally known for two things. One is a disturbed psychopath who in a fit of insanity decimated one of your academic departments. The other is your Division I ice hockey team. I’ve been told that your institution is somewhat competent in sciences but most of the world will either know this nor care unless they’re specifically interested in your scientific competency. Bottom line, to the most of the country your institution is unknown and people do not care. Interesting, isn’t it?

Athletics is advertisement. Athletics is involvement. Athletics is community. Fair? Absolutely not! True to academic purism? Not even slightly. True? Absolutely. Investment in athletics at an institutional level brings in people who are willing to advertise on your behalf. They are willing to say your praises. Direct students to your institution. Direct business to the same. More importantly, its a commitment to your community which always operates in a synergy with each other. What you see as a large cost can also be seen as outreach if done correct. What I see from this is that you haven’t invested properly in your opportunity. Your hockey team is leverage and an opportunity. Instead of it being an anchor why not try to see it as an asset. Sure, you may not understand it, but does that not mean you are failing to appreciate your institutional assets?

I am a proud alumni of a school in a similar situation. The University of Massachusetts-Lowell may not carry the same level of science plaudits as UAH but it certainly tries. We’re a engineering-focused liberal arts school in a semi-urban setting. We’ve also been (twice) under the threat of losing our institution defining hockey program. Thankfully we were taken off the brink… but admittedly it did take a former congressman to take the institutional reigns to change things around. Nevertheless, things at Lowell are changing and the lever wouldn’t have been there without the hockey team. Without the hockey team we wouldn’t have the opportunity for institutional progress to make UMass-Lowell the second best public school in Massachusetts (and dare I say the best public school in Massachusetts).

I will also relate that my graduate school would not be what it is today without athletics. The state of Connecticut made two very large commitments to the University of Connecticut by way of large financial institutional upgrades. I know that UAH isn’t UConn and UAH sits in the shadow of UAT, Auburn, and UAB. Nevertheless, with UConn the only reason they got those funds in the first place is because their successful basketball program made people start to give a damn about the institution.

Dropping ice hockey is a myopic endeavor as it fails to even consider what you can be. Generally, with many institutions large cash infusions help out a lot… but another thing that can spur things along is attention to smaller details and basic “tender loving care”.

In the end, writing your institutional failure into stone is your choice. Maybe somebody will give you a medal for your failure. I can’t imagine a situation where you are in fact doing the school and the community a service. When you lose a hockey program you do more than improve your balance sheet. You lose a community, you lose what makes you different, and you lose a small army which sing your praise.

This is your choice.

– Patrick Joyce, B.S. UMass-Lowell 2004, PhD UConn 2009.

We’re at 1,200 signatures and counting. Patrick’s words voice the strong feelings that those who love UAH Hockey have. Sign the petition and ask your friends to do so—it just takes a couple of minutes.

Want your voice heard in an editorial? Email me at g@saveuahhockey.com. Please keep it under 500 words, respectful, and opinionated.

Okay, you’re back! Cool. Keith Rowe wrote a good bit for the Thunder Hockey community last week, and we want to expand on the idea. Let me quote Keith to give you a sense of the urgency:

… [H]ow everyone can help I’m going to explain where we are in our current campaign. We were told last Wednesday [August 23rd] that the annual financial number that needs to be raised over the next 3 years is $500k per year. We set up a three-year pledge system to allow the new UAH Athletic Department personnel, under the leadership of Dr. EJ Brophy, time to put together a long term business and marketing plan. The knowledge of the imminent danger of losing the program has been insulated to the UAH Hockey Alumni to date. The reason for this was to make sure we had the correct information—i.e. $500k annually—to convey and to keep the current UAH Charger Hockey players separated from the issue until it was officially stated from University officials.

Last Tuesday [August 22nd], the UAH Hockey Coaching staff met with Chancellor Portera and he indicated there is a possibility of dropping the Division 1 Charger Hockey program to the Club level, and a decision could be made in early October.

However, there have been some exciting things to happen since these meetings last week: 1) With our Pledge drive only being exposed to UAH Hockey Alumni and Blueline Club Members, we have raised nearly $200K/year. 2) Local politicians have offered to help fund a much-needed marketing position within the UAH athletic department. 3) The Huntsville City Council, along with Mayor Tommy Battle, passed a resolution to support the Division 1 UAH Charger Program in any way they can. 4) Local and national media are willing to help in any way possible to get the word out.

[Emphasis and editing mine.]

Keith argues for three ways to help: give, speak out, and show up. Here’s how to do that:

1. Give to the 2011-12 UAH Blue Line Club, or check out the pledge sheet and send me your pledge to g@saveuahhockey.com. We’re working to find some online giving channels within the next few days, but direct giving to the BLC and/or your pledge will help right away.
2. Speak out by signing our online petition. Tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter about it. Shoot them a link to this page. Cajole them. Whatever it takes, y’all.
3. Show up to games. The 2011-12 schedule is out there, and games start on October 1st! You have no reason to not go.

Give, speak out and show up. It’s that simple. You show interest by being invested, and all three of these will clearly show your investment in hockey here in Huntsville.

As most of you know, UAH Athletic Director Jim Harris died of a heart attack in December. I still can’t believe it. It’s a terrible loss for Jim’s family and for the program, and UAH does need to move to find someone soon. On Wednesday, UAH President Dr. David Williams announced a search committee for Jim’s successor:

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: UAHuntsville Students, Faculty, and Staff

FROM: David B. Williams, President

RE: Search for a New UAHuntsville Athletics Director

DATE: January 19, 2011

UAHuntsville’s NCAA athletics program has a proud and distinguished history of excellence, of vigorously supporting equal opportunities for competition in both men’s and women’s sports, and for graduating exceptional student athletes who are as successful in life as they are on the field of competition. Our vibrant and diverse athletics community enjoys excellent community support, is comprised of true scholar-athletes, and showcases our great university on the local, regional, and national stage. We owe a great deal of this history to the hard work of Mr. Jim Harris, and the legacy that he has left for us. Building on this legacy now is an essential task for our UAHuntsville campus community.

We must build on those things that were important to Jim, and are important to us – celebrating the academic achievements of our athletes who maintain excellent GPAs and graduation rates, leveraging athletics to enrich our campus life, securing solid futures for our competitive men’s and women’s programs, and deepening the contributions that NCAA athletics makes to a vibrant university.

Jim’s death presents us with an opportunity to shape the next chapter in the life of NCAA athletics at UAHuntsville. It is an opportunity we obviously would never have asked for; but I believe it is also an opportunity Jim would absolutely not want us to squander. I am therefore announcing that UAHuntsville will seek to fill the vacant Athletic Director position through a competitive, nation-wide search, to find the best possible candidate for the future growth and direction of our great university.

I have asked Vice President for Research, Dr. John Horack, to chair the search committee. We have retained Parker Executive Search to secure the most competitive pool of candidates we can attract, to guide us in conducting the most thorough and fair competition possible, and to bring the visibility of UAHuntsville to places where it might otherwise not be seen.

I am pleased to share with you that the other members of the search committee include:

Mr. Lennie Acuff Coach, Men’s Basketball, UAHuntsville
Ms. Jenny Hess AMRDEC, former UAH Student Athlete
Mr. Craig Herr J. Smith Lanier, former NCAA Student Athlete
Mr. Cody Jones Teledyne Brown, former UAH Student Athlete
Ms. Laurel Long UAHuntsville Associate VP, Human Resources
Mr. Joe Ritch Trustee, The University of Alabama System
Ms. Kristin Scroggin UAHuntsville Faculty Member
Ms. Delois Smith Vice President for Diversity, UAHuntsville
Ms. Les Stuedeman Coach, Women’s Softball, UAHuntsville
Dr. Brent Wren UAHuntsville Faculty Athletic Rep. to the NCAA

Please extend your full support and assistance to Dr. Horack and the search committee, as they take on this important task for all of UAHuntsville.

As an alumnus, I think that’s an excellent group of people to evaluate the folks that Parker Executive Search brings them. PES has a great record when it comes to collegiate athletics, including helping the NCAA to hire its new president, Mark Emmert. I have no doubt that UAH will get a great set of candidates.

For those wondering about the hockey flavor of the committee, two prominent members stand out for me. Dr. Horack is the UAH faculty that took a Vince Bruni jersey to the South Pole while doing research. Joe Ritch is not only a Trustee but UAH’s first coach. The former UAH athletes on the committee understand the importance of all the programs at UAH, including hockey. Finally, Coach Acuff and Coach Stuedeman will ensure that UAH gets the best possible candidate. They are leaders in the proud athletics tradition at UAH, and they know hockey’s place in that tradition.

It’s important to remember that hockey isn’t the only sport at UAH, even if it is our favorite. With that in mind, I’m exceedingly happy to have a sharp, caring group of people to guide the selection of the person who will guide our program in the future. Charge On!

Powered by Twitter Tools