It was only a few months ago when the news broke that both the University of Alaska – Anchorage and Fairbanks were on the verge of potentially losing their NCAA hockey programs.
With nearly Fifty Million dollars in budget cuts facing the University system, the first place to see cuts was going to be the athletic departments. The most expensive sport? Hockey.
That news received a lot of press coverage and created a virtual panic across junior hockey.
The idea that all those current players on the rosters would be back in circulation for other schools to sign next year, and the thought of how that would effect late recruiting this year were the topics of many conversation’s.
Only a few days ago though, and with very little coverage, it was announced that both programs would be spared from the budget cuts.
Instead, the University of Alaska Fairbanks would lose its cross-country ski teams, and the University of Alaska Anchorage would drop its ski and indoor track squads.
Any savings realized by the budget cuts though would not be immediate. Athletes that are members of these sports teams would be given an additional year of scholarship at the Universities. The cost of those scholarships, while not astronomical, will impact the savings over the first year of cuts.
For now though, the most popular sport in Alaska is safe. TJHN will update this story as new information becomes available.
