University of Delaware to add women's ice hockey as 22nd varsity sport

The University of Delaware has frequently had athletes who excelled on the ice.

The next group won’t be performing triple axels, however.

Women’s ice hockey is about to become the University of Delaware’s 22nd varsity sport, UD announced Friday.

CUSA move led to women's ice hockey addition

The addition comes in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement that Delaware will move to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision’s Conference USA in 2025.

That means an increase of 22 football scholarships from what Delaware has awarded while in the Football Championship Subdivision. To remain compliant with Title IX gender-equity requirements, Delaware will add women’s ice hockey.

As it did in analyzing a possible move to CUSA, Delaware used feasibility studies to determine what would be the ideal sport to add. Available facilities, a history of success in other sports, interest, location and financial support from the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia Flyers made ice hockey the choice, according to UD.

Delaware has both the 2,500-seat Fred Rust Ice Arena and the smaller neighboring Gold Ice Arena. They have been home to UD men’s and women’s ice hockey and figure-skating club teams and the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center, which is among the nation’s primary training centers and has produced national champions and Olympians.

Blue Hens in league with Penn State

Fourteen of Delaware’s teams are headed to Conference USA with the other remaining seven seeking new conference sites with Delaware leaving the Colonial Athletic Association after the 2024-25 school year. Ice hockey will become Delaware's 14th women's team.

In ice hockey, the Blue Hens already know where they're going. In their inaugural 2025-26 season, they will join College Hockey America, presently a six-team women’s-only league with Penn State; Syracuse; the Rochester Institute of Technology; Robert Morris; Mercyhurst of Erie, Pennsylvania; and Lindenwood of St. Charles, Missouri. A coach has not yet been hired.

“We’re thrilled to be part of growing the game of women’s ice hockey here, both nationally and at UD,” athletic director Chrissi Rawak said in Delaware's announcement. “I’m confident women’s ice hockey will have success on and off the ice, and joining the CHA allows us to surround ourselves with aspiring institutions and some of the best competition in the nation.”

NHL, Flyers play role

There are presently 44 NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey teams. Delaware has no high school girls ice hockey teams.

The NHL and its players association’s Industry Growth Fund, established in 2013, has contributed more than $180 million to community and collegiate hockey ventures and funded a feasibility study for Delaware, UD said. As a result, Delaware will form a partnership with the Philadelphia Flyers, who have programs aimed at growing the game.

“I am incredibly grateful to the NHL and College Hockey Inc., for their collaborative insight and support in working together with the University of Delaware to help us determine that women’s ice hockey was the right sport for us to be adding,” Rawak said in the UD statement.

UD ice arenas busy

The Delaware Bobcats of the United Women's Hockey League are also longtime UD tenants and actually have a game Saturday morning at 11:30 in the Gold Ice Arena.

The UD men's ice hockey club presently has three teams with 90 players and was national Division I club champion in 2012. The women's club team has 25 players and is in the Division II Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Title IX key component

But to satisfy Title IX standards, schools must meet one of three criteria by either having a ratio of varsity athletes in proportion to overall male/female student enrollment numbers; show a history of pursuing athletic opportunities for the underrepresented gender; or accommodating the athletic interests of those students.

In the past 33 years, Delaware has dropped four men’s teams – wrestling (1991), indoor track and field (2009), cross country (2011) and outdoor track and field (2011). It has added women’s soccer (1990), rowing (1998), golf (2011) and now ice hockey.

Because no women's sport comes close to having the number of scholarships and participants of football, colleges typically have more women's teams than men's. Rowing is the women's sport permitting the most scholarships in Division I (20), which has fed its growth. Women's ice hockey is close, allowing 18.

Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: University of Delaware to add women's ice hockey as varsity sport