University of Michigan regent Denise Ilitch told The Associated Press she believes thereās enough support for the Big Ten school that itās only a matter of when, not if, it will happen.
āI think that the decision to have a DI team is positive, so that would be a yes,ā Ilitch said by phone on Thursday. āI think now, itās a matter of how do we get there.ā
Several issues still need to be resolved, headed by determining whether to build a new facility to house both the menās and womenās teams under one roof and how to pay for a project with a projected cost of at least $300 million.
Ilitch, however, expressed confidence in saying she is eager to jumpstart the womenās programās launch by identifying an off-campus arena to host the team in the interim.
āAll I can say is those that are the supporters and the board and the president all want the same thing,ā said Ilitch, the daughter of Detroit Red Wings owner Marian Ilitch.
āSo I think weāll move as quickly as we can,ā she added. āI donāt want to put a date on it though but, boy, Iām hoping within the next few months weāre able to have at least a direction on whether itāll be Yost or new arena.ā
The 102-year-old Yost Arena has been the long-time home of the Wolverines menās program, but considered too small to accommodate two varsity teams.
A feasibility study commissioned by the school last year outlined several options, with the cheapest projected to cost about $50 million to expand Yostās footprint. The cons of such a venture are reducing campus and community ice-time availability and valuable parking spaces.
Otherwise, the studyās author, Collegiate Sports Associates, estimated it would cost $300 million to build a new one-rink facility with an 8,000-10,000 seating capacity. CSA also priced out a new two-rink facility at $330 million ā with the second ice sheet providing more revenue-generating potential.
The study placed āa conservative estimateā in anticipating it would cost Michigan $4.1 million annually to fund a womenās program, while noting there are various partnership options ā including arena naming rights ā to offset the losses.
Ilitch has been a long-time proponent for Michigan adding a womenās program in a bid to fill a major void in the state. Despite producing numerous national team-caliber players, Michigan has lacked a Division 1 team since Detroitās Wayne State disbanded its in 2011.
Her comments come at a time womenās hockey registration has jumped by nearly 43% nationally over the past decade, , and the sport gaining further traction with last yearās .
On Sunday, in two years, with the defending champion Minnesota Frost playing the New York Sirens at the Red Wings home. And Detroit is also a candidate for expansion, with the PWHL considering adding as many .
āDetroit calls itself Hockeytown, so itās kind of bizarre to me that there isnāt a college team,ā said New York forward Elle Hartje, who is from Detroit, and played collegiately at Yale. āIām appreciative that the PWHL recognizes it as a viable market to expand to. And hopefully, if that does happen itāll have a trickle-down effect into the NCAA.ā
Sirens teammate Abby Roque is from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and said she would have considered staying in state had there been a program, while also cherishing her career at Wisconsin.
āHaving something there for young girls in Michigan now would be incredible, because when you can see it, it really does feel so much more attainable,ā Roque said.
The CSA study found 45 Michiganders played on women's college rosters during the 2023-24 season. Overall, Michigan ranked fourth that year in the U.S. with 5,327 female hockey registrants behind Minnesota (15,723), Massachusetts (11,763) and New York (6,795).
The Wolverines currently feature a womenās club hockey team, which was coached by Jenna Trubiano, who has taken over a strategic advisory role in working with Ilitch to launch a DI program.
Too often, Trubiano said, Michigan-born players leave the state to pursue hockey and never return, leading to a talent drain at the youth girls hockey coaching levels.
Trubiano said what helped spur the women's hockey push at Michigan was arch-rival Ohio State winning two of the past three NCAA titles.
āIt was really something that put it on the radar for people at Michigan because it was like, āOK, Ohio State just won a national championship and how did we do? Well, we donāt have a program,āā she said.
āSo I was actually rooting for Ohio State. Hey, thatās the business right,ā Trubiano added with a laugh. āI see them as a competitor, and Michigan faithful, I believe they want to beat Ohio State in everything.ā
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AP Womenās Hockey:
John Wawrow, The Associated Press
