Supply: TSU / TSU
It was presupposed to be a monumental occasion.
The primary-ever ice hockey group at a Traditionally Black School and College was anticipated to start play within the 2025-26 season, however difficulties with apply amenities, an absence of fundraising, and total monetary points are inflicting one other setback.
In accordance with The Tennessean, the Tennessee State males’s hockey group is not going to be enjoying this 12 months and is hoping that they’ll play their inaugural season in 2026-27.
Whereas the information has not been made official, a supply with data of the matter advised the newspaper that, regardless of a serious announcement forward of the 2023 NHL Draft stating that the first-ever HBCU hockey program would start the next 12 months, there have been nothing however issues.
From The Tennessean:
The college has undergone large management and monetary upheavals over the past 18 months whereas dealing with price range deficits and declining enrollment. Interim President Dwyane Tucker, who took workplace in December, repeatedly mentioned the college would run out of cash this spring if nothing modified. He introduced an bold five-year monetary plan to key state leaders in February and helped strike a cope with them to infuse $96 million into the college’s price range in June. The cash, which was a part of a fund beforehand reserved for constructing and infrastructure initiatives, will assist stabilize the college’s price range and handle its quick operational wants. Nonetheless, it’s not clear if any of that cash would go towards the college’s athletic packages.
The supply additionally famous that the group didn’t meet fundraising targets for the 2025-26 hockey season.
The information website notes that there has by no means been a roster or a schedule of upcoming video games posted on Tennessee State’s males’s hockey web site.
In an effort to make sure the delay lasts solely a 12 months, the NHL and the Nationwide Hockey League Gamers Affiliation (NHLPA) Trade Progress Fund are offering a $250,000 grant to kick-start the funding.
As anticipated, social media is upset over what may have been a groundbreaking second. See reactions to the delay under.
On Ice: The First HBCU Hockey Staff Delayed Over Cash Issues
was initially printed on
cassiuslife.com