Tucson hockey: Budget now UA program's biggest foe

It was an old writing exercise of mine, circa 1990, and it thankfully hasn’t been used yet. In my practice obit, I write that I was buried in my Arizona Icecats hockey jersey. That is how important the University of Arizona hockey team was to me.

I had almost forgotten.

It also seems that over the past 25 years that much of Tucson has forgotten hockey at the UA. Attendance at the TCC has eroded to a third of the Icecats’ glory years, with the number of wins slowly heading south with the missing fans.

The last 10 years of the Icecats, in the first decade of this new century, was a slow, painful dissipation of Tucson’s most-accomplished hockey team. In 2011 the college players left the independent company that managed the team and signed on to have the university itself operate the club program. The Arizona Icecats were replaced by the Arizona Wildcats, complete with the block “A” logo on their jerseys.

There was hope, at least with me, that the fresh start could return UA hockey to relevance.

But after five full seasons as Wildcats, the transition is still, regrettably, in progress, and awareness is low. So repeat after me: The Icecats have not played since 2011. The UA college hockey team is called the Wildcats. They are not (and never were) an NCAA team operated by the athletic department; they are a club team run by the Campus Recreation Department. Now repeat: They are called Wildcats!

Also mostly gone are the crazed crowds that made the Icecats one of the must-see events in Tucson for the 1980s and 1990s. The years-long winning streak against ASU was replaced by an almost-as-long losing streak to the Sun Devils. An average of around 1,500 diehard fans per game pay to see the team, with revenue hovering right around the financial break-even point.

Add in the competition from the new pro Tucson Roadrunners and this season looks like a make-or-break financial gauntlet. You see, each year the Wildcats must generate enough revenue to meet their approximately $400,000 budget to then get funded for the next season.

They simply can’t lose any more fans and continue to operate as they have for the past five years.

The UA program is also challenged by its own administrative structure. The Icecats had a small but talented and loyal staff, notably of long-time Tucsonans, to operate the club. Decisions and spending could be made, directly and quickly, as needed.

The Wildcats now have only Daniel Bowes, in a position called hockey manager, and coach Chad Berman as main paid staff who must somehow guide the bulk of the operation. Volunteers and interns come and go. Decisions, spending and revenue must go through a labyrinth of administrative bodies, with little or no continuity of UA support staff from season to season. The only clear institutional goal seems to be: Don’t lose money.

So the 5-year-old hockey Wildcats have not connected with Tucson. They don’t have an identity in the community — there aren’t enough fans who live and die for them. They have not become Our Wildcats.

And that must change if Tucson wants to save hockey at the University of Arizona.

The new pro Roadrunners have highly experienced hockey management, each of person a whisker away from the major leagues, and, presumably, the budget to market pro hockey to mainstream Tucson. Campus Recreation’s Bowes does hold a degree in sports management, but with little staff and fewer resources, he must somehow match the pros’ efforts.

The Roadrunners understand that they can’t alienate UA sports fans, as previous pro hockey teams did. The team has played very nice with UA hockey, which is a wise and welcome attitude.

Don’t get me wrong — I want the Roadrunners to flourish. They are not the bad guys here and could evolve into a natural and positive partner.

But understand this: It is not the responsibility of the AHL Roadrunners to keep hockey at the UA financially viable. The Roadrunners can play as nice as they wish, but UA hockey’s destiny, ultimately, is not the professionals’ primary business.

The mere existence of pro hockey in the same marketplace is a severe threat to college hockey as it stands now at the TCC, a fact that cannot be ignored.

The Roadrunners’ friendly stance seems to have paid dividends. I was surprised that UA hockey fans I talked to thought that the Roadrunners would help bring attention to the Wildcats, not erase them. But when I asked if they would buy season tickets for both teams, UA fans often would hem and haw. They were more excited to see the new Roadrunners.

And there are only so many sports dollars in Tucson to go around.

The hope for the future of UA hockey seems to lie in a new multi-ice-sheet practice facility, which is also essential for the long-term plans of the Roadrunners. A best-case scenario would have the Wildcats practice and play their games in a roughly 1,500 seat arena, play ASU as a special event in the larger TCC, and live side-by-side with the big-bother pro Roadrunners. There is much discussion among all the interested participants about this proposed practice facility, but no firm funding or dates for completion.

For the survival of Wildcat hockey, that new rink complex must come soon. Until then, the Wildcats need a bump in attendance — and relevance.

Berman believes he is on the cusp of melding the kind of squad that can again capture UA fans — and defeat ASU.

I don’t want to amend my old obituary to lament the end of UA hockey. I want to wear a Wildcats jersey right over my old one, with some space left for a Roadrunners shirt, too.