Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Rescuing Robert Morris ’hockey is a valid idea, but unrealistic to maintain

Dropping hockey was a bad decision for Robert Morris University, especially the schedule.

But now the effort is wasted after a bad decision.

RMU’s men’s and women’s hockey teams are being revived through fundraising. It has to be one hell of a bake. I never remember Herb Brooks hosting a phone to save the University of Minnesota hockey program.

There is a term that applies when a team is funded entirely outside of school: club sports.

Enough money can undoubtedly be raised this year, even though the issue is a hot topic. What about next year? What about five or 10 years?

The inevitable uncertainty of the school and the lack of commitment make recruitment impossible.

The current teams are falling apart. There are about 15 players left on the men’s team. More are reported to be on the verge of relocation. The top three players in the women’s team went to the state of Ohio. Their leading scorer went to Boston College. Recruits change their minds.

Players can’t stop their lives and careers while waiting to see what the Pittsburgh College Hockey Foundation (whatever it is) achieves with their actual GoFundMe device.

Penguins ’UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex is reportedly interested in hosting RMU games, perhaps adding a third ice.

But participation in RMU games was low when the field was 7.5 miles from the RMU Island Sports Center campus. How many students show up when the games are 30 km away?

Can anyone who has decided to drop the RMU from hockey participate in the games if the teams survive? (Not enough.)

Do virtue-reporting media members who dip their pants when RMU drops hockey afford coverage for teams if they survive? (Most don’t.)

Is a real bad team better than no team at all? That’s what RMU hockey is going to be if it survives: Really bad.

RMU hockey isn’t really a big time to start. The men’s team plays in the Atlantic Hockey Association, not Hockey East or Big Ten.

The effort to save RMU’s hockey is made for a number of reasons: To save the jerseys of confused alumni playing; refine programs and hockey self-appointed guards; to preserve jobs and grants.

But it is not done because the teams generated a lot of revenue or interest. They do not. Junior A Pittsburgh Forge preceded playing RMU at the Island Sports Center and featured significantly more participants during its two seasons.

Saving RMU hockey is a worthwhile idea. But it is difficult to justify the situation because of the cold reality, and the way it is treated is unlikely to work in the long run.

Teams are also stuck where they are not wanted. RMU doesn’t want Division I hockey. This fact does not go away.