Niagara adds women’s bowling to varsity sports

[Millsy]

What's next varsity pickleball ?

Give it time, it is becoming popular. If E-sports can attain varsity and professional status, pickleball will most likely as well. There already is a professional pickleball league.

https://www.ppatour.com/

[jhart]

Mickey, have you considered making your lower level a bowling alley?
If Cooperstown doesn't have one, it would be a strike or a hit!

[ClevelandEagle]

I just learned about this.
First let me say congrats to NU for adding their 19th D1 sport. (11 for women.)
Second, let me say I think it's great that NU was able to bring the defunct Medielle program; lock, stock, and barrel to NU.
Good for the kids. Good for the coaches. I have no idea what budget is normal, or required to run a D1 women's bowling program.
I hope this was part of the plan, and not just something that fell in their lap. I hope Women's Bowling has a long run.

All that being said; it is important for the schools AD to have both a short-term and a long-term vision for D1 athletics to thrive, and the facilities to be improved. These are not intramural programs. Scholarships are handed out.

I guess I'm still a little salty ever since WIH was dropped. That should not have happened.

[phillyeagle]

We need to realize that with the exception of basketball and hockey, all other sports at NU grant partial scholarships. Even hockey has many partial grants.. My understanding is that each sport in the MAAC has a maximum allocation of scholarship money. It is not unusual for players to only get a 25% grant in addition to other aid available to normal students.

[le]

I guess I'm still a little salty ever since WIH was dropped. That should not have happened.

Agree Cleveland. I never understood the logic behind dumping WIH other then cost savings. The current AHA women's league is pretty much a "bus" league consisting of SU, MHurst, Penn State, RIT and RMU. Lindenwood in Mizzou is the only member requiring overnight travel. I believe back in the day NU WIH was a member of the ECAC, but for some reason downgraded to the CHA. Bad move ! Did the ECAC discontinue associate membership in WIH? If my memory serves me correct, the move to the CHA was involuntary. I seriously doubt if NU WIC had maintained membership in the ECAC the program would have been eliminated.

In 2002, Niagara appeared in the Frozen Four but lost in the semi-finals to Minnesota-Duluth by a score of 3-2. Niagara tied Minnesota 2-2 in the Consolation Game. [2]
Tania Pinelli was included in the all-tournament team.

In the 2002-03 season, the team changed athletic conference from ECAC to College Hockey America.

On March 19, 2012, the school announced that it was cancelling its women's ice hockey program.[3]

[le]

Yup, NU WIH was booted. I do recall the program having some form of affiliation with Hockey East which was part of the ECAC.

Niagara's women's team was a part of the ECAC, but when the conference split with Hockey East when forming a women's league, the ECAC in essence kicked out Niagara and Quinnipiac....

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