When people talk about someday a big ten hockey conference, schools like Penn State and even sometimes Illinois get thrown around as possible markets for college hockey. Is this even anything that gets talked about with Purdue? Or is there really no market for hockey at Purdue?
Right now Purdue has a club hockey team that has to travel about a hour to practice and play games, although they are currently suspended for alcohol issues. A few years ago on the way back from a practice a van the team was traveling crashed and a freshmen from the Twin Cities died, Chanhassen I think. There was a push for a rink then but it has since died as it lacks support from upper level administration.
The biggest challenge for Purdue to come up with a respectable hockey team is the fact that Purdue is located in Indiana. The same thing for wrestling team. With basketball being king here the state is NOT going to be able to produce enough talent to field a high level team. To get the talent needed Purdue would have to recuit mostly Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and hope to pick up the players that don't go to the big school.
Personally I think Purdue could build a 3000-5000 seat hockey rink and fill it most games. I also think there would be enough other stuff happening on the ice to have it in use most of the time(high school teams, free skating, figure skating, etc). The question would become how to finance the thing. How much would come from Purdue, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, the local school district, etc. for both building cost and continuing costs. Overall I wouldn't look for Purdue to add a varsity hockey team anytime soon.
A little OT but I am personally not against a B10 hockey conference but I really like the idea of using the B10 as a base then add a few premier name teams to make THE hockey conference. Think of it
1. Minnesota
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Michigan State
5. Ohio State
6. North Dakota
7. Norte Dame
8. Denver/CC
I know MSU-Mankato, St. Cloud State, etc would get the short end of the stick but it would be great for Gopher and big time college hockey.