The Bears Are Back In Town

As you may be aware, the Alberta Golden Bears and Alberta Pandas suspended their athletic teams for the 2020-21 seasons due to financial restraints brought on by the pandemic we're currently in and coupled with the idiotic decisions to cut post-secondary funding by the Alberta government. I had neglected to write about this for a week in case there may be additional details added, but it seems that the Golden Bears hockey program and the Pandas hockey program will take part in the 2020-21 season after all!

Back on June 17th, the University of Alberta announced that the school would be "suspending 2020-21 CW competition in two-term sports, including hockey" where the University of Alberta has been dominant in both men's and women's hockey. It was a big of a blow to an already-reeling Canada West Conference following the announcement of the cancellation of the University of Lethbridge hockey programs.

Flash forward to August 6, and the University of Alberta released this statement that indicated that "University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas Hockey teams request for reinstatement for the 2020/21 Canada West season was approved by the Canada West Board of Directors" last Thursday!

Again, I wanted to be sure there were nothing that would disrupt this reinstatement, and it seems that "support from alumni" made up the difference in the shortfall that the hockey teams were facing in running their programs this year. Obviously, donor money is important to any university sports program, and we should tip our caps to the strong ties the University of Alberta hockey programs still have with their alumni who stepped forward to make this season happen for the Golden Bears and Pandas.

This is something I'd like to see a lot of schools active do - engage with their alumni often and promote their post-university work and achievements a lot more. Not only can your alumni come through when you need them most as the Golden Bears and Pandas are experiencing, they are the men and women who established the path to excellency when it comes to the present-day programs we see at schools. These men and women laid the groundwork for successes that followed, and they should be made a part of any future successes that the school achieves.

I'm grateful for these alumni from the University of Alberta stepping up to reinstate the hockey programs. While there are other sports - basketball and volleyball, notably - that won't be playing this winter as of yet, maybe there are alumni from those programs who can chip in and make those sports happen at the University of Alberta as well.

For the hockey crowd, the Bears are back in town. It wasn't going to feel right without the Golden Bears and Pandas on the schedules as they always push the bar higher when it comes to competition in the Canada West Conferences, so having them back for the 2020-21 season fixes what would have been a big gap in the hockey world.

Welcome back, University of Alberta!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!