An Interesting Case Study

If there's one thing I don't do often, it's watch television. It's not that I wouldn't want to do that on nights where I feel less energetic, but the quality of programming on most television networks is rather brutal. Outside of a couple of shows that I watch regularly, though, I have fallen under the spell of Welcome to Wrexham, the documentary starring Ryan Reynolds and Ron McElhenney about their purchase and running of Wrexham AFC in Wales. I find it fascinating in seeing two American men inject themselves into a Welsh town's passion while trying to ultimately do good by raising Wrexham AFC's fortunes and, eventually, status in the football world.

Being that we're only three episodes into the FX series, there's likely still a lot to see and learn about the Wrexham club, but it also dawned on me that this examination of Wrexham could be done at the university level when it comes to achieving NCAA Division-I dreams for teams. As much as I'd love to see it happen at the U SPORTS level, there may not be enough drama and intrigue as the U SPORTS level is the top level of university hockey in Canada.

When you think of the NCAA, there are different levels played within the NCAA umbrella as Division-1 is simply the highest level one can achieve as a program. There are 84 men's teams and 72 women's teams at schools that currently ice NCAA Division-III teams, and we're always hearing about teams who are applying to become or have been granted NCAA Division-I status. Most recently, teams like Long Island University (2020) and Arizona State University (2016) joined the men's while Stonehill College joins the women's ranks this season after Long Island University joined in 2019.

How cool would it be to see a school like Stonehill College get the phone call from the Northeast Conference's Council of Presidents where they were invited to join the conference at the NCAA Division-I level? Beyond that, we'd get to see the inner workings as the women's team joined the New England Women's Hockey Alliance for the upcoming season, the discussions surrounding hiring coaches and recruiting players, the efforts in raising the profile of the program, and more. It would be similar to the Wrexham documentary as the school is basically starting from scratch and learning how to navigate the NCAA Division-I environment!

As we begin the season, we'd get to see wins and losses suffered by the Stonehill teams, how they handled those ups and downs, a bird's eye view into the operations of two NCAA Division-I hockey teams for both the men's and women's programs, fan reactions to the teams, opposing teams' reactions to the new teams, and more. It would be a real eye-opening look at the amount of effort that goes into getting brand-new NCAA Division-I teams off the ground and having them climb the standings and national rankings board each week.

Personally, I could see there being multiple "seasons" of footage based upon which teams are followed. If a network were to follow Stonehill College for the first season in showing how teams get started in the NCAA hockey world, the second season could follow a well-established set of programs like the University of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, or Clarkson University. The level of intensity for the established programs will be much higher as expectations to win are obviously much higher, but that would present a whole other set of successes, despairs, and drama as well.

There could be a season where the NCAA National Champions are followed as they play the following season with targets on their backs as the top team in the nation. That would be interesting because once a team wins, there's an expectation to win again. That's not always realistic, mind you, but the expectation is that winning once is nice, but winning twice is better.

In spitballing this, it could be done in Canada as well. As we know, MacEwan and Trinity Western were added to Canada West while the RSEQ welcomed Bishop's last season for their first seasons of play. While they had varying degrees of success, it would have been very cool to see the inner workings of each program as the neared their first games, recorded their first historic moments, and played through their seasons for the first time in their respective conferences.

If you want to raise the profile of university hockey in the US - and most certainly in Canada - there needs to be something to draw people in when it comes to generating interest. Having a documentary series that draws on how the teams operate, what it takes to win at the university level, the many hurdles teams have to cross before hoisting the trophy, and everything that happens in between will give people better insight on what goes on inside athletics departments, hockey programs, and arenas at universities. It might also give students better insight on some of thew programs as well.

I admit this may not be captivating television for everyone, but I'd watch it just as I watched the Capitals and Penguins 24/7 series on HBO leading up to the Winter Classic and how I'm currently watching Welcome to Wrexham on FX. I love seeing the dialogues among teammates, coaches, and management as we pull the curtain back on the day-to-day operations of the team. Seeing that happen at the university level provides some transparency and understanding why teams may be more successful than others, so count me in if someone were to take this idea and run with it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!