Long Island University Announces Men’s D-I Hockey Program

In a surprising announcement, Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York announced on Thursday that they plan to start a men’s Division I hockey program with the intention of playing in the 2020-2021 season.

LIU joined the D-1 hockey ranks last season with a women’s program that competed in the newly-formed New England Women’s Hockey Alliance. The Sharks went 14-18-0 on the seaosn, but capped their season with a surprising run through the league’s playoffs to capture the league playoff championship in their inaugural season.

There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered before the season begins, hopefully in October. LIU does not have a head coach in place, let alone a roster of players for next year. Their arena situation also isn’t immediately clear. The women’s team played at Islanders Iceworks in Syosset, the New York Islanders practice facility, which has fairly limited seating capacity.

But Long Island is a hockey-rich area, and the addition of a new college hockey team, especially at a time when the future of some existing programs look shaky, is an exciting development.