Frozen Four for women shows growth

It’s here to stay. It’s better than ever. It’s about time. As the University of Maine women’s hockey team plays .500 hockey and makes believers of those who said it couldn’t happen, the national scope of women on the ice prepares to take its rightful place as a major college sport.

Title IX, that contentious piece of federal legislation, has helped to make so many dreams of women athletes on the ice come true. There is more to come.

This year, for the first time, the NCAA will recognize a national champion in women’s ice hockey. The women’s Frozen Four will be held March 23 and 25 at the Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

The entire structure of the women’s national program is so new, the committee to select the four teams was formed within the past year and the selection procedures are in a state of flux for the future.

On March 2, at-large teams will join the top teams from the East and West at Mariucci. There are 25 Division I programs that parallel the men’s programs as to their location. Two teams compete in Division II and 26 teams are in Division III.

Geographically, there are 35 teams in the East and 18 in the West. All three divisions will be eligible for the Frozen Four, at least for the first time around. So, there is a chance for some smaller school to make hockey history.

The propulsion that women’s college hockey needed came two years ago when the Western Collegiate Hockey Association schools decided to launch full-fledged Division I programs. That dramatically increased the number of schools with recognized programs and created the national competition that justified a women’s Frozen Four.

There are many more club programs on the ice around the country, hoping to move into one of the divisions. With the addition of an NCAA national championship this season, the interest will grow yet again.

Competition for players is as fierce as in the men’s programs. Where once the players from the West headed to the eastern schools and made programs like those at New Hampshire and Providence guaranteed winners year after year, now those women can stay home and play for the likes of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Olympic gold the United States women’s team brought home from the Nagano, Japan, games raised the interest in women’s hockey to an all-time high. Now the Frozen Four will take it one step higher.

More Olympic exposure will follow, like in Salt Lake City next year, which will bring the games live to fans in the U.S. The U.S. women’s team will be one of the favorites again. That will only jack the interest up another notch.

The women now have the same goals to shoot for as the men in the case of Olympic recognition and a national championship. That’s a good thing.

Bids to host the 2002 Frozen Four are being accepted now. Host bids for the finals through 2004 will be accepted starting in January of next year.

Could there be a better place to have that event than at Alfond Arena in Orono?

Hockey at Maine through the men’s program is internationally renowned. Maine could lend its prestige to the women’s championship, as Minnesota is doing.

In return, what an honor it would be for the university and the state to have such an event, an event that is going to grow in stature, staged in Orono. It would be a great addition to the state’s already strong hockey reputation.

Should that happen, for the Maine women’s team…. Yeah, just what I was dreaming.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and CBS sportscaster.