Stillwater, Oklahoma: land of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, playground of T. Boone Pickens, and home to the beloved Eskimo Joe’s restaurant. The orange-tinted city has played host to many iconic moments over the years. Many who grew up in the Cowboy tradition still have the 2001 and 2011 editions of Bedlam in their heads, and maybe, if they can remember, Bryant “Big Country” Reeves’ 1993 half-court desperation heave to take Missouri to overtime at the Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Recently, Oklahoma State has faded from national acclaim in both football and basketball. Marquis sports at the school have struggled in the NIL era, with the exception of the mammoth wrestling program, which has remained competitive.
Despite its club status, a hockey team has blossomed at the university over the past few years. The Cowboys sit atop the West in the latest ranking, perfectly poised to challenge established rivals. While hockey has been played at OSU since the 1990s, this current iteration of the team has only existed since 2021.
Promotion Push
Oklahoma State Hockey, which currently competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) club system, teased an announcement regarding its school-sanctioned status on Twitter weeks ago, though many dismissed it during the busy holiday season.
Mike Grinnell, of Barstool Sports’ hockey spin-off “Spittin Chicklets,” fueled speculation on Jan. 27 when he tweeted that he was hearing “some very exciting things surrounding [Oklahoma State Hockey] and the future of college hockey out west.”
Just a day later, Grinnell, accompanied by two co-hosts on the “Game Notes” podcast, announced that Oklahoma State University has “potential” plans to build a $200 million hockey arena and move to NCAA Division One by the year 2030, giving weight to the rumors that had been swirling since Dec. 23. David Pagnotta, editor in chief at The Fourth Period, corroborated Grinnell’s claims.
With What Money?
Despite the rosy lenses that Grinnell, “Game Notes,” and Pagnotta appear to see NCAA hockey in Stillwater through, the announcement had its critics.
One such detractor was Adam Wodon, the managing editor of College Hockey News. Wodon published an article on Wednesday, poking holes in the announcement on “Game Notes,” writing that there are still many hurdles for the program to clear. Specifically, the issue of financing will be a mammoth undertaking. According to Wodon’s sources, Michael Mann—the founder of Anchor Capital GP and the chairman of the OSU Hockey board—met with Oklahoma State Athletic Director Chad Weiberg under the auspices of providing a sizable donation.
According to the Pokes Report’s Robert Allen, Mann has been footing the bill for the team already: paying for team travel, uniforms, and equipment. Additionally, the financier pays player and staff salaries, with the biggest slice of the pie going to Jared Erickson, a former UNLV club player, who reportedly is paid upwards of $100,000 a season.
Several other issues stand in the way of hockey at OSU. The metaphorical bedrock of these issues is the lack of a suitable rink. The Cowboys currently play their games near Tulsa, about an hour from Stillwater. Any construction project would likely cost upwards of $100 million, creating a significant barrier to entry.
Title IX is the biggest hurdle as far as NCAA regulations are concerned, as an equivalent women’s sport would need to be brought to campus. No source is sure what shape this equivalent program would take, and most importantly, who would pay for it.
Passing Notes
Arizona State University announced in the fall of 2014 that it would sponsor NCAA Division One hockey as soon as the 2015/16 season. The Sun Devil team, in the first division of the ACHA at the time, secured a national championship in the 2013/14 season and was barreling towards another.
“We focused on becoming a dominant ACHA program, which we did,” ASU Head Coach Greg Powers told an interviewer in 2024. “We did it to a level that the right people noticed, and good things happened.”
The first NCAA puck-drop for the Devils came during the transitional 2015/16 season against in-state rivals Arizona (ACHA), opening a schedule that pitted ASU against a mixture of NCAA and ACHA opponents. The Sun Devils then travelled to Alaska, making their first steps into the top-flight of American hockey. The Arizona State boss remembers it well.
“We had 16 kids who were playing club hockey a year ago,” Powers said. “We took Anchorage to overtime on the first night and then won at Fairbanks the next night. That weekend was pure adrenaline for us that we belonged at this level, and they got it done.”
Weiberg and Mann travelled to Tempe recently, where they met with Arizona State’s Athletic Director Graham Rossini and Greg Powers. In addition to ASU staff, the pair met with NCHC Commissioner Heather Weems, who happened to be visiting Tempe that week.
(The) National(’s) Teams
Arizona State was a hockey independent until 2024, when it joined the NCHC as the conference’s ninth member school. The University of St. Thomas will join the National next season, taking the league to 10 teams.
Though it is unlikely that the plans in Stillwater are far enough along yet, the question must be asked: Will an 11th team – perhaps one clad in orange and black – join the NCHC in the 2030s?
Only time will tell.
Anthony Dillett is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
