What could have been for men’s hockey at Penn

Vision 2025 never saw the success that Siegel, Bonachea and the rest of the Quaker hockey alumni hoped for. Siegel can point to a number of reasons — including a leadership change at Penn’s Athletics Department and the COVID-19 pandemic — for their struggles. But at the heart of it all is the issue of fundraising.

“It’s always been a chicken-and-egg situation,” Siegel explains. “There are some donors who are willing to make that happen, but they want to know that the university is committed to that, especially given its history.”

He added that he “never found such a donor who was willing to donate the money.”

“The program has tried to strengthen and chart a path with fundraising and advancement,” said 2026 University graduate AJ Moshyedi, who also served as president of Penn men’s club hockey. “I don’t think the government has given a one-off amount for a donation or whatever amount of funding we need to give the green light.”

In 2017, Penn men’s club hockey had an operating budget of $85,000, about half of which was spent on ice time – and players had to spend $1,000 in dues each season. This arrangement allowed the program to survive and advance to competitive club play, but to reach the next level the budget would have to be increased thirty-fold.

Bonachea and Siegel came up with a funding target of north of $50 million. One of the biggest concerns was the arena the team would play in: the Class of 1923 Arena was not suitable for DI competition and would require extensive repairs. To fully develop a varsity program, Penn men’s hockey would also require a minimum of “8 recruits per year for 3-4 years, with the same eligibility criteria that current Varsity coaches are entitled to,” according to Vision 2025.

During the 2016-2017 admissions cycle, 31 potential applicants expressed interest in participating in the program. By the time Vision 2025 was published in winter 2017, only one applicant had gained admission to Penn during the early decision round, while three were deferred and six rejected. It was almost impossible to create an elite level program, even at the club level, with hardly any interested players coming into Penn.

Another concern was diversity: Hockey’s “traditional base of popularity is among middle- and upper-class white men in the Northeast and Midwest,” according to Siegel and Bonachea’s slide deck. Although the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation – founded by the late Ed Snider, the former owner of the holding company of the Philadelphia Flyers – had a strong presence at the Class of 1923 Arena, hockey was not played much by West Philadelphia youth.

Snider was deeply invested in the Philadelphia hockey community during his lifetime. His son, Jay Snider, was even a walk-on third-string goalie for the Quakers’ final varsity team during the 1977-78 season.

In February 2019, Snider Hockey concluded an agreement with the university to upgrade the Class of 1923 Arena into a four-season sports venue, with the foundation providing more than $7 million in pooled donations to renovate the red and blue rink. Before the renovation, the arena could only be used from November through March.

Although a renovated rink would do wonders for Penn club hockey, the agreement included a caveat: Snider Hockey would host a daily after-school program at the rink, while at the same time moving many programs to the Class of 1923 Arena. Because Snider Hockey provided the majority of the funding, they received preferential treatment when it came to practice time and game slots, limiting both Penn and Drexel club hockey.

“We have to rent the locker room there from the rink, from the university. We rent our ice, and there is very limited practice space,” Penn hockey coach Daniel Harkins said. “So our practice times are Monday morning at 7 a.m. and Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. And those are the only two practice slots we have.”

For matches, the men’s and women’s teams will have two back-to-back slots on Friday evenings. The lack of ice time is noticeable in both teams’ 2025-2026 schedules, with most home games taking place between September and November – when Snider Hockey is less active at the Class of 1923 Arena. Penn men’s club hockey had only one home game from December to February during the 2025-2026 season, while the women had three home games.

Although Vision 2025 never became a reality, alumni are still hopeful that the program will return to the DI level.

At the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, the United States took home gold medals in both men’s and women’s hockey. the first time in Olympic history that the US claimed double hockey gold. It was also the U.S. men’s team’s first Olympic gold medal since “Miracle on Ice” in 1980.

After the Olympics, there was a renewed enthusiasm for hockey in the air. Two of the most popular TV shows of the past year, “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus,” introduced hockey to broader pop culture. It’s hard to imagine a better time to reopen conversations about a varsity team — a sentiment shared by Penn hockey alumni.

“Philly is a great hockey town for the Flyers,” said Thomas Cullity, a player on Penn’s last varsity hockey team. “I think the sport has grown so much with a recent gold medal from both the women’s and men’s teams.”

He continued that “it would be great if they could somehow bring that program back and be part of Division I again.”

Meanwhile, Penn hockey alumni come together for annual reunions during Homecoming, when the club team hosts a major event for both varsity and club Quaker hockey players.

“I’ve been to a lot of Homecomings and so on where we all get together with reunions. I’ve enjoyed the seamlessness of the varsity boys and the club boys,” said Tom Bruch, a 1981 Wharton graduate who was also a member of the last varsity team. Bruch remained at Penn after the varsity team folded and helped start the club teams.

“[The alumni are] always willing to offer their help and financial support to the club to keep things going and really keep a lot of traditions going,” Harkins said.

Beyond the hope for the future, there is also appreciation for the people the sport has brought into their lives in interviews with Penn hockey players past and present.

“We all talk sometimes. We all email sometimes,” Cullity said. “I mean, I could call any of those guys at any time and pick them up like we never left.”