University of Delaware is adding women’s ice hockey and partnering with Flyers

The University of Delaware will add Division I women’s ice hockey as a sport and also will be partnering with the Flyers.

The new program will compete in the College Hockey America conference starting in the 2025-26 season. Members of the conference include Penn State, Mercyhurst, Lindenwood, Robert Morris, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Syracuse.

This is in a corresponding move to Delaware’s recent decision to elevate its program from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and allows the Blue Hens to remain compliant with Title IX.

The team is partnering with the Flyers, who will help promote and develop the Blue Hens squad. More details about the partnership will be released at the Flyers’ Feb. 8 home game against the Winnipeg Jets, the day after National Girls & Women in Sports Day.

Delaware participated in a study with the NHL to determine the feasibility of sponsoring a Division I hockey program.

“As you can imagine, the results were incredibly positive,” Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak said at a press conference on Monday. “The geographic location is ideal. The interest in hockey in the Mid-Atlantic region continues to grow, with almost 90,000 girls registered as USA Hockey participants in 2021 and 2022, which was a 25% increase from the year before, and over 26,000 are in Delaware or neighboring states.”

Delaware has had a women’s club hockey team since 2003, and the club has been ranked in the top 10 nationally for the last 10 seasons. Delaware already has two hockey arenas on campus. The Fred Rust Arena is a 2,500-seat Olympic-size facility, while the Gold Arena is an NHL-size building.

“Not only does the University of Delaware nicely fall within our geographic footprint, this institution aligns with the academic and athletic commission and the values of our member institutions that make up College Hockey America,” said Michelle Morgan, the conference’s commissioner. “Because of this, the College Hockey board of directors unanimously voted to extend an invitation to Delaware becoming the seventh member of our league.”

Delaware becomes the 45th school to sponsor a Division I women’s ice hockey program, and will be the closest geographically to the Philadelphia area.

» READ MORE: Delaware AD calls move to Conference USA ‘a very comprehensive and intentional process’