ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — For nearly three decades, the University of Michigan has had women's ice hockey at the club level. It's a costly sport to begin with.
It's partially funded by the school, but the students have to pay to play, while the Wolverines men's team has established themselves as one of the best programs not only among the Big Ten Conference opponents, but across the entire country.
Meanwhile, women's ice hockey has never been established as a varsity sport and is not recognized by the NCAA.
"We are a player. We are the University of Michigan," said Denise Illitch.
Illitch is a member of the board of regents at Michigan and has been for almost two decades. She has felt passionately about women's ice hockey for some time and got tired of being told no.
"For me and my sisters and my brothers, it was very natural to have a girls team and a boys team," Illitch said. "It's kind of in our DNA."
In late March after the Professional Women's Hockey League takeover in Detroit, the board of regents at the University of Michigan called for a feasibility study that would consider establishing a women's varsity hockey program at Michigan. The University of Michigan would stand alone, as there are no other teams at the NCAA level in the entire state.
"We have a whole generation of young girls that are playing hockey, and those that are going to become elite and want to continue to move on have to leave our state," Illitch said.
Video below: Professional Women’s Hockey League makes a stop at Little Caesars Arena and Hockeytown fans break a crowd record:
Jenna Trubiano, head coach of Michigan women's club hockey team, thinks it is a bigger problem than just that and that it's causing a major disconnect in the sport of hockey in Michigan.
"We develop them at the youth hockey level, send them off to Wisconsin, Ohio State or Boston College and then they establish lives outside of Michigan and they don't come back," Trubiano explained. "So, you have this shortage of really female role models in our state."
In a statement to 7 Action News, the University of Michigan explained that they do not yet have a timeline for the start of the study or how long it could take.
"The Athletic Department will review comments and conduct due diligence from the March 28 University of Michigan Board of Regents Meeting and calls for a feasibility study related to program sponsorships," wrote Kurt Svoboda, associate athletic director at Michigan. "A feasibility study would be the first in a series of steps to consider before any potential proposals are presented to our Board."
In the study, evaluated by the National Hockey League, different factors would be considered like cost, resources and facilities. Illitch feels like the process would face existing biases surrounding women's hockey but feels more optimistic than not. She has been pleasantly surprised by the support, financially and otherwise.
"We can afford it. We are the leaders and the best. We need to be represented, Michigan women need to be represented and hockey players need to be represented," Illitch said.
Detroit is called Hockeytown, but Michigan is trailing as a state. New York has 10 women's varsity programs. Masschusetts has eight. Minnesota has six. Michigan has none.
"It would mean a lot to every girl who has ever played hockey in the state of Michigan that never felt seen, heard or acknowledged for playing the sport they love," Trubiano said.
Emma Johns is a freshman at Michigan. She played hockey her whole life. She started playing competitively with boys because of a lack of opportunity in girls hockey in Grand Rapids. Then she traveled weekly to Lansing to play travel.
When it came to college, she was torn between playing hockey at the NCAA level and choosing to pursue academics. She chose Michigan for academics and was wildly disappointed to find out they didn't have a varsity program. She plays at the club level and loves it but knows Michigan could provide more opportunity for female athletes.
"Any time I meet with girls who want to play for Michigan, I hope and pray they get to play at Yost (Arena) like I did, but with the kind of glory that they deserve," Johns said.
Related: You can't be it if you can't see it: Hockeytown gives warm welcome to women's hockey
