EDMONTON -- The Augustana Vikings, the varsity hockey team that represents the University of Alberta Augustana campus, could soon have played its final game after provincial budget cuts put the team's funding in jeopardy.
The team is facing a $145,000 shortfall to ice the team for one more season with a March 13 deadline to raise the money, according to a letter posted to social media by David Ritz, the president of the Vikings Men's Hockey Alumni Association.
"As a committee we understand some of their reasoning and realize this board has been put in a situation that is less desirable. Yet, we feel they did not look enough into the history of the program, the weight this has on the city and community, nor the impact this can have on Augustana in the future," reads the letter.
Ritz wrote that alumni and team coach Blaine Gusdal attended a Feb. 25 meeting with the University of Alberta where they were told the school intends to cut the men's hockey team, citing operations cost it estimates at between $230,000 and $250,000 per year.
"It is our interpretation that Augustana's current financial situation and the cost of the hockey program is the key reason they intend to cut the program," reads Ritz's letter.
"We feel that Augustana funding a men's hockey team and not having a women's hockey team strongly influenced their decision."
The decision has not yet been finalized, but Ritz says it could come as soon as next week.
He says alumni need to raise "well over $100,000" in an effort to keep the team on the ice next season.
His letter calls for a long-term strategy and plan to sustain the hockey team, one that would have to be determined by Nov. 1, 2020.
The Vikings compete in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and won their first and only ACAC title in the 2011-2012 season.
The school was an independent institution operating as Augustana College and later Augustana University College until 2004 when it merged with the University of Alberta.
Other Alberta post-secondary institutions have been announcing workforce cuts. Most recently, NAIT said it would cut as many as 240 jobs after the latest budget and Calgary sister school SAIT has also announced job cuts as well.
Budget 2019 cut Alberta post-secondary education's budget from $5.4 billion to $5.1 billion for 2019-20, and a further six per cent down to $4.8 billion in 2022-23. It also eliminated tuition and education credits effective Jan. 1, 2020 and increased the interest rate on student loans by one per cent.
Budget 2020, delivered last week, didn't outline any further cuts. But, it also projected a $290-million increase in tuition fees between 2019-20 and 2022-23. The advanced education budget will be $5.1 billion in 2020-21 — a six per cent reduction from the 2019-20 forecast.
