Raygan Kirk stunned as NCAA program cut

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2021 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now one week later, Raygan Kirk is still reeling from the news last week that the NCAA Division I program at Robert Morris University at Pittsburgh was pulling the pin on their and men’s and women’s hockey programs at the university.

Kirk, the 20-year-old goaltending phenom out of Ste. Anne, the former standout with the Eastman Selects and a member of the National Women’s Hockey team program, had just completed her second year at Robert Morris and in fact was preparing to return to Pennsylvania in late August for her third season at the school, playing hockey and studying on a full scholarship.

Playing in her home arena at Ste. Anne, Kirk was instrumental in leading the Eastman Selects to their first-ever Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League title three years ago, putting her on the national radar.

As a member of Team Canada, she followed that up by playing a key role in leading Canada to a world title at the 2019 World U18 Women’s Hockey Championship in Japan, where Kirk was named tournament MVP for her stellar performance in net.

Landing a scholarship to play NCAA Division I hockey at Robert Morris, Kirk was already looking ahead to her third season between the pipes at the Pittsburgh area school, when the devastating news was delivered via Zoom last week.

This is the same thing that happened to the women’s program at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks a couple of years ago, a program that has not returned at UND.

Kirk said they had no warning what was about to happen when both the men’s and women’s teams at the school were summoned to a meeting and were told their programs were being axed.

“This news came out of nowhere,” Kirk told The Carillon this week from her parents Ste. Anne area home where she is spending the summer. “I had just finished talking to some of my roommates, planning for next year, I had just bought a vacuum cleaner for the house we were renting for next year.”

The university said the moves were being made as a cost-cutting measure.

It’s not just her hockey career that is at stake her but also her academic studies. Kirk was about enter her third year studying environmental science.

“It is very difficult, you just don’t how many of your teammates you may see again, we were expecting to come back next year.”

Although there is a push to get the program re-instated and GoFundMe pages have been set up to assist in the cause it is unlikely it will be enough to bring back the program.

She has now been entered into the NCAA’s transfer portal where she hopes to be picked up by another Division I school. But most of the other programs already have their team’s set for the coming year so she really has no idea at this time where she might end up.

“I’m trying to remain positive, I want to continue playing at a U.S. school.”

And while she awaits word on where she might end up next season, Kirk is spending her summer at home with her family and working at the nearby Oakwood Golf Couse, as her hockey career awaits.