Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings men's ice hockey

This article is about the planned men's ice hockey program intended to being in 2022-23. For the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference team, please see Augustana Vikings.
The Augustana Vikings are a planned men's American collegiate ice hockey team proposed to begin play with the 2023-24 playing season. Augustana University is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The addition of men's ice hockey is part of what is planned to be an evolution of the university's athletic programs from NCAA Division II (D-II) to NCAA Division I (D-I) by the year 2030 which was announced back in 2018. The university is presently a member of the D-II all-sport Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which is also home to D-I hockey playing universities Bemidji State University, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State University and St. Cloud State University.
The team will be based out of the Midco Arena in Sioux Falls. The university had a ground breaking ceremony on October 5, 2021.https://www.uscho.com/2021/10/05/augustana-officially-announces-mens-division-i-hockey-program-new-rink-with-groundbreaking-ceremony/?fbclid=IwAR1PPSSzDW1_Grvvl7kSrlh3gjMFY9HtBoZp6VERjJ4xYED_3up2gvo0pik
John Buccigross tweed out the news on the plan for a new program along with a new arena being built on campus. Thttps://www.uscho.com/2021/06/16/augustana-university-in-south-dakota-aiming-to-add-division-i-mens-hockey-elevate-athletics-program-from-division-ii-to-division-i/
The team was announced as being added to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2023-24 season. They will play a reduced league schedule for 2023-24 and 2024-25 before beginning a full league schedule for the 2025-26 season.https://www.uscho.com/2022/05/17/augustana-to-join-ccha-as-ninth-member-school-will-start-play-with-2023-24-season/
==References==
Category:American collegiate ice hockey teams
Category:Central Collegiate Hockey Association teams
Category:Established in 2021