Varsity hockey will be established at New Ulm Senior High School for the 1975-76 school year.

That action was taken by the District 88School Board Thursday night at a regular meeting with about 50 people in attendance.

The approved plan calls for the initiation of one 20-player varsity team with one coach. No junior varsity, junior high or grade school team will be organized in the school district system.

TOM MACHO, presently teaching at Washington Elementary here, is expected to coach the team.

The vote was 5 to 2 with Gene Forstner,Harold Van Keulen, Dr. Ron Albright, Earl Lund and Jay Marti voting for Wanda Penrod and Janet Mildenberg voted no. A cheer went up from the hockey enthusiasts after the vote was taken.

Duane Nordin, hockey coach for the New Ulm Hockey Association explained he was very happy with the decision by the board.“I’m very pleased with the results,” Nordin said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR Vern Zahn said the cost to get the program off the ground next year will be between $9,000 and $9,500.

Estimates were taken by Zahn and Nordin for hockey proposals and both were presented to the board. Zahn’s estimates, including transportation,equipment and ice time rental came to nearly $12,000.

Nordin’s estimate was around $8,000.

However, Zahn’s estimate included 25players, while Nordin’s was for just 20. Initial outlay for uniforms was the other sizable difference in the cost estimates.

THE VOTE was not surprising as some might suspect. A Journal series done on hockey about a month ago indicated that there were enough votes from school board members to pass the proposal.

Supt. T.R. Olson said he has had nothing but a good relationship with the New Ulm Hockey Association.

“They had an extremely soft sell approach and were not adamant in their presentation of the facts,” Olson stated.

Olson said he expects nothing but sup-port from the association and feels the group will support the team more than any program in the school.“You can be extremely proud of the job you’ve done with hockey,” Olson said.

VAN KUELEN made the motion,favoring the program, with Marti seconding the motion. However, Marti expressed concern about girls athletics.

“We’ve got a good women’s program started here and still I wonder if we’ve done enough,” Marti remarked.“Sometime in the future we may be faced with equal money for both programs and we must keep this in mind.”

Olson said that the school district was developing the girls program in a cautious,yet progressive way. “We’ve received no complaints from our girls coaches,” Olson said.

Wanda Penrod said she was against the proposal because of a lack of an indoor facility.“We are putting more of a stress on the teenage kids making them travel two hours by bus just to practice on indoor ice,” she said. “Parents may also not accept problems if the buses are late, for example.”

Janet Mildenberg expressed her concern about the violence in the sport. She referred to a recent article in a magazine about all the accidents and fights in hockey the past year.

ATHLETICS AS a learning experience sold the board members. As Jay Marti said,“Athletics are a great way to build character.”

Marti referred to a recent trip by a hockey team from Fargo, N.D. to Winnipeg, Canada. He explained that the teams took their licks against each other during the day then went to the opposing players houses in Winnipeg to stay overnight. “This is a tremendous learning experience,” Marti said.