Alabama-Huntsville, in the midst of a university review of athletic department expenses, has rallied alumni and community support to ensure that its varsity hockey program - a fixture on campus for more than a quarter century carries on.

The Chargers won two Division II national championships under legendary head coach Doug Ross and the year after their last one, in 1998, moved up to Division I. Ross's son, Jared, who played for the Chargers and later the Philadelphia Flyers, kicked off a fundraising campaign with an email to fellow alumni in July.

To date more than $500,000 has been raised over a three-year period through contributions from alumni and boosters.

Huntsville - located in North Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line - has long been a hotbed for hockey among the sport's growing Southern population. It is the southern-most Division I hockey program.

The 2011-12 Charger roster features a player from Georgia and two from Tennessee: Brice and Sebastian Geoffrion, brothers of Nashville Predator and former Hobey Baker winner Blake Geoffrion.

The Nashville City Paper caught up with the Geoffrions for a story that ran Monday.

“It could end at a snap of a finger — just like that,” Brice, a sophomore, told the paper. “That is what’s scary and sad. All the sacrifices and everything we put into this game could end just like that.”

Supporters are hopeful that they can convince Malcolm Portera, the chancellor of the University of Alabama system and UAH’s interim president, that they have the pledges to help finance the program and the support of the community to make it viable for the university.

Thus far they've shown Portera and the board of trustees the support of the alumni in the form of those pledges, as well as their impact on the community both economically and in youth hockey.

They're hopeful to hear positive feedback on the program's future soon.