It's never a good idea to rob Peter to pay Paul........

 But that's exactly what is happening at Hudson Valley Community College.

We have discussed this over at Tri-City SportsBeat in relation to LaSalle Institute's hockey team being displaced from HVCC's Robert Conway Rink, but there's more to this story.

Dr. Roger Ramsammy, in his 5th season as HVCC President, stirred up some controversy when it was announced that he was closing Conway Rink this season, which does three things, actually.

1. LaSalle moves their home games to Frear Park for the 2nd time in 3 seasons.

2. HVCC's club hockey team will be looking for a new home as well.

3. Public skating is being discontinued, which takes away revenue from the college!!!

Dr. Ramsammy isn't much of a hockey guy, but more of a soccer enthusiast. The Vikings are not drawing fans for their games, but then, part of that is because of a lack of press exposure to HVCC athletics as a whole. You'd have to look at the small type on the sports pages to find scores.

Not only that, but a golden opportunity was wasted with the announcement that UAlbany is moving their men's & women's basketball games to the McDonough Field House this season while SEFCU Arena is being renovated on the UAlbany campus. HVCC is like an adopted brother, if you will, to the bigger SUNY schools, and Dr. Ramsammy missed a chance to have HVCC play a pre-season game against UAlbany, a game that would raise the Troy school's profile, just as a pre-season baseball game vs. the Tri-City Valleycats would've and should've served the same purpose back in the spring, but, again, it was ignored by the press.

I suspect that there will be a great deal of blowback from students, alumni, faculty, and the general public, the latter in relation to the loss of public skating, leaving-----wait for it-----Frear Park as the only remaining facility in the city that would have open skating for the public. There's still a chance Dr. Ramsammy might change his mind, and he may have to, if he wants to remain in charge. If the Board of Trustees gets enough complaints, the rink could re-open over Dr. Ramsammy's objections as early as this winter.

Dr. Ramsammy's short-sighted thinking gets him the dreaded Dunce Cap.