HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The University of Alabama-Huntsville will no longer have an NCAA Division I hockey team after this season, UA Systems chancellor and interim UAH president Malcolm Portera announced today.

Charger hockey coach Chris Luongo confirmed that the announcement was made to the team at 10 a.m. by Portera.

"As a result of a financial analysis of our athletic program, and numerous conversations I have had with athletic directors, university presidents and commissioners of Division I ice hockey programs, it has become obvious that, for the best interest of this university, our athletic department and the ice hockey program, we move the team from the Division I level back to its original classification as a club sport at the end of the 2011-2012 season," Portera said in a written statement.

Portera said the cost savings from cutting hockey will allow the university to enhance the other 15 sports on campus.

"We will continue to honor the scholarship commitment made to these students, and if a student-athlete chooses to transfer to another program, we will provide help in making that relocation as seamless as possible," Portera said. "Coaches will remain on our staff through May 31, 2012, and the university will assist them in their endeavors to seek future employment."

The team's future has been in question since the dissolution of the College Hockey America conference in 2009, making the Chargers the only independent program in Division 1 hockey. Concerns over finding a conference became secondary this summer when rumors arose that the team was on the state's budgetary chopping block.

The hockey team's travel budget is more than all of the other men's sports combined, operations cost three times as much as all other men's sports combined, and hockey accounts for 40 percent of the total student aid budget for all men's sports, the university said in a statement today (read the full statement below).

See also: Future of Alabama-Huntsville hockey program to be announced Monday morning