HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- In a stunning turn of events, the University of Alabama in Huntsville announced late Tuesday a plan to revive the shuttered hockey program.

The UAH NCAA Division I hockey program, long considered an integral part of the school's identity, was ended by UA System Chancellor Malcolm Portera in October.

But a last-gasp effort by the grass roots Save UAH Hockey group scheduled a meeting with the school's new president, Robert Altenkirch, for Tuesday night and came away with a new life for the program.

Final plans are not yet in place, according to the UAH statement, but they are expected to be worked out in the coming days. The Save UAH Hockey group said it has received pledges to raise more than $500,000 to subsidize the hockey program.

The full text of the UAH statement:

"Members of The University of Alabama in Huntsville administration met this evening with hockey supporters, following discussions with Chancellor Malcolm Portera, and came to a consensus to work closely together to pursue institutional and community support to continue UAH hockey at the Division I level.

"Several scenarios were discussed to ensure recurring support is in place, and the two groups will continue to meet in the coming days to finalize a workable plan."

In reducing the hockey program to club level in his final week as interim president before Altenkirch arrived, Portera cited the expense of the program as being prohibitive for the school. Portera set a price tag of about $1.5 million annually for UAH to field a competitive hockey program in Division I.

When Portera announced plans to dismantle the program, he said in a prepared statement, "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."

While UAH hockey has a storied history that includes five national championships, three of those titles came as a club team and two as a Division II team - the most recent in 1998. But the NCAA abolished its Division II program for hockey a year later and UAH has struggled in the top level of college hockey while failing to find a new conference since College Hockey America folded in 2009.

It's not immediately clear what led to the change of heart by Portera and the UAH administration but the abolishment of the NCAA hockey program has been a controversial issue in Huntsville and drawn criticism from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, among others.

The Chargers are currently competing in what it thought was its final season and Portera had already announced plans to help the coaching staff find new jobs.

Doug Martinson Jr., a Huntsville attorney who was a vocal advocate of saving the hockey program and attended Tuesday night's meeting, said afterward, "All I can say is it was a great meeting."

Martinson declined to comment further beyond the statement release by UAH.

But on the Save UAH Hockey Twitter feed immediately after the announcement, a tweet said simply, in part, "People, we are alive."

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