The Huskies men's ice hockey program began in 1960 under head coach John Chapman. UConn began NCAA competition at the
NCAA Division III level in the
ECAC East. Prior to 1998, the Huskies played all home games outdoors at a partially enclosed rink on-campus near
Memorial Stadium. The UConn Hockey Rink had a roof but was open on the sides. However, in preparation for the upgrade to Division I, the University built the
Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. Construction began in 1996, and the first indoor home game for UConn was on November 7, 1998. The move to
NCAA Division I status allowed the team to join other Husky athletic programs. In 1998 they joined the
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, after previously playing for 38 years in the Division III ECAC East. At the time, head coach Bruce Marshall was in his tenth season at the position. In its 2nd season in the
2000 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, UConn beat Iona 6-1 to win its 1st league championship. However, due to a 2-year probationary period placed on the MAAC for an automatic bid to the NCAA Ice Hockey championship by the league champion, UConn was unable to participate in the NCAA tournament that year. It has been the only championship UConn has won since moving to Division I. But when the athletic department was forced to remove all athletic scholarships from the sport in order to comply with Title IX, and the Huskies consistently finished in the bottom few spots of the national computer rankings before the most recent season. In 2003, the MAAC formed a new league called
Atlantic Hockey. In June 2010, the University announced that the team would face
Sacred Heart at
Rentschler Field in
East Hartford on February 13, 2011, as part of a doubleheader also featuring a game between the
women's team and the
Providence Friars. The Huskies won this game 3-1, in front of 1,711 fans. The Huskies also played their first ever game at the
XL Center in downtown
Hartford that year, though this was not originally scheduled. Due to heavy snow accumulation on the Freitas roof, the team's February 5 game against
Army was moved to the off-camps arena, also home to the
Connecticut Whale of the
American Hockey League. In spite of free admission, only 891 fans turned up on short notice to watch the Huskies lose 5-3. As a whole, the 2010-11 season was also a major improvement for the Huskies, who advance to the
Atlantic Hockey Tournament semifinals at
Blue Cross Arena before being eliminated. They finished with a final record of 16-18-4. One of the major factors in the turnaround was the young recruits the Huskies had signed. Freshman
Cole Schneider led the team with 32 points, while sophomore Sean Ambrosie finished second with 29. Meanwhile, sophomore Garrett Bartus set a school record with 1,085 saves. The 2011-12 AHA preseason rankings reflected the newly gained reputation, with the Huskies ranked fifth out of twelve teams. The Huskies posted a winning record once again in the 2012-13 season. On June 21, 2012, UConn announced the program would join
Hockey East as the conference's 12th member beginning in the 2014-15 season. Prior to the move into Hockey East, on January 7, 2013, head coach
Bruce Marshall resigned after 25 years and was replaced in interim by Asst. Dave Berard. The season ended with a record of 17-13-4. The team finished 4th in the AHA, drawing a crowd of 1438 for their final home game of the season against Sacred Heart. As part of the move from Atlantic Hockey to Hockey East, the university added 18 scholarships for the men's ice hockey team and additional scholarships to existing women's sports programs to meet
Title IX gender equity requirements. ==Season-by-season results==