Early history Pond hockey had been played on
Lake Mendota in
Madison since the late 1800s. The University of Wisconsin formed an informal hockey program in the 1910s. The 1921 season saw the development of intercollegiate hockey at Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Michigan and Wisconsin scheduled four games to be played on consecutive weekends from February 18 to 26, 1921.
Modern era The modern era of Badger hockey began in 1963 with the decision of athletic director Ivan B. Williamson. The Badgers played home games at the
Hartmeyer Ice Arena before moving to the
Dane County Coliseum in 1967. The program began as an independent NCAA Division I team and scheduling 8 games against
Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams, losing all 8 games. Late in the 1965–66 season, the Badgers finally broke through, beating the
Minnesota Golden Gophers 5–4 in overtime, their first win over a WCHA opponent. At the end of that season, Coach John Riley retired.
Johnson era playing for Wisconsin (2010). In 1966, Wisconsin hired "Badger"
Bob Johnson. Under Johnson, Wisconsin was offered WCHA membership for the 1969–70 season. In that same season the Badgers received a bid to the
NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. The Badgers won their first national championship at the
1973 Frozen Four. Badger Bob's 1977 team was one of the most successful to date, as the team swept through the WCHA tournament and the
1977 NCAA Tournament. Behind the efforts of four first team All-Americans,
Mike Eaves,
Mark Johnson (Bob's son),
Craig Norwich and Julian Baretta, the 1977 team won the title with a 6–5 victory in overtime against
Michigan. Despite losing one of their top players, Mark Johnson, to the
1980 American Olympic Team, the Badgers reached the NCAA title game three consecutive times in 1981, 1982, and 1983, winning the program's third title in
1981 by defeating rival
Minnesota in the championship game 6–3. After again reaching the championship game in 1982, where the Badgers lost to
North Dakota, the program was dealt a second blow with the departure of Johnson. He would later coach in the
NHL and win the
Stanley Cup with the
Pittsburgh Penguins. He left Wisconsin after 15 seasons with 3 NCAA championships, a record of 367–175–23, and having built the program into an NCAA powerhouse. Johnson died in 1991.
Sauer era Former Badger assistant coach
Jeff Sauer was hired in 1982 to replace Bob Johnson as head coach. Sauer won the
1983 NCAA championship in his first season. Wisconsin defeated
Harvard 6–2 to earn the program's fourth NCAA title. Under Sauer's leadership, the Badgers qualified for eight consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1988 to 1995, and won the program's 5th NCAA title in
1990, with a 7–3 victory over
Colgate. Also, Sauer presided over the team's move from the aging
Coliseum to the new, on-campus
Kohl Center in 1998. The Badger men led the nation in college hockey attendance every year from moving to the Kohl Center through the 2011 season. Wisconsin again reached the
1992 NCAA Championship game against
Lake Superior State, losing 5–3. The game, which featured some questionable calls by the referee that continually put the Badgers at a two-man disadvantage, irked several players so much that they lashed out beyond Sauer's control, verbally abusing the referees and earning Sauer a one-game NCAA suspension. Assistant Coach Bill Zito received a two-game suspension, while players Blaine Moore and Jason Zent each received a one-game suspension. That game was later vacated by the NCAA for rules violations unrelated to the incidents in the championship game. In the mid-1990s, Badger hockey earned NCAA bids in 1998 and 2000, but generally underachieved compared to the high standards of the 1970s and 1980s. The 1999–2000 team featured a duo of second overall NHL draft pick
Dany Heatley and
Steven Reinprecht, won the
MacNaughton Cup, and earned a No. 1 position in the polls for most of the season, only to be upset by
Boston College in the
NCAA regionals. Two seasons later, during the 2001–02 season, coach Sauer announced his retirement. Jeff Sauer left Wisconsin with two NCAA titles and a record of 489–306–46 at Wisconsin, and a 655–532–57 overall record as a head coach.
Eaves era (2010). Sauer's replacement was
Mike Eaves, a former player who was a captain on the 1977 NCAA championship team and still holds the record as Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer. In 2003–04, Eaves brought the Badgers just short of the
Frozen Four, falling in overtime to
Maine in the
2004 NCAA Tournament. The Badgers returned to national prominence by winning the
2006 NCAA championship in Milwaukee with a 2–1 win over Boston College. In 2010, the Badgers returned to the
NCAA championship, vying for a seventh NCAA title but lost 5–0 to Boston College at
Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, in front of a then-record crowd for an indoor ice hockey game of 37,592. In 2011, they missed the
WCHA Final Five and NCAA tournament completely. In 2012, the team missed the NCAA Tournament again. In 2013 they were winners in their last-ever appearance in the WCHA Final Five before the team joined the newly established
Big Ten Hockey conference for the 2013–14 season. In the inaugural season of the Big Ten Hockey conference, the Badgers won the Big Ten Tournament, their second consecutive conference tournament championship. The 2014–15 season was the worst season in team history. They finished the season with a record of 4–26–5, setting school records for fewest wins and most losses in a season. Eaves was fired on March 18, 2016 after finishing the 2015–16 season with an 8–19–8 record.
Granato era Athletic director
Barry Alvarez hired Detroit Red Wings assistant
Tony Granato to replace Eaves in late March 2016. Also hired were Tony's younger brother
Don Granato, coach of the
U.S. National Team Development Program's under-17 team, and
Mark Osiecki, associate head coach of the
American Hockey League's
Rockford IceHogs and former assistant coach at Wisconsin for six years in the 2000s. Tony Granato signed a five-year contract worth $2.75 million while Osiecki and his brother signed three-year deals worth a total of $660,000 a piece. The hires were seen as getting UW Men's Ice Hockey back on track, and was noticed by media, such as the
Wisconsin State Journal, when they said "Alvarez answered the critics who think UW no longer cares about men’s hockey in the best way he could" during the press conference introducing all three coaches Alvarez stated "I’m very confident that we’ve taken the right steps today in re-establishing the dominance of our hockey program" In Granato's first season, he led the team back to respectability with a 20-15-1 overall record and a 12-8 conference record, good enough for second place. On March 18, they lost the conference championship game to
Penn State 2–1 in double overtime. On March 6, 2023, University of Wisconsin Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh announced that Granato would not return for the 2023-24 season.
Hastings era On March 30, 2023, former
Minnesota State University, Mankato Mavericks head coach
Mike Hastings was named Granato's replacement as head coach. Wisconsin reached the NCAA Championship Game in 2026 under Hastings, falling 2-1 to Denver. ==Season-by-season results==