Formation and war years St. Cloud State Teachers College founded its varsity ice hockey program in
1931, joining several other
Minnesota-based schools. After an expectedly poor first season, St. Cloud began dominating their competition under Ludwig Andolsek, the team's second head coach. During the third year, a freshman named
Frank Brimsek served as the team's starter. Brimsek was so spectacular in goal that he left after just one season and began a professional career, a rarity for college players at the time. While Brimsek would go on to have a
Hall of Fame career, the Huskies didn't appear to miss him and went 25–2 in 1935, posting the best record in the nation. However, because only one of their games was played against a fellow institution, the Huskies weren't considered for the intercollegiate championship. Andolsek left after his third season and the team struggled in his absence. In the seven years that followed, the team hovered around .500 and were relegated to secondary status. In 1942, due to the
United States entry into
World War II, St. Cloud suspended many of its athletic programs, which included the ice hockey team. The program was restarted after the war and saw some success, however, because the program was not a member of any conference, the Huskies were occasionally hamstrung by a lack of playing time.
Wink and Basch In 1956, after changing head coaches five times in ten years, the team hired Jack Wink. The new bench boss stabilized the program and led the Huskies to stellar records in the early 1960s. The team finished the 1962 season undefeated but, as had happened a decade earlier, a reduced schedule following those highs caused the team to fall on hard times by the latter part of the decade. After successive 1-win seasons, Wink was replaced by Charlie Basch who began a rebuild of the program. Basch took almost twice as long as Wink had to turn the Huskies into consistent winners. Once he did, however, he was able to keep them at the top of their game for much longer. In 1978, the NCAA began sponsoring a
Division II tournament. Because St. Cloud was one of the few western teams that did not participate in the
NAIA Championship, they were invited to participate in a Western Championship Tournament, which would determine which two teams received bids. St. Cloud State played in the WCT for the first four years of its existence, unfortunately they were never able to win a single match and never received an invitation to the actual tournament. In 1980, the Huskies finally ended their long run as an independent and helped found the
NCHA. Poor results in conference play prevented the team from having a chance at an NCAA bid, a trend that continued as almost all Division II programs dropped down to
Division III in 1984.
Swift climb to D-I John Perpich took over for Basch in 1984 and led the team through two mediocre seasons before the athletic department decided to raise the profile of the program. Perpich stepped aside and allowed legendary
Minnesota coach
Herb Brooks to take over in 1986. News of the move spurred several prospects to join the program, including
NHL draft picks Tony Schmalzbauer and Shorty Forrest. The Huskies went on to win the program's first conference title (tied) and the first conference tournament ever played by the NCHA. Brooks' team was one of the favorites for the national championship despite being a debutant but they were stymied by
Oswego State and ended up 3rd in
1987. Brooks left after the year to return to the NHL, but his time with the team had been a success. The following year, St. Cloud promoted the program to
Division I, with Brooks' assistant
Craig Dahl taking over. The Huskies continued their rapid ascent with a winning record in 1989 and, due in part to the NCAA's policy of including a non-tradition team in the tournament at the time, St. Cloud made its first appearance in the D-I tournament in
1989.
WCHA After three years as an independent, St. Cloud joined the
WCHA in 1990. Widely regarded as the best conference at the time, the WCHA made it difficult for St. Cloud to compete for a further NCAA bid. In spite of the tough opposition, the Huskies thrived in their new conference and routinely finished in the top half of the standings. There were several near-misses for championships and tournament bids but, at the end of the 20th century, the Huskies finally returned to the national tournament. In three consecutive years, St. Cloud made the NCAA tournament but lost each game they played. The program then declined for a few years and Dahl stepped down after the 2005 season.
Bob Motzko, an alumnus of the team, took over and swiftly turned the team's fortunes. In his first five seasons he led the Huskies to two WCHA championship games. Though the team lost both, the Huskies got their first win in NCAA tournament play. Three years later, Motzko led the team to its first WCHA regular season title and led the Huskies to the
Frozen Four.
NCHC After the deep playoff run, St. Cloud State joined with seven other schools to form the
NCHC in response to the
Big Ten Conference joining the ice hockey ranks. The new league was built around traditional powerhouses and the Huskies looked right at home, winning the inaugural regular season title. Under Motzko, St. Cloud continued as one of the top teams in the conference, receiving 4 NCAA bids over a five-year span. In 2018, St. Cloud was the #1 team in the nation as it began the tournament but were upset in the first game by
Air force. Motzko left after the year to take over at in-state rival Minnesota and he was replaced by
Brett Larson. The Huskies only seemed to get better under their new coach and were again the top-seeded team in
2019. Despite dominating play for most of their opening match, the Huskies were again felled by the lowest-seeded team. After a down year that was curtailed by the
COVID-19 pandemic, St. Cloud returned with a strong
2021 and reached the championship game for the first time in its history. ==Season-by-season results==