The New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats are a member of Hockey East. They play at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire.
History
Early years Efforts to organize an ice hockey team at New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts date to the early 1910s. By January 1914, a college team was playing "a short schedule of games" against local teams such as an athletic association from Exeter, New Hampshire. A summary of the 1914 hockey season—the team had a record of two wins and two losses—appeared in the college's 1916 yearbook. However, games from this era are not considered part of varsity history. In July 1923, the school was renamed the University of New Hampshire (UNH).
The first UNH ice hockey team considered part of varsity history played in January and February 1925. The team won its first two games, on consecutive days, in away matches against Bates College and Colby College in Maine. A year later, under the stewardship of Ernest Christensen, UNH played its first home game on a local rink, an outdoor facility that was dependent on cold weather for its surface. The Wildcats played a small number of games for their first 15 seasons, fluctuating between an undefeated season in 1926–27 and a winless campaign in 1931–32.
In 1938, Christensen retired and the team eventually came under the tutelage of Anthony Dougal, but his tenure was suspended in 1943 due to the outbreak of World War II. The team finally returned to the ice in January 1947, with Dougal remaining for one year before handing the program over to Joseph Petroski. After four rather poor seasons, Horace "Pepper" Martin took over and New Hampshire's fortunes began to change. By the mid-1950s, the Wildcats started to play more and win more games than they ever had before. In 1955, an artificial ice rink was constructed on campus to help the team play more than a handful of home games.
ECAC In 1961 New Hampshire was one of 28 schools that were founding members of ECAC Hockey. Martin turned the team over to A. Barr Snively and plans were underway to replace the Harry C. Batchelder Rink with an indoor ice rink. In the offseason of 1964, two events happened that hampered the ice hockey program. First, in April, head coach Snively suffered a heart attack and tragically died. With the school searching for a replacement the ECAC announced that it was dividing itself into two separate tiers. 'Major' programs would continue on with ECAC Hockey but 'minor' schools would be forced to join the newly-formed ECAC 2. Because their indoor facility had not yet been completed New Hampshire was forced out of the top tier. Rube Bjorkman was eventually named as head coach and he led the team for four years. During his tenure, the indoor arena was completed and christened as the Snively Arena after his late predecessor and a year later the program was readmitted into the top echelon of college hockey.
It was Bjorkman's successor, Charlie Holt, who put New Hampshire on the college hockey map. In Holt's first season UNH played its first postseason game, earning Holt his first of three Spencer Penrose Awards. In his first five seasons, the Wildcats finished with a winning record and then won the ECAC regular season championship in his sixth year. The Wildcats made their first NCAA appearance in 1977 and captured their first Conference championship two years later, but no matter how good Holt's teams were national success continued to elude him. under Holt the Wildcats went 0–6 in the frozen four and 2–8 in the tournament overall. While the wins started to come few and far between in the mid-1980s Holt continued to helm the program as it left ECAC Hockey to form Hockey East with six other northeastern schools.
Bob Kullen Holt stepped down in 1986 and was replaced by long-time assistant Bob Kullen. In his first year the team saw marginal improvement but that summer Kullen was diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease that necessitated a transplant and his missing an entire season to recuperate. Dave O'Connor served as the interim head coach for 1987–88 allowing Kullen to return in the fall of '88. In two years New Hampshire saw its wins total improve to 12 and then 17 but by 1990 Kullen started rejecting his new heart and was forced to resign. Another UNH assistant, Dick Umile, was named as his replacement and unfortunately, Kullen died in November 1990 at the age of 41. Hockey East swiftly renamed its coach of the year award in his honor while the team continued the upward swing he began, allowing Umile to be the first recipient of the rechristened award.
Umile years In Umile second season New Hampshire made the NCAA tournament for the first time in almost a decade and retroactively finished first in the conference after Maine was forced to forfeit 13 games. The team continued to play well for several seasons but after a disappointing season in 1996, the team won its first Hockey East Championship and set a new program record with 28 wins. The following year the Wildcats made the Frozen Four for the first time in 16 years and then reached even higher in 1999. in the penultimate year of the millennium the Wildcats won 30 games for the first time, establishing a still-record of 31 victories (as of 2019), winning their second conference title (first outright) and were led by sophomore goaltender Ty Conklin and senior center Jason Krog, the latter won the NCAA scoring title by 16 points and captured the Hobey Baker Award (UNH's only recipient as of 2019). Despite losing in the Hockey East tournament finale The team received the #2 overall seed and a bye into the second round. The Wildcats defeated two Michigan schools to reach their first national championship game where they would ultimately fall in overtime to conference rival Maine.
UNH would continue to be a power in Hockey East, winning back to back conference championships in 2002 and 2003 and reached their second NCAA title game in '03 where they lost to Minnesota, 5–1. UNH would make the NCAA tournament every year from 2002 through 2011 but the team could not make it out of the Regionals after 2003. Starting in 2012 the program began a slow decline, ending up dead-last in the conference in 2017–18. After that season Umile decided to retire, leaving the school as the all-time leader in just about every coaching category and recording the third most wins all-time for one school at the Division I level.
Umile's final act for the program was to name his successor, allowing 1999 alumnus Michael Souza to become the 14th head coach in program history.
John "Jack" French After his tour of duty in the US Navy, he worked at the UNH as the Athletic Equipment Manager for a total of 38 years from 1963 to 2001. He was beloved by the students and staff and holds the record for most games attended including hockey, football, baseball and basketball. He was a member of the Athletic Equipment Managers Association.
Seasons
Head coaches As of the completion of 2024–25 season Tenure Coach Years Record Pct. 1924–1925 Hank Swasey 1 2–2–0 1925–1936, 1937–1938 Ernest Christensen 12 55–54–8 1936–1937 Carl Lundholm 1 3–5–0 1938–1939 George Thurston 1 5–4–0 1939–1943, 1946–1947 Anthony Dougal 5 15–28–0 1947–1951 Joseph Petroski 4 9–20–0 1951–1962 Horace "Pepper" Martin 11 76–76–3 1962–1964 A. Barr Snively 2 23–22–0 1964–1968 Rube Bjorkman 4 57–40–0 1968–1986 Charlie Holt 18 347–232–18 1986–1987, 1988–1990 Bob Kullen 4 37–66–8 1987–1988 Dave O'Connor 1 7–20–3 1990–2018 Dick Umile 28 598–375–114 2018–Present Michael Souza 7 91–118–27 Totals 14 coaches 99 seasons 1,325–1,055–181
Statistical leaders Source:
Career points leaders Player Years GP G A Pts PIM 1975–1979 128 127 116 243 1995–1999 151 94 144 238 1998–2002 158 102 117 219 1972–1976 119 77 132 209 1994–1998 144 85 112 197 1967–1971 89 98 95 193 1975–1979 135 91 101 192 1972–1976 108 87 88 175 1974–1978 107 72 102 174 1975–1979 131 71 103 174 1988–1992 140 85 89 174
Career goaltending leaders
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
minimum 30 games played Player Years GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA 1998–2001 93 5580 57 23 12 202 1 .915 2.18 2004–2008 112 6599 70 29 10 250 9 .928 2.27 2011–2014 97 5637 48 36 8 218 9 .923 2.32 2002–2006 55 2904 27 13 6 119 2 .917 2.46 2000–2004 102 5755 58 25 12 239 12 .914 2.49 Statistics current through the start of the 2019–20 season.
Current roster As of August 14, 2025.
Awards and honors
Hockey Hall of Fame Source:
Rod Langway (2002)
United States Hockey Hall of Fame Source:
Charlie Holt (1997) Rod Langway (1999)
NCAA
Individual awards
Hobey Baker Award Jason Krog: 1999
Spencer Penrose Award Charlie Holt: 1969, 1974, 1979 Dick Umile: 1999
NCAA Scoring Champion Louis Frigon: 1971 Jason Krog: 1999 Tyler Kelleher: 2017
All-American teams AHCA First Team All-Americans
1960–61: Rod Blackburn, G 1972–73: Gordie Clark, F 1973–74: Cap Raeder, G; Gordie Clark, F 1975–76: Cliff Cox, F; Jamie Hislop, F 1976–77: Tim Burke, D; Bob Miller, F 1977–78: Ralph Cox, F 1978–79: Ralph Cox, F 1981–82: Andy Brickley, F 1997–98: Mark Mowers, F 1998–99: Jason Krog, F 2000–01: Ty Conklin, G 2001–02: Darren Haydar, F; Colin Hemingway, F 2003–04: Steve Saviano, F 2004–05: Sean Collins, F 2007–08: Kevin Regan, G; Mike Radja, F 2009–10: Bobby Butler, F 2010–11: Blake Kessel, D; Paul Thompson, F 2012–13: Trevor van Riemsdyk, F 2015–16: Andrew Poturalski, F
AHCA Second Team All-Americans
1990–91: Jeff Levy, G 1991–92: Domenic Amodeo, F 1996–97: Tim Murray, D; Jason Krog, F 1998-99: Jayme Filipowicz, D 1999–00: Ty Conklin, G 2002–03: Mike Ayers, G; Lanny Gare, F; Colin Hemingway, F 2004–05: Brian Yandle, D 2005–06: Brian Yandle, D 2006–07: Trevor Smith, D 2007–08: Brad Flaishans, D; Matt Fornataro, F 2009–10: Brian Foster, G; Blake Kessel, D 2016–17: Tyler Kelleher, F
ECAC Hockey
Individual awards
Player of the Year Ralph Cox, C: 1979
Rookie of the Year Bob Miller, F: 1975 Normand Lacombe, RW: 1982
Most Outstanding Player in Tournament Greg Moffett, G: 1979
All-Conference teams First Team All-ECAC Hockey
1971–72: Gordie Clark, F; Guy Smith, F 1972–73: Gordie Clark, F 1973–74: Gordie Clark, F 1974–75: Jamie Hislop, F 1975–76: Jamie Hislop, F 1976–77: Bob Miller, F 1977–78: Ralph Cox, F 1978–79: Ralph Cox, F 1981–82: Andy Brickley, F 1997–98: Mark Mowers, F 1998–99: Jason Krog, F 2000–01: Ty Conklin, G 2001–02: Darren Haydar, F; Colin Hemingway, F 2003–04: Steve Saviano, F 2004–05: Sean Collins, F 2007–08: Kevin Regan, G; Mike Radja, F 2009–10: Bobby Butler, F 2010–11: Blake Kessel, D; Paul Thompson, F 2012–13: Trevor van Riemsdyk, F 2015–16: Andrew Poturalski, F
Second Team All-ECAC Hockey
1968–69: Rick Metzer, G 1973–74: Cap Raeder, G 1975–76: Cliff Cox, F; Tim Burke, F 1976–77: Tim Burke, D 1978–79: Greg Moffett, G; Bob Gould, F 1982–83: Normand Lacombe, F 1983–84: Bruce Gillies, G; Brian Byrnes, D
Hockey East
Individual awards
Player of the Year Jason Krog: 1999 Ty Conklin: 2000 Darren Haydar: 2002 Mike Ayers: 2003 Steve Saviano: 2004 Kevin Regan: 2008 Bobby Butler: 2010 Paul Thompson: 2011
Rookie of the Year Jeff Levy: 1991 Mark Mowers: 1995 Darren Haydar: 1999 Sean Collins: 2002
Best Defensive Forward John Sadowski: 2000 Preston Callander: 2005
Len Ceglarski Award Joe Flanagan: 1992 Todd Hall: 1996 Steve Saviano: 2004 Jackson Pierson: 2022
Best Defensive Defenseman Steve O'Brien: 1999 Joe Charlebois: 2008
Three-Stars Award Colin Hemingway: 2002 Bobby Butler: 2010 Paul Thompson: 2011 John Henrion: 2013 Tyler Kelleher: 2017
Coach of the Year Dick Umile: 1991, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2007, 2010
Tournament Most Valuable Player Darren Haydar: 2002
All-Conference teams First Team All-Hockey East