The Connecticut Huskies men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Connecticut

University of Connecticut

The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

. The Huskies are a member of Atlantic Hockey

Atlantic Hockey

The Atlantic Hockey Association is a NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey–only conference. Unlike several other college athletic conferences, Atlantic Hockey has no women's...

. They play at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum

Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum

Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum is a 2,000-seat hockey rink in Storrs, Connecticut. It is home to the University of Connecticut Huskies men's and women's college ice hockey teams. It opened on November 7, 1998, replacing the outdoor UConn Ice Arena, which was in use since the 1960s...

 in Storrs, Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut

Storrs is a census-designated place and part of the town of Mansfield, Connecticut located in eastern Tolland County. The population was 10,996 at the 2000 census...

.

History

The Huskies upgraded to Division I Status in 1998 after playing for 38 years at lower levels of NCAA Hockey. At the time, head coach Bruce Marshall was in his tenth season at the position. After posting winning records in their first two seasons at the highest level, the Huskies started to struggle, and as of the 2010-11 season, have not since had a winning record. 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 . In the 2010-11 season, the Huskies showed some improvement, advancing to the Atlantic Hockey semifinals at Blue Cross Arena

Blue Cross Arena

The Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial is a multi-purpose indoor arena, located in Rochester, New York. Its maximum seating capacity is 13,000...

before being eliminated. The 2011-12 AHA preseason rankings reflected the newly gained reputation, with the Huskies ranked fifth out of twelve teams.