Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey

History

Quinnipiac College began sponsoring men's ice hockey as a varsity sport for the 1975–76 season. The program began as an independent team before joining ECAC 3 the following year. The program remained with the third-tier conference for over 20 years despite being a Division II school for much of that time. The Braves left ECAC 3 in 1997 and spent a year as a D-II independent before moving up to Division I as part of the university's transition to the top level. Quinnipiac was a founding member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ice hockey division, joining the conference as an affiliate member. The Braves won the MAAC Regular season Championship in their first season in the league. The trend continued as Quinnipiac won the title the follow two seasons. In 2002 The Braves won the team's first playoff series, winning the MAAC Playoff Championship with a 6–4 win over Mercyhurst. With the win, Quinnipiac received an automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament, the first NCAA postseason appearance in program history. Quinnipiac faced off against Cornell in the first round of the East Regional, held in Worcester, Massachusetts. Quinnipiac's run into the NCAA tournament ended early in a 1–6 loss to the Big Red. The game was the first NCAA tournament appearance for the Braves. Quinnipiac finished the 2001–02 season 20–13–5, marking the team's fourth consecutive season with at least 20 wins.

In 2003 the MAAC Hockey league split off from the main athletic conference to form Atlantic Hockey. After two years in Atlantic Hockey Quinnipiac left to join the ECAC, replacing Vermont who left the league for Hockey East and changed their name to the Bobcats. QU was chosen over a number of applicants in large part to the university's commitment to build a new multipurpose sports arena to replace the civic-owned Northford Ice Pavilion. The Bobcats moved into the new 3,386-seat TD Bank Sports Center (then known as TD Banknorth Sports Center) in 2007.

The 2012–13 season has brought Quinnipiac to national prominence. The program reached a new high becoming the number one team in the country on February 11, 2013 in both the USCHO.com poll and USA Today College Hockey poll. Quinnipiac retained the ranking the following week despite losing their first game as the top ranked team to St. Lawrence University as the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams also fell the same weekend. The Bobcats also won their first ever Cleary Cup presented to the ECAC regular season champion. On March 24, 2013, the Bobcats received the number one overall seed in the 2013 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament. The Bobcats won the East Region with wins over Canisius (4-3) and Union (5-1) to advance to the school's first ever Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, Pa. In the national semifinals, Quinnipiac defeated St. Cloud State (4-1) to advance to the national championship game against archrival Yale. The Bobcats fell 4–0 to Yale to end the 2012-13 as the national runner-up.

Rivals

Since moving to the ECAC, Quinnipiac's biggest rival has been the Yale Bulldogs. The rivalry is dubbed the War on Whitney Avenue as the two campuses are separated by a mere 8 miles on Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut, to New Haven, Connecticut. The rivalry has reached its highest point in 2013 as both the Bobcats and the Bulldogs rank in the top 10 nationally and are 1 and 2 in the ECAC standings. The winner of the final game between the two teams receives the Heroes Hat which honors those who risked their lives during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The two teams met on April 13, 2013 for the fourth time in the 2012–13 season in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to play for the national championship. Quinnipiac won the previous three meetings by a combined score of 13–3, but was upset in the national championship game, 4–0.

The Cornell Big Red have also become a rival of Quinnipiac with the teams meeting in five ECAC Hockey Playoff series since the 2007 season having won in 2007 at Lynah Rink and in 2013 and 2016 in Hamden with the latter two coming with Quinnipiac as the ECAC number one seed and seasons in which Quinnipiac reached the Frozen Four. Cornell won series in 2011 and 2018 both at Lynah Rink. The Bobcats and Big Red met in the 2025 ECAC Semifinals in Lake Placid with Cornell coming out on top 3-2 in overtime. Quinnipiac is 3–2 in those series against Cornell with three of the series going the maximum three games. Things on the ice have been heated at times with a lot of physical play and both Rand Pecknold and Cornell head coach Mike Schafer jawing at each other as well.

Records vs. current ECAC Hockey teams

As of the completion of 2025–26 season

Season-by-season results

Source:

All-time coaching records

As of completion of 2024–25 season

Statistical leaders

Source:

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

Statistics current through the start of the 2023–24 season.

Roster

As of September August 9, 2025.

Awards and honors

NCAA

AHCA First Team All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

MAAC

First Team All-MAAC

Second Team All-MAAC

MAAC All-Rookie Team

Atlantic Hockey

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team

ECAC Hockey

First Team All-ECAC Hockey

Second Team All-ECAC Hockey

Third Team All-ECAC Hockey

ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team

Quinnipiac Bobcats Hall of Fame

The following is a list of people associated with the Quinnipiac men's ice hockey program who were elected into the Quinnipiac Bobcats Hall of Fame (induction date in parentheses).

Olympians

This is a list of Quinnipiac alumni were a part of an Olympic team.

Bobcats in the NHL

As of July 1, 2025.