The Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey team is an ACHA Division I

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

program that represents the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

as an independent team. The Illini play on-campus at the historic 1,500-seat University of Illinois Ice Arena. The university does not currently have an NCAA varsity team, and thus the club team, which operates as a registered student organization (RSO), is the highest level of hockey offered by the university. The school also hosts an ACHA Division II team that is part of the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA).

History

Organized ice hockey came to Illinois in the 1930s and played its first official season in 1937 as an independent NCAA team. The first head coach was Ray Eliot, who coached the Fightin' Illini from 1937 to 1939. The team went winless in the 1937–38 season, going 0–4 before winning their first game in the following season.

Vic Heyliger Victor Heyliger (September 26, 1912 – October 4, 2006) was an American ice hockey player and coach. He played 33 games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks between 1937 and 1944 and then worked as the head coach A hea ...

, a former

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n at

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and professional player with the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

, took over as head coach for the 1939–40 season. In this second year as Illini head coach he led the team to a 17-win season, the most successful season of the Illini NCAA ice hockey team. The team recorded a 10-win season in 1941–42 and a 9-win season in 1942–43 that included only a single loss. The program was ended after the 1942–43 season during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; that same year in 1943 Heyliger came out of retirement for 1943–44 season to fill in the team's depleted war time roster. The current Fighting Illini men's ice hockey team formed in the

post-war era A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, w ...

during the mid-1950s. The team joined the CSCHL in 1975, only five years after the league formed, making the Illini the longest tenured CSCHL member until the team's departure for Midwest College Hockey in 2024. A feasibility study published in March 2018, and commissioned by the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

NHLPA The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA, ) is the labour union for the group of professional hockey players who are under Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL) located in the Unite ...

, and College Hockey, Inc., found a high probability of success for the hockey program to transition to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

. Illinois however reversed course in May 2022, announcing that they were no longer exploring adding a varsity hockey program. After one season as a member of Midwest College Hockey, head coach John Opilka announced the team would leave the conference and become an independent team.

Facility

Notable events

Undefeated season in 2007–2008. Record of 38–0–0. * 2 ACHA Division I National Championships. Won in

Bensenville, Illinois Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813. First known as Tioga, it was formally establishe ...

in 2005. Won in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

in 2008. * 48 game winning streak spanning from September 28, 2007, to October 25, 2008.

Season-by-season results

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points'' * Winning percentage is used when conference schedules are unbalanced.

Awards

* ''Big Ten Conference championships; (3)'' : 1941, 1942, 1943 * ''ACHA National Championships; (2)'' : 2005, 2008 * ''ACHA Final Four Appearances; (10)'' : 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018 * ''ACHA National Tournament Appearances; (23)'' : 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * ''CSCHL regular-season championships; (2)'' : 2003, 2008, 2013 * ''CSCHL Tournament Championships; (6)'' : 1986, 1988, 1992, 2003, 2006, 2008

Fighting Illini in the NHL

Notable alumni

Lee Archambault Lee Joseph "Bru" Archambault (born August 25, 1960) is an American test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He has logged over 4,250 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Archambault is married with three children. His hobbies include bicy ...

- U.S. Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut. Crew member of Mission STS-117 and Commander of Mission STS-119. *

Amo Bessone Amos "Betts" Bessone (November 22, 1916 – January 9, 2010) was a collegiate ice hockey player and head coach. Bessone was born in Sagamore, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and raised in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where he learned to play ho ...

- A 3-year varsity player, Bessone coached college hockey for 31 years, spending most of his career with

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

and led the program to its first national championship in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. * Chad Cassel - Inducted into the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame (2007). Winningest coach in Illini Hockey history with a record of 326–104–14. * Gene Honda - Public address announcer for the

. * Tommy Karakas - Goaltender in the team's final varsity season, set a modern collegiate record for consecutive shutouts (4, since broken). Brother of

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

champion

Mike Karakas Michael George Karakas (November 13, 1910 – May 2, 1992) was an Americans, American professional ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the league's first American-born and -trained goaltender. He played eight se ...

. *

Norbert Sterle Norbert John Sterle (December 4, 1918 – November 19, 1943) was an American ice hockey center who set a then-modern record for the most points scored in a collegiate season while helping Illinois win the western Intercollegiate title in 1940� ...

- Led program in scoring during the team's championship season in 1940–41. Killed while serving in

References

External links

Official website
{{Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey navbox Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey College ice hockey teams in Illinois Former college varsity men's ice hockey teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1937 1937 establishments in Illinois