In the winter students and faculty would cut out blocks of ice to use for refrigeration and annual tug-of-war games between sophomores and freshmen were hosted during the spring months.

[3] UMass fielded one of the earliest non-ivy league programs, playing continually until poor weather conditions and a lack of funding caused the team to cease in 1939.

Eventually the pond became usable again and UMass were able to play home games with new head coach Steve Kosakowski.

When the Mullins Center opened in 1993 it was designed as a multi-purpose arena and allowed for the university to rekindle its ice hockey program.

Under Cahoon the team began to improve, posting a winning season in 2003 and reaching the conference championship game the following year.

His greatest success came after recruiting Jonathan Quick, who helped UMass to reach their first ever NCAA tournament in 2007.

After the second last-place finish Micheletto was fired and replaced by St. Lawrence head coach Greg Carvel.

[4] In Carvel's first season the team reached a nadir; the Minutemen set a new program record for futility, losing 29 games.

Though the year ended on a sour note, the team posted a new program record for wins (31) while Cale Makar won the school's first Hobey Baker Award.

On April 10, 2021, the Minutemen won their first-ever NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament, beating the St.

ET, Shane Walsh scored the game-winning goal to end the longest Division I hockey game which had lasted 151 minutes, 42 seconds, besting the previous record of 150:22, set by Quinnipiac and Union in 2010.