The Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey team is an ACHA Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign within Midwest College Hockey. 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, a former All-American at Michigan and professional player with the Chicago Blackhawks, 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; 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 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, NHLPA, and College Hockey, Inc., found a high probability of success for the hockey program to transition to NCAA Division I. Illinois however reversed course in May 2022, announcing that they were no longer exploring adding a varsity hockey program.

Facility

Notable events

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

Fighting Illini in the NHL

Notable alumni