Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Quinnipiac University. The Bobcats are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Connecticut. 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.