University of Pittsburgh Ice Hockey History

Pitt Hockey home jersey
D1: 2001-2004
D3: 2004-2007

Beginning of the Modern Era

Pitt Hockey away jersey
1990(?) - 1997

Since its most recent reincarnation in 1971, the University of Pittsburgh Hockey Program has offered numerous students an opportunity to continue to play competitive hockey. While there are some scattered bits of information about teams before 1971, the modern Pitt Hockey era began that year, with the inception of the Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Hockey Association (WPIHA). Pitt cofounded the league and began playing against league members Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, St. Vincent College, St. Francis University, and Slippery Rock University.

The WPIHA became the Western Pennsylvania College Hockey Association (WPCHA) in 1975, and then was renamed College Hockey East (CHE) in 2002 to reflect the number of teams from outside Western Pennsylvania. Over the years, the WPIHA/WPCHA/CHE has also included Youngstown State Unversity, Penn State, Robert Morris University, Washington and Jefferson, West Virginia University, Allegheny College, Penn State West, Penn State Altoona, Penn State Behrend, and Pitt-Johnstown. Pitt won WPIHA championships in 1974 and 1975, and WPCHA championships in 1989, 1991, and 1995. Home ice for the Panthers for much of the 1970s was the Civic Arena. The team then used the Golden Mile Ice Arena, and Neville Ice Arena on the South Side as its home during the late 1980s and the 1990s.

The ACHA Era

Traditionally, Pitt was one of the strongest teams in the the WPCHA, leading to the team’s decision to leave the WPCHA and join the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division II in 1997. One year later, in 1998, three additional teams left the WPCHA to form the University Hockey League (UHL) with Pitt in 1998: WVU-DII, Penn State University-DII, and IUP-DII. Over the years, UHL membership included NC State, Liberty University, the University of Maryland, and Robert Morris University. In 2005-06, Pitt reached its first ever ACHA DII National Tournament, appearing at the Southeast Regionals.

Pitt Hockey away jersey
D1: 1997-2001
D3: 2001-2004

In 2006, Pitt advanced the program further, and joined the ACHA’s Division I. In addition, Pitt was one of the driving forces in the formation of a Pittsburgh-area ACHA DI conference, College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA). Other founding conference members included Duquesne, IUP, W&J, Slippery Rock, John Carroll, and Youngstown State. WVU joined the conference in 2007. Interestingly, all of those teams except John Carroll were part of the WPCHA at one point in their history.

Pitt Hockey home jersey
D1: 2004-2007
D3: 2007-Present

2001 saw Pitt Hockey take another step forward, adding a second team to offer more students a chance to play college hockey. After playing from 2002 until 2008 in ACHA D3, the team was moved into the ACHA’s Division II, whose rules and regulations are better aligned with the goals of the second team. The Pitt D2 team has been a full member of College Hockey East since joining the ACHA in 2002.

We are very interested in completing the following timeline and encourage alumni to submit photos, rosters, schedules, and memories of your teams. We prefer scanned photos, but can return photos if they are mailed to us. Please send e-mail to the webmaster if you have any information that you would like to share.

We also have an archive of historical stats available.

Pitt D1

Pitt D2

© 2002 - 2010 Panthers Ice Hockey