Salve Regina Hockey, What Happened?

In this article, we discuss the current “collapse” of the Salve Regina Men’s & Women’s hockey programs as we know it. Now, this is not to say they will never recover, bounce back, and become noteworthy for the right reasons once again, possibly returning to the national championship on the men’s side, but for now, it’s an utter disaster at various levels. Administration has seemingly failed and haven’t been able to make up for their latest mistakes. This story also features a first-hand perspective of the situation from former player Joe Kile (Salve Regina ’24).

What Happened?

Seven years ago, at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY, the 2018 Men’s Division III National Championship game featured a double overtime thriller featuring a legendary program from De Pere, WI – St. Norbert (27-4-1) & a team in their second ever NCAA tournament from Newport, RI – Salve Regina (22-6-2). Seven years later, one of these two programs has remained a contender for league & national titles every season, while the other finds themselves league-less, coach-less, & nearly schedule-less.

If you told the alumni, former players, coaches, & fans of Salve Regina University Men’s & Women’s hockey that they would be on the cusp of losing a program that just seven years ago in the 2017-2018 season, was the NCAA Division III runner-up in the men’s national championship, and most recently coming off a 17-10-0 season on the women’s side during the 2024-2025 campaign, I don’t think there’s a great chance anyone would’ve taken you seriously.

Currently, both teams do not have head coaches, they do not have a league to participate in, & they do not have complete schedules for this upcoming 2025-2026 season.

Let’s begin the discussion with some background on both the Men’s & Women’s programs:

Men

Overall Record: 282-349-44

NCAA Tournaments: 2 (’16 & ’18)

Frozen Four Appearances: 1 (’18)

Women

Overall Record: 210-342-39

NCAA Tournaments: 0

Historically, neither program has been a national contender year-in and year-out, but on the men’s side, they’ve been a solid team that hasn’t had a below .500 season since 2014 and the passion for hockey in Newport has always thrived, especially with their strong alumni base.

The women’s side has recently been rejuvenated, going 17-10-0 in the NEHC under 5th year Head Coach David Lun, who most recently left for UMass-Boston, filling their women’s head coaching vacancy. Prior to Lun’s tenure in Newport, the Seahawks had decent success in the years of 2008-2015, but during the years 2016-2020, the program held an overall record of 23-75-7. Once Lun arrived (COVID season of 2020-2021), he compiled a record of 44-52-6, winning 17 games last season, the most in program history other than the 2008-2009 season where they won 18 games.

League-less

The men’s program was a prominent member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), now rebranded as the Conference of New England (CNE) as of 2024, between the years of 2016-2024. The women were members of the CNE from 2018-2024 (NEHC members 2015-2018).

Prior to the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season, the school announced they would be leaving the CNE and joining the highly touted New England Hockey Conference (NEHC), beginning in the 2024-2025 season. There was only one problem with this decision… The NEHC was breaking apart at the conclusion of this season, thus, teams would all need to find new homes, Salve found themselves being the one team without a new home due to various factors. The former-NEHC programs went to the established Little East Conference (LEC) who will feature men’s & women’s hockey for the first time this upcoming 2025-2026 season, the historic State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), and the hockey-only United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC). Albertus Magnus was formerly independent, joined the NEHC at the same time as Salve, however, had future plans setup for the UCHC in the new post-NEHC world.

Salve Regina chose the NEWMAC, which only has one other Division III hockey member (Babson College), the CNE does not take affiliate members. This, mixed with other coaches in the potential new conference having a disdain for former Men’s Head Coach Zech Klann, was a recipe for potential disaster.

Here’s where each team ended up:

Babson – Little East

Castleton – Little East

New England College – Little East

Norwich – Little East

Southern Maine – Little East

UMass-Boston – Little East

Hobart – SUNYAC

Skidmore – SUNYAC

Albertus Magnus – UCHC

Elmira – UCHC

Salve Regina – Independent

The Reaction

On March 26, 2025, we were the first outlet to announce the news via X, (formerly Twitter) that the Salve Regina Men’s & Women’s hockey teams were notified by their administration via meeting that they would (at that time) be an independent for the following season, that has not changed since. The tweet has since gone semi-viral, racking up over 150k views, showing the shock to the hockey world and the New England region.

During the meeting, administration at Salve Regina did not have many answers, if any, for players regarding their hockey future, nor were any comments made publicly.

Local media and national media made note of this. Former and current players also voiced their thoughts via replies, quote tweets, and some simply likes. Hockey-media members such as Mark Divver (New England Hockey Journal, NHL Contributor) & Mike McMahon (College Hockey Insider) made note of the news.

Most recently, on August 21, 2025, New England Hockey Journal legend Mark Divver on X, quote tweeted our post, giving his brief thoughts:

“Seven years after losing in double overtime in the Division 3 national championship game, Salve Regina hockey is in shambles, without a league to play in. Administration should be embarrassed”. (@MarkDivver)

Former players, current players, and alumni voiced their frustrations that night on X, some quotes include:

• “Current AD has done nothing but ruin the athletic programs since he started. Has absolutely no idea what to do. Almost little to no funding to a program that was competing with the best/top D3 programs in the country not too long ago.”
• “Heartbreaking. The thing I’m going to miss the most is how tight we were as a group. People will be doing what is best for their careers and moving on :(“
• “It’s a real shame for the program. As a local kid who grew up just minutes from campus and watched every game until leaving for college, it’s sad to see it come to this. I’ve become close with many current players and alums, and it’s unfortunate to see their hard work go to waste”
• “It’s a real shame that my teammates and I have worked countless hours on the ice and in the gym our whole lives to get the opportunity to play at a program like Salve and get treated like this.”
• “Damn shame for a team that made a National Championship run not too long ago. Has everything to be a contender, outside of any support from the school, that is. Disappointed Alumni to say the least. Embarrassing!”
• “Best part of all of this is how clueless this athletic department is about hockey and how little they care. If Salve invested a little effort into their hockey programs they’d be a power house. No recruit would ever say no. Moving backwards.. @SalveAthletics”

What now?

Initially, over half of the men’s team entered the portal, while a handful of women’s players entered as well. Most players will be returning to both squads, while some found new homes in schools that actually have a league to participate in.

For the coaching, both teams as mentioned are lacking in that department. Women’s coach David Lun has moved on to UMass-Boston in the same role (Lun is an alumnus of UMB, 2011). As for the men, Head Coach Zech Klann has been removed as we first announced on August 20, 2025 (players and associated parties were first alerted August 19, 2025).

Klann, a UMass-Amherst alum ’07 & Newport, RI native, faced his fair share of public and/or private scrutiny during his career for various reasons and incidents on and off the ice, with many surprised Salve didn’t make this move at leadership sooner. Despite this, Klann finished his career with a record of 114-63-13 at the helm of the Seahawks, leading them to a national runner-up in his first season on the bench.

We also reported via multiple sources on April 1, 2025 (not an April fool’s joke) that multiple members of the men’s staff had begun looking for other jobs at the D1 & D3 level, adding to the whirlwind. The school is currently searching for a pair of head coaches, we are not aware at this time of who the favorite for the job is, as there isn’t believed to be one.

Some could say this job is highly appealing despite the noise surrounding the programs, expectations on the outside will be low, but if the coach is successful during this mess of a situation, it’ll springboard their stock. However, if they are not, all the reasons we’ve listed are good excuses as to why this may or may not have occurred.

A player’s perspective – Joe Kile (Salve Regina ’24)

*please note this entire section was contributed by Joe Kile himself, these are his words, not ours.

“To summarize the issues the boys in the past and present faced… This place is as unorganized as humanly possible. People played the blame game and didn’t quite know where to point a finger. Unfortunately, it seems this blame game finally took its toll and fell on the shoulders of Coach Klann.

From my perspective Coach Klann was a player’s coach who went to bat for the boys. I’m sure a lot of the fellas have mixed reviews of his time at the helm. Yet, I can’t speak bad about the guy.

Did he have his flaws? Sure, we all do, but he [Klann] was good to me and helped me out more than I can explain. Both in and outside of the hockey rink and my professional career after graduation.

This program has a close group of alumni who want nothing but the best for this program. We all see the potential and what could be. The common trend always walks the line of: “Imagine what this place could be if the school cared a little more. Imagine what it could be if they invested some money, got organized, accepted donations, accepted ideas and criticism.”

The boys of the past and present have done their best to build this program up and get it on the right track. Now it seems the athletic department has done nothing but place roadblocks that continuously set the program back… Year after year.

First:

• They leave the CCC to join the NEHC. Everyone under the sun knew that conference was folding. This athletic department was so unorganized they couldn’t find a conference. So, they let everyone know that they were going to be independent. Not exactly the best way to get top recruits and transfers. This move alone resulted in about 5 guys transferring. A few of those guys were top scorers on the team.

Second:

• They fire Coach Klann two weeks before the boys start school while having no conference, no coach and half of a schedule. Mind you it’s August 21st, as of right now, almost every team is on campus. They have a schedule of workouts, captain skates, practice dates, all their gear ordered and delivered, and their full schedule posted on Instagram about a month ago. Salve literally has none of that, like not a single thing.
  

I’m not a mathematician but both of these moves don’t exactly set up the program for success. They’re taking steps backwards. The alumni can’t help but feel for the boys. Hopefully there are brighter horizons ahead. At the end of the day, people have to be held accountable. They can turn it on Klann, but the school and athletic department need to take a look in the mirror.”

Where do we go from here?

You’ve heard the situation as ‘news’, you’ve heard the first-hand perspective from a former player who experienced multiple situations throughout his college career, now, what happens next?

Well, it’s hard to say, as Joe noted, whether or not you want to put blame on either of the coaching staffs, this largely comes down to upper administration failing to think proactively about what’s best for the program. As we noted, Albertus Magnus was a former independent and has had their fair share of ‘attention’ in the hockey world, but to their credit, they found a league [NEHC] that would take them temporarily and then planned for life after this temporary move, joining the UCHC for their long-term allegiance.

Salve administration has claimed they’re ‘almost done’ finalizing a schedule for both programs, but as more and more programs release their schedules, guess who’s missing from most… Salve Regina.

To add on to one last comment made by Joe regarding the funding, Salve currently plays in an off-campus rink, primarily hosting the local private boarding school team St. George’s. This rink is not doing them any favors for recruiting and/or success as the facilities are heavily sub-par for what a school of this caliber is capable of having, it just helps they’re located in Newport, RI where the likes of Jay Leno and many other famously wealthy individuals own homes, plus the fact half of their academic buildings are old castles… tells you all you need to know… If they could live up to their promises of an on-campus rink, this program could be taken to heights the area has never imagined, but until then, we’ll never know.

Now, if anyone questions why the men’s team was the main feature of this article, it’s largely due to the fact they were the national runner-up just seven years ago… The women’s program has been essentially dragged into this mess on the back of the men’s team by administration, thus, a lack of ‘noise’ surrounding their side of the program.

Statement from Salve Regina Athletic Director Sean Sullivan

*please note this statement was added per request of Salve Regina University on August 22, 2025 at 7:40pm EST.

“Salve remains committed to having competitive, successful women’s and men’s hockey teams. We’re all eager for conference clarity, and we’re actively engaged in conversations with potential conference partners. The 2025–26 game schedule is nearly complete for both teams. They will be prepared for competitive play this season.

To reach the future we envision, we are prepared to make the critical decisions that we believe will set the team up well moving forward. A national search for the men’s hockey head coach is underway, and the women’s head coach position has already attracted impressive applicants that we’re reviewing right now. In the interim, I am working with our assistant coaches and team captains to provide steady guidance to our student athletes. We are committed to supporting them fully — academically, athletically, and personally to ensure continuity and success. 

We are grateful for the support and loyalty of our hockey players and families.”

Stay up to date on this story and the latest news of all Division III men’s & women’s hockey via X & Instagram – @DIIIHockeyNews