The Western New England Golden Bears are a Men’s Division III ice hockey team representing Western New England University, located in Springfield, Massachusetts from the Conference of New England. The team is based out of Olympia Ice Center, which is located in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The men’s program was established for the 1980-81 season.

 

Quick Hits

• School: Western New England University
• Location: Springfield, Massachusetts
• School Founded: 1919
• Enrollment: 3,674
• Colors: Blue, Gold, & White
• Home Arena: Olympia Ice Center
• Arena Capacity: 1,200
• Rink Dimensions: 200′ x 85′
• Conference: Conference of New England (CNE)
• Head Coach: Matt Smith

Conferences

• NCAA Division III Independent (1980-1981)
• ECAC Division III (1981-1985)
• ECAC South (1985-1992; 1996-98)
• ECAC North (1993-1996)
• ECAC Northeast (1998-2016)
• Conference of New England (2016-present)
  • formerly named the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) until 2024

Arenas

• Smead Arena (1980-2016)
• Olympia Ice Center (2016-present)

Head Coaches

• Jeff Kravitz (1980-1986) 19-82-1 (.191)
• Michael Badger (1986-2001) 146-166-16 (.470)
• Karl Enroth (2001-2006) 26-79-11 (.272)
• Chris Bernard (2006-2009) 17-52-4 (.260)
• Greg Heffernan (2009-2022) 84-183-18 (.326)
• Mike Young (2021-2025) 17-71-9 (.222)
• Matt Smith (2025-present) 6-19-0 (.240)

Year by Year Results

Season	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts	Finish	Conference Tournament	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
NCAA Division III Independent										Overall Record
1980-81	15	4	10	1			-	-	-	15	4	10	1
ECAC Division III										Overall Record
1981-82	5	1	4	0			2	20th of 23	Did Not Qualify	16	5	11	0
1982-83	12	0	12	0			0	23rd of 24	Did Not Qualify	16	1	15	0
1983-84	13	2	11	0			4	22nd of 28	Did Not Qualify	16	4	12	0
1984-85	20	3	17	0	83	148	6	25th of 29	Did Not Qualify	23	5	18	0
ECAC South										Overall Record
1985-86	19	2	17	0	65	176	4	14th of 15	Did Not Qualify	19	2	17	0	65	176
1986-87	16	5	10	1	77	107	11	9th of 15	Did Not Qualify	19	6	12	1
1987-88	16	5	11	0	54	108	10	12th of 16	Did Not Qualify	19	5	14	0
1988-89	15	10	4	1	95	50	21	4th of 14	L, DQF 4-1 (Amherst)	18	11	6	1
1989-90	21	13	7	1	131	100	27	4th of 15	W, DQF 4-3 (Amherst) L, DSF 5-1 (Trinity)	22	14	7	1
1990-91	22	11	9	2			24	6th of 14	L, DQF 5-2 (Amherst)	23	11	10	2
1991-92	20	13	7	0			26	2nd of 11	W, DSF 5-2 (Fairfield) L, DF 5-4 OT (Amherst)	23	14	8	1
ECAC North										Overall Record
1992-93	16	6	8	2			14	T-5th of 9	Did Not Qualify	23	8	13	2
1993-94	16	12	4	0			24	2nd of 9	L, QF 6-1 (Assumption)	23	15	7	1
1994-95	15	5	10	0			10	7th of 9	Did Not Qualify	24	9	15	0
1995-96	14	5	9	0			10	6th of 8	Did Not Qualify	24	9	14	1	87	97
ECAC South										Overall Record
1996-97	14	7	6	1	47	56	15	5th of 8	Did Not Qualify	22	10	11	1
1997-98	8	1	7	0	-	-	2	5th of 5	Did Not Qualify	17	7	10	0	66	88
ECAC Northeast										Overall Record
1998-99	17	5	11	1	106	123	11	14th of 18	Did Not Qualify	23	9	13	1	-	-
1999-00	13	7	6	0	62	53	14	9th of 18	L, QF 5-4 OT (Fitchburg St.)	25	11	12	2	120	112
2000-01	17	4	12	1	60	82	9	14th of 18	Did Not Qualify	23	7	14	2	76	111
2001-02	15	1	14	0	29	78	2	16th of 16	Did Not Qualify	21	3	18	0	44	110
2002-03	16	4	11	1	50	77	9	14th of 17	Did Not Qualify	25	8	14	3	84	121
2003-04	1	4	9	3	53	65	11	T-12th of 17	Did Not Qualify	25	9	13	3	80	92
2004-05	15	2	11	2	34	78	6	T-14th of 16	Did Not Qualify	24	5	16	3	65	119
2005-06	15	1	12	2	39	89	4	T-13th of 16	Did Not Qualify	23	4	16	3	65	117
2006-07	15	2	13	0	36	78	4	T-14th of 16	Did Not Qualify	23	8	15	0	64	98
2007-08	16	4	10	2	33	62	10	13th of 17	Did Not Qualify	25	6	17	2	47	96
2008-09	17	3	12	2	29	72	8	16th of 18	Did Not Qualify	25	3	20	2	43	125
2009-10	14	2	12	0	31	64	4	7th of 8	L, QF 13-2 (Curry)	25	3	21	1	67	138
2010-11	14	5	9	0	49	73	10	6th of 8	L, QF 7-1 (Johnson & Wales)	26	8	17	1	96	140
2011-12	14	8	5	1	53	45	17	4th of 8	W, QF 2-1 (OT (Johnson & Wales) L, SF 5-3 (Wentworth)	27	14	12	1	82	81
2012-13	14	8	6	0	44	43	16	4th of 8	L, QF 8-4 (Salve Regina)	26	11	15	0	86	95
2013-14	14	4	9	1	39	55	9	7th of 8	Did Not Qualify	25	10	14	1	71	93
2014-15	14	5	9	0	33	57	10	7th of 8	Did Not Qualify	24	5	16	3	52	95
2015-16	16	1	13	2	25	69	4	9th of 9	Did Not Qualify	25	2	19	4	41	100
Conference of New England (née CCC until 2024)										Overall Record
2016-17	18	5	12	1	43	77	11	T-7th of 10	L, QF 8-3 (Endicott)	25	7	13	5	59	94
2017-18	18	4	12	2	43	69	10	8th of 10	L, QF 8-1 (Salve Regina)	26	9	14	3	69	95
2018-19	17	3	14	0	30	89	6	7th of 8	Did not qualify	25	8	17	0	61	113
2019-20	18	1	16	1	32	96	4	8th of 8	Did not qualify	24	3	19	2	47	112
2020-21	Season cancelled January 21st due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22	21	2	18	1	48	105	6	8th of 8	L, QF 4-1 (UNE)	26	4	20	2	59	120
2022-23	21	5	15	1	53	89	18	5th of 8	L, QF 5-2 (Salve Regina)	25	6	18	1	64	106
2023-24	18	2	13	3	37	72	12	8th of 8	Did not qualify	25	5	17	3	65	99
2024-25	18	1	15	2	32	92	7	8th of 8	Did not qualify	25	5	18	2	55	104
2025-26	20	4	16	0	36	93	10	9th of 9	Did not qualify	25	6	19	0	49	116

See Also

• Western New England Golden Bears men’s ice hockey website
• CNE men’s hockey website