Minnesota

According to records, the first intercollegiate hockey team at the University of Minnesota was organized in 1895 by Dr. H. A. Parkyn, a Toronto native who also played on the school's football team. An early Minnesota team played the Winnipeg Seven at the now demolished Athletic Park in downtown Minneapolis. They lost 11–3.

In 1900 George Northrup, Paul Joslyn, and A.R. Gibbons headed a committee to create an official varsity hockey club at the U. Although there was some effort to get Northrop Field flooded, it was ultimately decided to play on Como Lake in St. Paul. Although the 1903 season saw the first scheduled organized competitions for Minnesota hockey, ultimately this season would be the last organized hockey season for almost two decades. In 1910 efforts were made to revive competition and outreach to the University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin, other members of the Big Ten Conference, but these plans never materialized.

In January 1914 the Minnesota Board of Regents voted to fund a hockey team. However the University Athletic Board did not officially recognize this team as a varsity team. At this time, a number of fraternity squads existed and other intramural ice hockey competitions were taking place. Professor OS Zelner worked to organize some of this competition. There was also some interest in women's hockey competition.

In 1920–1921, a hockey team again skated representing the University of Minnesota. W. Beaupre Eldredge of St. Paul, a student and club player at the time, was very instrumental in organizing the team, promoting the team to the University Board of Regents to become an official varsity sport. For 1921–1922 season the University Athletic Board of Control decided to finally give ice hockey varsity status on January 9, 1922, answering a petition organized by Merle "Frenchy" DeForest, the president of a new booster organization for the sport, which itself grew out of enthusiasm for hockey among the interfraternal league. During this season, the team finished with a 7–3 record, led by head coach I.D. MacDonald and captain Chester “Chet” Bros. Other members of the 1921–22 team include center Paul Swanson and wingman Frank R. Pond, who were named captains for the following seasons, Swanson in 1922–23 and Pond in 1923–24. DeForest, Swanson and Pond were all members of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, while Bros was a member of Delta Tau Delta.

For the 1923–1924 season Danish Canadian Emil Iverson assumed the role as head coach. During Iverson's first season as coach the team attained a record of 13–1–0. The team played their games at Minneapolis Arena starting in 1924–1925 season. Such players as Chuck McCabe, Joel Brown, John H. Peterson were accorded All-American honors during this era. Iverson's coaching tenure culminated in Minnesota sharing the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association hockey championship with Yale. Following the 1929–1930 season Emil Iverson accepted a position as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks

Frank Pond, former team captain, became coach in 1930 after the departure of Emil Iverson. The team's Rookie of the Year award is named in his honor.

During Romnes's second year, the NCAA sponsored the first Division I Men's hockey tournament. Minnesota did not qualify for the four team playoff during his coaching tenure.

In the 1952 season, John Mariucci led the Gophers to the National Championship game, with a 23–6 record, after going 13–13 the year before.

Mariucci was a driving force behind the philosophy of stacking the team with Minnesota talent. Even while other programs brought in older and bigger Canadian prospects, Mariucci thoroughly believed in growing the game in Minnesota, from the ground up. He held coaching clinics, and opened ice rinks in numerous Minnesota towns. This, combined with a sense of pride that the Gophers' roster was stacked with Minnesota talent, was monumental for Minnesota taking a real step forward in producing hockey talent.

George Nagobads was hired as the team's physician in 1958, and remained with the team until 1992.

After coaching one season at Ohio State, Glen Sonmor became the head coach of the Gophers in 1966. Sonmor's Gophers started off slowly, finishing 8th, 5th, and 5th in the WCHA during Sonmor's first 3 seasons behind the bench. Things turned around for the Gophers in the 1969–70 season, as Sonmor led the team to its first WCHA Championship in 16 seasons, finishing with a 21–12–0 record. In the process, Sonmor was named the WCHA Coach of the Year.

The following season, the Gophers ended a 10-year NCAA Tournament drought, along with capturing a WCHA Tournament Championship. Sonmor led the Gophers to the NCAA Championship game, beating Harvard 6–5 in the first round. The Gophers lost to Boston University in the Championship game, by a score of 4–2.

During Sonmor's rather short tenure as Minnesota's head coach, the team saw attendance rise 60 percent. Sonmor finished his career with a 78–80–6 record, and coached 3 All Americans: Gary Gambucci (1968), Murray McLachlan (1970), and Wally Olds (1970). Sonmor left the Gophers after the 1971 season, to coach the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association. Sonmor returned later to be the radio analyst for the Gophers on WCCO-AM.

Brad Buetow was head coach from 1979 to 1985. At the start of the 1984–85 season, he hired Thomas "Chico" Adrahtas as an assistant coach. The team won 31 games, came in second in the WCHA, and made the NCAA tournament. Adrahtas has been accused by a number of former players of coercing them into oral sex. The United States Center for SafeSport investigated, and issued its decision declaring that Adrahtas was permanently ineligible "from participating, in any capacity, in any event, program, activity, or competition authorized by, organized by, or under the auspices of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), the National Governing Bodies recognized by the USOPC, a Local Affiliated Organization as defined by the Code, or any High Performance Management Organization (HPMO), or at a facility under the jurisdiction of the same."