| Western New England Golden Bears | |
 | |
| Institution: | Western New England University |
|---|---|
| Location: | Springfield, Massachusetts |
| School founded: | 1919 |
| Enrollment: | 3,920 |
| Colors: | Blue and Gold |
| Home Arena: | Olympia Ice Center |
| Men's Team | |
| Conference: | Commonwealth Coast Conference |
| Coach: | Greg Heffernan |
The Western New England Golden Bears are a Men's Division III team in Commonwealth Coast Conference. The school was called Western New England College until July of 2011 when it was renamed Western New England University. The university is located in a suburban neighborhood in Springfield, Massachusetts near the border with Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The team had played out of the Smead Arena in Springfield about 2.5 miles (4 km) off campus until 2016. The team moved to the Olympia Ice Center in Springfield for the 2016-17 season.
Program[]
The program was established for the 1980-81 season. The team became a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference as the ECAC Northeast morphed into the CCC for the 2016-17 season.
Conferences[]
- ECAC South (1980-1999)
- ECAC Northeast (1999-2016)
- Commonwealth Coast Conference (2016-present)
Arenas[]
- Smead Arena (-2016
- Olympia Ice Center (2016-present)
Head Coaches[]
- Jeff Kravitz (1980-1986) 19-82-1
- Michael Badger (1986-2001) 146-166-16
- Karl Enroth (2001-2006) 26-79-11
- Chris Bernard (2006-2009) 17-52-4
- Greg Heffernan (2009-present) 81-181-18 as of end of 2019-20 season
Year by Year Record[]
| Season | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | Finish | Conference Tournament | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Overall Record | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1980-81 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 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 | |||||
| Commonwealth Coast Conference | 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[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2021-22 | 21 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 48 | 105 | 6 | 8th of 8 | Lm QF 4-1 (U. New England) | 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 | |||||
NCAA Tournament Appearances[]
None