UIC Flames

The University of Illinois at Chicago Flames were a men's hockey team. They played in the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Division I until they folded in 1996.
==History==
Illinois–Chicago began sponsoring men's ice hockey in 1966 and stayed with the lesser-classified teams when the NCAA created the tier system in the 1970s. After fifteen years in the second tier the Flames jumped to Division I, playing as an independent for one season before joining the CCHA for the 1982–83 season. With their new coach Val Belmonte the team had difficulty competing in a major conference in the early years, finishing dead last in the CCHA their first two seasons. By 1984–85 the Flames had climbed into the middle of the conference standings aided by top 10 scorer (and future NHLer) Ray Staszak, and their all-time leading defenseman Darin Banister.http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/display_players.php?tmi=8624 Two years later the Flames produced their first winning season, going 21–17–1 and winning their first postseason game (though they still couldn't get out of the conference quarterfinals). UIC finally managed to get into the CCHA semifinals in 1989 but after a dreadful season the following year Belmonte was out as coach.
Larry Pedrie was brought in as the head coach and while the Flames saw a slight improvement in his first season UIC would remain a bottom-feeder for the duration of his tenure. The Flames had a sub-.400 record every season over the next six years and, though they would make the CCHA tournament every year from 1991 through '95, they went 1–10 in tournament play, never making it out of the opening round. When the 1995–96 season rolled around the Flames were seven years removed from a winning season and virtually irrelevant in college hockey circles. More importantly the program had lost the university around $600,000 the year before and UIC did not have another major program to balance out the books. With the administration believing basketball to be a better investment the ice hockey program was discontinued after the season.
UIC Hockey was broadcast from 1983-84 through the final season of 1995-96 with Les Grobstein handing play by play. Chris Madsen and John Kelley filled in when Grobstein had a conflict with UIC Basketball.
The Flames would return to the ice in 2004 as a club team but as of 2017 the Chicago-area and the entire state of Illinois has been left without a Division I program since the flames went belly-up.
==Season-by-season records==
Season 	Conference 	Record 	Position	ConferenceTournament	Coach
1966–67 	NCAA 	1–6–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1967–68 	NCAA 	12–5–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1968–69 	NCAA 	12–4–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1969–70 	NCAA 	11–6–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1970–71 	NCAA 	10–12–1 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1971–72 	NCAA 	9–7–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1972–73 	NCAA 	11–11–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1973–74 	NCAA 	17–5–2 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1974–75 	NCAA 	12–10–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1975–76 	NCAA 	17–11–1 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1976–77 	NCAA 	14–12–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1977–78 	NCAA 	14–10–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1978–79 	NCAA 	17–12–1 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1979–80 	NCAA 	14–13–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1980–81 	NCAA 	9–17–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1981–82 	Independent	7–24–0 	— 	— 	John Kantarski
1982–83 	CCHA 	6–28–2 	12th 	— 	Val Belmonte
1983–84 	CCHA 	5–29–1 	11th 	— 	Val Belmonte
1984–85 	CCHA 	17–23–0 	5th 	t-5th 	Val Belmonte
1985–86 	CCHA 	14–25–1 	7th 	t-5th 	Val Belmonte
1986–87 	CCHA 	21–17–1 	4th 	t-5th 	Val Belmonte
1987–88 	CCHA 	18–20–1 	6th 	t-5th 	Val Belmonte
1988–89 	CCHA 	23–14–5 	3rd 	4th 	Val Belmonte
1989–90 	CCHA 	10–27–1 	9th 	— 	Val Belmonte
1990–91 	CCHA 	13–23–2 	8th 	t-5th 	Larry Pedrie
1991–92 	CCHA 	10–20–6 	7th 	t-5th 	Larry Pedrie
1992–93 	CCHA 	10–25–2 	9th 	t-7th 	Larry Pedrie
1993–94 	CCHA 	11–26–2 	9th 	t-7th 	Larry Pedrie
1994–95 	CCHA 	11–22–4 	8th 	t-6th 	Larry Pedrie
1995–96 	CCHA 	9–24–3 	11th 	— 	Larry Pedrie
30 Seasons	— 	365–488–36	— 	— 	3 coaches
==All-time coaching records==
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record
1966–1982 	John Kantarski	16 	187–165–5
1982–1990 	Val Belmonte 	8 	114–183–12
1990–1996 	Larry Pedrie 	6 	64–140–19
Record Totals	3 coaches 	30 seasons	365–488–36
==Notable players==
*Shawn Cronin
*Mike Rucinski
*Ray Staszak
==References==
==External links==
*Year by year record
Category:National Collegiate Athletic Association teams
Category:American ice hockey teams
Category:Defunct Teams
Category:Disestablished in 1996
Category:Central Collegiate Hockey Association