Iona Gaels men's ice hockey

The Iona Gales Men's Ice Hockey was a NCAA Division I ice hockey team that played in the MAAC for five seasons. Prior to the founding of the MAAC hockey conference the Gales had been a Division III ice hockey program and were a part of the D-III ECAC Hockey conference from 1977 thru 1998. When the MAAC formed their hockey conference as per NCAA regulations, the three full member schools in the conference were forced into the conference. Due to the reticence of the other MAAC schools to start hockey programs, Iona, Canisius and Fairfield were joined by five associate members for the first season in 1998–99. In the five-year existence of the MAAC hockey conference Iona was a middle of the pack team, finishing between third and eighth place and playing in every postseason tournament. Iona's best finish came in the 2000 season when they defeated the top-seeded Quinnipiac Braves en route to a second-place finish in the tournament. Despite showing some promise in their program, Iona's board of trustees voted to eliminate the men's ice hockey program at the end of the 2002-03 season.
Iona's ice hockey program began in 1967 under Harry Nixon. As a Division III independent, the Gaels went undefeated in their inaugural year with a 16-0 record. Though Nixon stepped down after only one year, Bill Edwards was able to shepherd Iona to eight winning seasons over the next decade, finishing 1967-77 with a 26-5-1 mark. After eleven years as an independent, Iona joined the ECAC lower classification. Edwards coached the first two seasons of the Gaels as a conference member before being succeeded by Frank Effinger in 11 season as coach, Iona experienced an unprecedented level of success, never finishing below a .600 record. Bill Conforte took over after the 1989-90 season and though the Gaels ended with a 16-6-1 record his first year, that would be the end of their success for the near future. Iona has a steady decline in the 1990s, routinely finishing with losing records and eventually the firing of Conforte after a 2-20-3 season in 1996-97. Frank Bretti was hired for the 1997-98 season and after a 4-20-1 finish, Iona was set to join the Division I ranks.
==Season-By-Season Records==
Season 	Division 	Conference 	Record 	Pct. 	Position	ConferenceTournament	Coach
1967-68 	Division III	Independent	16–0–0 	1.000	— 	— 	Harry Nixon
1968-69 	Division III	Independent	8–9–0 	.471 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1969-70 	Division III	Independent	13–3–0 	.812 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1970-71 	Division III	Independent	13–8–0 	.619 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1971-72 	Division III	Independent	13–2–1 	.844 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1972-73 	Division III	Independent	10–5–1 	.656 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1973-74 	Division III	Independent	16–6–0 	.727 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1974-75 	Division III	Independent	11–12–2 	.480 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1975-76 	Division III	Independent	19–3–7 	.776 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1976-77 	Division III	Independent	26–5–1 	.828 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1977-78 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	12–5–2 	.684 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1978-79 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	15–6–0 	.714 	— 	— 	Bill Edwards
1979-80 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	14–5–0 	.737 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1980-81 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	15–4–1 	.775 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1981-82 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	13–5–1 	.711 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1982-83 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	18–4–0 	.818 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1983-84 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	18–4–2 	.792 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1984-85 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	21–7–0 	.750 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1985-86 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	17–9–0 	.654 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1986-87 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	15–8–0 	.652 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1987-88 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	16–9–1 	.635 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1988-89 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	20–7–0 	.741 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1989-90 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	17–4–0 	.810 	— 	— 	Frank Effinger
1990-91 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	16–6–2 	.708 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1991-92 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	10–16–1 	.389 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1992-93 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	12–11–1 	.521 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1993-94 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	9–13–2 	.417 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1994-95 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	10–13–2 	.440 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1995-96 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	9–15–1 	.380 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1996-97 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	2–20–3 	.140 	— 	— 	Bill Conforte
1997-98 	Division III	ECAC D-III 	4–40–1 	.180 	— 	— 	Frank Bretti
1998-99 	Division I 	MAAC 	13–18–2 	.424 	6th 	Quarterfinal loss 	Frank Bretti
1999-00 	Division I 	MAAC 	17–17–3 	.500 	6th 	Championship loss 	Frank Bretti
2000-01 	Division I 	MAAC 	18–13–4 	.571 	3rd 	Semifinal loss 	Frank Bretti
2001-02 	Division I 	MAAC 	13–18–2 	.424 	7th 	Quarterfinal loss 	Frank Bretti
2002-03 	Division I 	MAAC 	11–22–2 	.343 	8th 	Quarterfinal loss 	Frank Bretti
36 Seasons	— 	— 	500–332–45	.596 	— 	— 	5 coaches
==All-time coaching records==
===Division I===
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record 	Pct.
1998–2003	Frank Bretti	5 	72–88–13	.454
Totals 	1 coach 	5 seasons	72–88–13	.454
===Division III===
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record 	Pct.
1967–1968	Harry Nixon 	1 	16–0–0 	1.000
1968–1979	Bill Edwards 	11 	156–64–14 	.697
1979–1990	Frank Effinger	11 	184–66–5 	.731
1990–1997	Bill Conforte 	7 	68–94–12 	.425
1997–1998	Frank Bretti 	1 	4–20–1 	.180
Totals 	5 coaches 	31 seasons	428–244–32	.631
==References==
Category:NCAA teams
Category:American ice hockey teams