Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey

The Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey team commenced play as a varsity sport in 1969-70.[4] They competed independent of a conference affiliation at the NCAA Division II level from 1969-70 to 1983-84.[4] From 1984-85 to 1991-92, the Mavericks competed at the NCAA Division III level, before returning to the NCAA Division II ranks from 1992-93 to 1995-96.[4] Starting with the 1996-97 season, the Mavericks began competition at the NCAA Division I level. The Mavericks were granted acceptance to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) in 1999-00, and have remained with the conference to the present.[4]

The program saw great success at the NCAA Division II level during the 1970s and 1980s.[4] The Mavericks finished as the NCAA Division II national runner-up in 1979, after being defeated by the University of Massachusetts Lowell 6-4 in the final.[5] The Mavericks were awarded the 1980 NCAA Division II National Championship over Elmira College 5-2 in the championship game.[5] In 1991, while competing at the NCAA Division III level, the Mavericks finished as national runner-up following a loss versus the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point 6-2. The Mavericks have had sustained success in recent seasons, reaching the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons (2013 and 2014) for the first time in program history, winning the Broadmoor Trophy as the WCHA playoff champions in 2014 and the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular season champions in 2015. MSU was the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2015 but was upset by RIT in the first round, becoming the first No. 1 overall seed to lose in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament.[5]

They are one of five Minnesota-based universities that competed in the WCHA, the others being Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, and Bemidji State. After a major hockey conference realignment in 2013, only Minnesota State and Bemidji State remain in the WCHA. Minnesota joined the new men's hockey league of its all-sports conference, the Big Ten, and Minnesota–Duluth and St. Cloud State became charter members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The five schools compete annually for the North Star College Cup, hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

On March 29, 2017, the university announced that it was in negotiations to extend the contract of head coach Mike Hastings by 10 years (through the 2027-28 season), providing its coach with the longest contract term in all of Division I men's hockey.[6] In addition to the contract extension, the university said it would invest further resources into the program's recruiting and equipment budgets and work to cover full cost of attendance.

As of April 15, 2020[4]