PeoplesBank Arena to host CT Ice this season

The annual CT Ice tournament has a new home: PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. The four participating schools — UConn, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Yale — announced the move on Monday.

"Having PeoplesBank Arena host CT Ice is a great opportunity for college hockey in Connecticut,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said in the release. “These are four great programs, and bringing them together in a venue like this gives the tournament the chance to keep growing and to give hockey fans across our state a first-class event each season.”

“We are very excited to continue the CT Ice Tournament,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “Having it move to PeoplesBank Arena showcases the growth and interest in the tournament and we cannot wait to have another great weekend to showcase Connecticut hockey.” 

“The CT Ice Tournament, now being held in Hartford, showcases the incredible college hockey talent in Connecticut and will be an unforgettable event in the capital city,” new Yale coach Jeff Hamilton said.

"Moving the CT Ice Tournament to PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford is an exciting step forward for Connecticut hockey and a tremendous opportunity to showcase the talent, passion, and growth of our game in a first-class venue. We certainly embrace the opportunity to measure ourselves against UConn, Quinnipiac, and Yale,” Sacred Heart coach CJ Marottolo said.

The 2027 edition of CT Ice will take place on Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30. The Huskies will open with the Pioneers in the late game at 7:30 p.m. ET, after the Bobcats and Bulldogs at 4 p.m. ET.

This will be the seventh edition of the tournament, which first began in 2020. It was initially held at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport in 2020 and 2022 (it didn’t happen in 2021 due to COVID) but nearly ended after that.

The schools kept it alive by hosting it as home rinks over the next four years: Quinnipiac in 2023, UConn (at PeoplesBank Arena) in 2024, Sacred Heart in 2025 and Yale in 2026. The contract ran out after this past year, which put the future of the tournament in doubt — at least externally. Cavanaugh himself never worried about it ending.

“I never thought it was going to go away,” he told the UConn Hockey Hub. “I think the uncertainty was where we're going to play.”

Since the tournament’s inception, Cavanaugh has been particularly vocal about making PeoplesBank Arena the permanent host. It’s not just because it serves as the Huskies’ second home, either.

“I think Hartford's People's Bank is the best place to play it. Honestly, if Mohegan Sun had a rink, I'd be like, ‘Yeah, okay, that could be a good place to play it,’” he said. “I'm not saying Hartford's the best place to play it because we play some games there. It's the best venue in the state. If we want to grow this tournament, which I think we can, that's the play. It can’t be played at any of our buildings because they're not big enough. Until the state gets another building — we tried at Bridgeport. It didn't work and now there's no ice at Bridgeport anyway.”

The 2024 championship game between the Huskies at Bobcats at the old home of the NHL’s Hartford Whalers drew 6,429 fans — more than could fit inside every school’s on-campus rink — and substantially more than the two finals at Bridgeport’s Total Mortgage Arena.

Quinnipiac’s three CT Ice titles (2022-24) are the most among the schools, though UConn has won the last two and went through the Bobcats each time. In 2025, Ryan Tattle scored a game-winner with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to beat Quinnipiac and punch the Huskies’ ticket to the final. Last season, UConn trailed the Bobcats 2-1 entering the third period, only to score three unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory.

Sacred Heart captured the inaugural tournament back in 2020. Yale is still searching for its first championship appearance, let alone its first title.