UCLA Club Sports

Since 1926, the UCLA Men's Ice Hockey team has been a mainstay club sport in Westwood. Not only was it one of the first sports teams at UCLA, the program has earned a reputation for playing at a highly competitive level with the best of teams in the PAC-8 and other teams around the country. 
 

Since the club's inception in 1926, the Bruins ice hockey club has strived to be the best. In its first three seasons, the Bruins dominated the Southern Intercollegiate Hockey League and became a premier club team in the west as two time winners of the Pac-8 Conference championship. In 1928, before a record crowd of 1,500, UCLA faced the Trojans for the first time on ice. Today, the almost century old rivalry still draws the team's largest crowds with hundreds of spectators coming to watch and cheer on the Bruins.
 

Ice hockey gained huge popularity in Westwood just after the Tropical Ice Gardens Arena was built in 1938 right on the corner of Weyburn and Gayley in Westwood. At the time it was the only year round outdoor rink in the world and became home to the Bruins. The arena could seat up to 10,000 and created a call for big league ice hockey expansion into the western United States. After more than a decade of playing at the arena and after considerable deliberation, it was decided, in 1949, that the Tropical Ice Garden's Arena would be torn down for UCLA expansion. Today many UCLA buildings have been built upon the site of where the arena once was.
 

Since the decimation of the Tropical Ice Garden, UCLA ice hockey has found its home in several locations ranging from the Toyota Center to the current home of The Cube. Today, UCLA has been granted Tier 1 Club Sports status and continues to compete at a high level within the PAC-8. The team continues to grow and expand its influence and love for the sport.
 

An honorable player mention would be to John E. Anderson, the namesake of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Anderson attended UCLA on an ice hockey scholarship and played from 1936-1940. After his graduation, Anderson donated generously to UCLA. We at UCLA Ice Hockey thank the late John E. Anderson and his family for their contributions to our wonderful community in Los Angeles, our campus, and to UCLA ice hockey.