Ben Barr enters his fifth season as the head coach of the University of Maine men's ice hockey team in the 2025-26 season. In his first four seasons, Barr returned the Black Bears' hockey program to among the nation's elite.
The 2024-25 season saw Barr lead the 24-8-6 Black Bears to the team's first Hockey East Tournament title in 20 years. Following a double overtime win over Northeastern in the semifinal, Maine defeated UConn in the championship game to take home the program's sixth-ever conference tournament trophy and the 20th overall NCAA Tournament bid.
Barr guided Maine to a 23-12-2 record in 2023-24 and to spots in the Hockey East Tournament championship weekend and the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The Black Bears earned a national ranking for the first time in over three years and the team went on to sustain that success by earning a ranking for 21 consecutive weeks for the first time in nearly 20 years. The team also made a return to the national top 10 for the first time since 2012 and earned a spot in the top five for the first time since 2010.
Off the ice, the 2023-24 team recorded the program's highest fall grade point average ever last year with a 3.71. In each of Barr's first two seasons, at least 22 student-athletes earned a spot on the Hockey East All-Academic Team. Maine led Hockey East with six Hockey East All-Academic All-Star Team members in 2021-22, and tied for the most members in the 2022-23 season with four. Additionally, there have been 27 AHCA Academic All-American nods. In Barr's first season behind the bench, Maine went 7-22-4. In thanks to an overtime game winning goal from David Breazeale, Barr won his first career game on Nov. 12, 2021 with a 6-5 victory against Merrimack at Alfond Arena. In Barr's second season in 2022-23, the Black Bears improved to 15-16-5 overall.
Barr arrived at UMaine with 15 years of assistant coaching experience in Division-I programs and a tradition of success at each of his stints at five different institutions. Most recently, Barr spent five years at UMass as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator where he helped guide the Minutemen to a 94-75-10 record, including a 72-26-6 mark over his last three seasons. His time at UMass included a Hockey East regular season and tournament title, three NCAA appearances, back-to-back NCAA title game appearances, and the 2021 National Championship.
Barr began his coaching career at his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he spent the 2004-05 and 2007-08 seasons as a volunteer assistant coach. Barr joined Union College in September of 2008 as a full-time assistant. In his three seasons at Union, Barr played a key role in developing Union into a national champion. In his final year on staff, the Dutchman captured their first-ever ECAC Regular Season Championship and earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history. At the time, working under head coach Nate Leaman, Barr and the Union staff were named the 2011 Spencer Penrose NCAA Staff of the Year.
After three years at Union, Barr was hired as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Providence College. In his first year on staff, the Friars reached the Hockey East semifinals for the first time in 11 years. In his final year on staff, Providence advanced to the NCAA quarterfinal round in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. Following his departure, with players both recruited and developed by Barr, the Friars went on to win the 2015 NCAA National Championship.
In June of 2014, Barr accepted a role as the associate head coach at Western Michigan University where he would stay for two seasons. At Western Michigan, Barr again served as recruiting coordinator and assisted head coach Andy Murray in developing a championship culture. The team transformed into a top-10 program and reached the NCAA Tournament the year after Barr's departure.
The Faribault, Minn. native began his role at UMass in April of 2016 where he went on to serve five seasons as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. In his first season at UMass, the team finished the year at 5-29-2. Just two seasons later, the program registered a 31-10 overall mark, a Hockey East regular season championship, and finished as the NCAA runners-up. Two years later, the Minutemen achieved greatness as they were crowned the Hockey East and NCAA Champions.
In his five seasons behind the bench at UMass, Barr led the charge in his recruiting coordinator role in recruiting the top producing freshman class in all of NCAA hockey in 2017-18. Under the leadership of Greg Carvel, Barr earned his second Spencer Penrose National Coaching Staff of the Year award. Barr played a key role in bringing several firsts to UMass as the Minutemen earned their first Hockey East regular season title in school history in 2019, their first Hockey East Tournament title in 2021, and the school's first-ever National Championship in April of 2021.
Barr attended Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep School in Faribault, Minn. where he served as Captain of the Shattuck-St. Mary's Midget hockey team in 1999. A Williams Cup recipient, Barr was named Shattuck-St. Mary's Best All-Around Athlete in 2000. Prior to his playing career at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Barr competed as a member of the 1999 USA National Championship team.
Barr earned a four-year athletic scholarship at RPI where he went on to achieve four letters for the men's ice hockey team from 2000-04. He served as the team's captain during the 2003-04 season, leading the program to a 22 win season. Barr earned the Rensselaer Coach's award in 2003 and 2004 and was named the team's Most Valuable Player for the 2002-03 campaign. Barr graduated from RPI in May of 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Management and Technology with a Marketing concentration.
Barr and his wife, Tara, are the proud parents of a son, Brooks, and twins, Isla and Griffin.
