The Civic Center is the full-time home of the Hartford Wolf Pack AHL hockey team and part-time home of the University of Connecticut ( UConn ) men 's and women 's basketball teams and the UConn Huskies men 's ice hockey team . Starting in the late 1990s , UConn men 's basketball moved most of their important games &mdash; including the bulk of their Big East Conference games &mdash; to the Coliseum . During the 2011 – 2012 season , for instance , they played 11 home games at the Coliseum and only eight at their on-campus facility , Gampel Pavilion . This practice continued when the Huskies joined the American Athletic Conference , successor to the original Big East , in 2013 . The UConn men 's hockey team uses the XL Center as its primary home as the newest men 's member of Hockey East . It was the home of the New England/Hartford Whalers of the WHA and NHL from 1975 to 1978 and 1980 to 1997 , and the Hartford Hellions of the MISL from 1980 to 1981 , and the New England Blizzard of the ABL from 1996 to 1998 , and hosted occasional Boston Celtics home games from 1975 to 1995 . It was the home of the Connecticut Coyotes and later the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
XL Center