University of Connecticut Athletics
Men's Ice Hockey
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- tyler.helton@uconn.edu
Tyler Helton enters his 10th season on the UConn men's hockey coaching staff and his fourth season as the program's associate head coach in 2026-27. Helton was promoted to associate head coach by head coach Mike Cavanaugh in August 2023 after spending his first five seasons on the UConn coaching staff in a variety of roles. He has been a part of the UConn men's hockey program since arriving in Storrs as a student-athlete in 2012.
Helton works closely with the Husky defensemen, special teams and recruiting efforts while assisting with all aspects of the program. Since joining Cavanaugh's staff, he has played an integral role in the development of UConn's players and the continued growth of the program. Most recently, Huskies had defenseman Viking Gustafsson-Nyberg join the Minnesota Wild and appear in his first NHL game.
During the 2025-26 season, Helton helped guide the Huskies to their second consecutive Hockey East Championship Game appearance and second straight NCAA Tournament berth. UConn advanced to the Hockey East Championship Game with a 4-3 overtime victory over Boston College in the semifinals before falling to Merrimack, 2-1, in the championship game. The Huskies earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the second consecutive season and faced No. 3 Michigan State in the Worcester Regional.
Helton was elevated to associate head coach following the 2022-23 season. At the time of his promotion, Cavanaugh praised Helton's contributions to the program and his work across multiple areas, including defense, special teams and recruiting.
Prior to becoming associate head coach, Helton spent five seasons working with the UConn coaching staff as a student assistant and graduate manager. In those roles, he developed scouting reports on opponents, assisted with practice planning, worked with players during individual skill sessions and assisted with the Huskies' special teams units. He also oversaw team video responsibilities, including pre-scout and post-game video breakdown, training student managers in in-game video and statistics, and breaking down NHL games for use as teaching tools.
Helton has also been extensively involved with USA Hockey. He has worked with USA Hockey district camps in the New England and Atlantic regions since 2016, scouting and evaluating players and assisting with practice planning. He has coached at the Western Regional High-Performance Camp and has been involved with USA Hockey's national camp program since 2014, working with players and assisting with player evaluation and selection for the U17 and U16 teams. He also completed a USA Hockey internship in Colorado Springs in 2016 and worked with the USA Hockey Five Nations team that year.
A former Husky player, Helton appeared in 14 games as a freshman during the 2012-13 season, recording one goal and two assists. Before coming to UConn, he played junior hockey in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he recorded 66 points on 20 goals and 46 assists in 60 games during the 2011-12 season. He served as an assistant captain for Drayton Valley and was named the team's MVP and Top Forward.
Helton earned his bachelor's degree in sport management from UConn in 2016 and his master's degree in sport management in 2018.
