Joe Cardarelli enters his 12th year overall (including the canceled 2020-21 season) as Cortland's men's ice hockey head coach in 2025-26.
Cardarelli guided Cortland to its first-ever State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular-season title in 2024-25, with a 19-7 overall record and a 12-2 league mark. The 19 victories matched the school single-season record set during the 1992-93 season, and the 12 wins in conference play were a school record. Cardarelli coached forward Nate Berke to first team American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) All-America honors. Berke and Ronan Mobley were also the SUNYAC Co-Players of the Year, while Mobley was the SUNYAC Goaltender of the Year. In all, seven Red Dragons earned SUNYAC postseason honors and Cardarelli and his assistants were also named SUNYAC Co-Coaching Staff of the Year.Â
During the 2023-24 season, Cardarelli led Cortland to an 18-9-2 record and both the program's first-ever SUNYACÂ title and NCAA Division III tournament berth. The Red Dragons won three SUNYAC playoff games, including a 3-2 win at Geneseo in the semifinals and a 3-2 overtime decision at Plattsburgh in the finals, and earned three All-SUNYAC honors.
Cardarelli surpassed the career 100-win mark during the 2023-24 campaign. He ranks second at Cortland in all-time wins (127) and has the best winning percentage in program history at .525, including a .653 mark (68-35-5) in a four-year span from 2021-25.
In 2022-23, the Red Dragons finished 16-9-1 overall and set a school record with 11 conference wins. Cortland earned a spot in the league playoffs and boasted four All-SUNYAC honorees in addition to SUNYAC Rookie of the Year Colby Seitz.
In the 2021-22 season, Cardarelli and his assistants were named the SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year. The Red Dragons finished with a 15-10-2 record, including nine conference wins. Cortland won its SUNYAC playoff opener at home versus Fredonia and tied for third place in the conference. Cardarelli coached three All-SUNYAC players that season, including All-American, SUNYAC Co-Player of the Year and SUNYAC Goaltender of the Year Luca Durante.
Cardarelli also coached the program's first All-American (Nick Zappia) as well as its first SUNYAC Rookie of the Year (Dan Broderick), both in the 2014-15 season. He guided Cortland to five in-season tournament titles, including the 54th Annual Codfish Bowl in 2019 with a win over host and nationally eighth-ranked UMass Boston and the 2020 Norwich Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament with a win over nationally ranked Salve Regina in the semifinals and a shootout victory versus the host and eventually nationally top-ranked Cadets in the championship game.
Cardarelli previously served as an assistant coach for the Red Dragons during the 2013-14 school year where he was the program’s recruiting coordinator and responsible for coaching the defense. Prior to Cortland, Cardarelli was the head coach of the Laconia Leafs in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League and led the team to the most wins in the program’s Junior A history. In 2011-12, Cardarelli took over the Yellowstone Quake and brought the team to the Northern Pacific League’s playoff semifinals.
Cardarelli’s coaching background includes three years as an assistant coach at Oswego. As the program’s primary recruiter he brought in the majority of the players on Oswego’s 2007 NCAA Division III championship team. During his tenure, the Lakers had three All-Americans, two conference Rookies of the Year, five All-SUNYAC players and eight members of the SUNYAC All-Academic Team. Cardarelli also served as an assistant coach for American International College (NCAA Division I, Atlantic Hockey) and was the head coach at the National Sports Academy, a preparatory school for winter-sport student-athletes in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Since 2000, Cardarelli has been heavily active with USA Hockey at the local, district and national levels. He’s presented at several Coaching Education Program clinics around the country and works extensively with player development. Cardarelli has been an evaluator for the NYS Central Section tryouts as well as for the New York, Southeastern and Central Districts. Additionally, Cardarelli coaches at a USA Hockey Select Player Development Camp each summer.
(updated 6/10/2025)
