| Mountain West Hockey League | |
| |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Inaugural season | 2012–13 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country(ies) | United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | NorCal Ice Raiders (2019) |
| Most championship(s) | NorCal Ice Raiders, San Diego Skates Vail Yeti (2 each) |
| Official website | MWHL.net |
The Mountain West Hockey League (MWHL) is a Senior ice hockey league consisting of teams from the Western United States.
History[]
The league was founded in 2012. MWHL teams are composed of North American and European players with junior, college, and professional experience. MWHL teams play a schedule that runs from November through March. The top four teams participate in the MWHL Cup Championship playoffs in April. The league also sponsors the MWHL Classic, a mid-season inter-division game held in Las Vegas.
Park City Pioneers were the first league champion in 2013 defeating the Las Vegas Hookers in the final.
San Diego Skates became the first repeat champion winning the league championship in 2015 and again in 2016.
The Arizona Outlaws and the Utah Spiders withdrew from the league after the 2017-18 season, On August 27, 2018 the Orange County Checkers were renamed the North County Checkers and on August 28, 2018 the Las Vegas Calvary were renamed the Vegas Jesters during the 2018 off-season.
On July 2, 2021 it was announced that the NorCal Ice Raiders were sold and were relocating about 165 miles up Interstate 80 to Reno, Nevada and would be renamed the Reno Ice Raiders and would be playing out of the newly built Jennifer M. O’Neal Community Ice Arena.
Teams[]
| Team | City | Arena | Joined MWHL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breckenridge Vipers | Breckenridge, Colorado | Stephen C West Ice Arena | 2015 |
| Fort Worth Barracudas | Mansfield, Texas | Mansfield StarCenter | 2019 |
| Reno Ice Raiders | Reno, Nevada | Jennifer M. O’Neal Community Ice Arena | 2021* (2015 as NorCal Ice Raiders) |
| North County Checkers | Anaheim, California | Anaheim Ice - Lakes | 2014 |
| San Diego Skates | San Diego, California | Iceoplex Escondido | 2013 |
| Santa Rosa Growlers | Santa Rosa, California | Snoopy's Home Ice | 2019 |
| Stockton Stampede | Stockton, California | Oak Park Ice Rink | 2020 |
| Texas Titans | Irving, Texas | Children's Health StarCenter | 2018 |
| Utah County Blizzard | Provo, Utah | Peaks Ice Arena | 2019 |
| Vegas Jesters | Las Vegas, Nevada | City National Arena | 2012 |
Former teams[]
- Aspen Leafs (2012-14)
- Arizona Outlaws (2016-18)
- Breckenridge Brewers (2014-15)
- Boulder Bison (2015-16)
- Jackson Hole Moose (2012-14)
- Las Vegas Hookers (2012-13) - renamed Wolves
- Las Vegas Wolves (2013-17) - renamed Calvary and move to City National Arena from Sobe Ice Arena
- Las Vegas Calvary (2017-18) renamed Vegas Jesters
- McCall Buccaneers (2012-13)
- NorCal Ice Raiders (Vacaville, California) (2015-21) sold and relocated to Reno, Nevada
- Orange County Checkers (2014-18) renamed North County Checkers
- Park City Pioneers (2012-15)[1]
- Pikes Peak Vigilantes (2015-19)
- Salt Lake City Ice Wolves (2013-15) - sold and relocated to Oakland; renamed Ice Raiders.
- Salt Lake City Rebels/Golden Eagles (2012-14)
- Sun Valley Suns (2013-14)
- Utah Buccaneers (2015-16)
- Utah Spiders (2016-18)
- Vail Yeti (2013-19)
- West Coast Seals (2017-20)
Champions[]
| Season | Commissioners' Cup
(regular season) |
MWHL Cup
(playoff champion) |
Playoff
Runner-up |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-13 | Las Vegas Hookers | Park City Pioneers | Las Vegas Hookers | 8-2 [2] |
| 2013-14 | Vail Yeti | Vail Yeti | Las Vegas Wolves | 7-4[4] |
| 2014-15 | San Diego Skates | San Diego Skates | ||
| 2015-16 | Breckenridge Vipers | San Diego Skates | Breckenridge Vipers | 2-1 (best-of 3) |
| 2016-17 | NorCal Ice Raiders | Vail Yeti | Arizona Outlaws | 2-0 (best-of 3) |
| 2017-18 | San Diego Skates | NorCal Ice Raiders | Vail Yeti | 2-1 (best-of-3) |
| 2018-19 | NorCal Ice Raiders | NorCal Ice Raiders | Breckenridge Vipers | 2-0 (best-of-3) |
| 2019-20 | Santa Rosa Growlers | Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2020-21 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021-22 | ||||
Notable alumni[]
- Mark Adamek, Park City Pioneers - Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)
- Mike Adamek, Park City Pioneers - Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)
- Zack Hale, Park City Pioneers - Watertown Privateers (FHL)
- Jeff Hazelwood, Las Vegas Hookers - Las Vegas Wranglers (ECHL)
- Ben Wilner, Park City Pioneers - Las Vegas Wranglers (ECHL)
See also[]
- List of ice hockey leagues
- Federal Hockey League
- Southern Professional Hockey League
- Great Lakes Hockey League
References[]
- ↑ Pioneers call it quits (23 October 2015).
- ↑ http://mwhl.net/?page=news&id=118
- ↑ Thank you for your support (22 May 2014).
- ↑ Vail Yeti Schedule (13 April 2014).
- ↑ Breck Vipers men’s team brings 3rd hockey title to town in 2016 (16 April 2016).
- ↑ Skates Win MWHL Cup (2 May 2016).
- ↑ NorCal Ice Raiders to host playoffs April 7-9 (21 March 2017).
- ↑ http://mwhl.net/blog/2018/05/08/norcal-wins-mwhl-cup/
External links[]
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Mountain West Hockey League. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |