The NAU IceJacks are WCHC Champions after a thrilling comeback victory over UCLA in the 2023/24 Playoffs. The game had great pace from the start, with #1 NAU vs. #2 UCLA. The Bruins scored first on a rush down the right wing. NAU quickly tied it up, and it was 1-1 for a bulk of the first period, but UCLA scored again late and led 2-1 after 1. In the second period, UCLA opened their lead up to 4-1, but NAU fought back, scoring two late goals to trail 4-3 after two periods. In the third NAU tied it 4-4, but UCLA took the lead again two minutes later. NAU was able to tie the game up again, and with 10 minutes left we were tied 5-5. With under five minutes to go, UCLA was able to score on a wrist shot from the slot, and as the clock ticked down UCLA looked to have the game in control. NAU pulled the goalie to get the extra attacker, and after missing a good opportunity, fired the puck from the right half wall, it bounced through the slot and NAU fired the puck home with only two seconds left to tie the game 6-6.

The game headed to Overtime, with the teams playing five on five. Each team traded chances, but no one was able to score. In double overtime the teams played four on four, UCLA had multiple chances, controlling play in the second overtime. With under a minute to go, UCLA had a good chance to score, but the shot was blocked and bounced towards the blue line, NAU took the puck cut down the right side and fired home the winner with only 17 seconds left. NAU won the thrilling game 7-6 in Double Overtime. Congratulations to our newest WCHC Champions, NAU IceJacks!

Previous Rounds:

Round 1) In round 1, #7 UCSB beat #10 LBSU 4-1. UCSB took the lead early in the first period and never trailed, but the game was close throughout. #8 SCU beat #9 CSUF in the second game of the day by a score of 6-3. This game was back and forth through the first two periods before SCU took control and the victory in the third period.

Round 2) In round 2, #3 LMU defeated #6 CSUN, 8-5. CSUN took the early lead and LMU scored five goals in the third period to complete the comeback. The second game had #1 NAU taking on #8 SCU, who was playing shorthanded after their round 1 victory. NAU controlled the game throughout, and won 14-1. In the third game, #2 UCLA beat #7 UCSB 6-3. The game was close through the first two periods, but UCLA outlasted UCSB and took control of the game in the third. The final game of round 2 had #4 GCU lose to #5 ASU 8-4. ASU scored four first period goals, and never looked back in the only upset win of the tournament.

Round 3) In round 3, #1 NAU survived a comeback attempt from #5 ASU, winning the game in a 5 round shootout after double OT. ASU scored two late goals in the third to tie the game 3-3, both teams had good chances in the two overtimes, but in the shootout NAU scored twice and got the 4-3 victory. The second game had #2 UCLA beating #3 LMU 3-2. The Lions scored first, and led 1-0 after one. The second UCLA was able to gain a foothold and scored twice, leading 2-1 after two. In the third, the Lions were able to tie the score, but UCLA was able to score on a late rush. Despite numerous chances the Lions couldn’t tie the score, and UCLA went on to win.

The 23/24 WCHC Playoff field is set, and the action starts this coming Thursday, 2/8 as the Tier 2 North and South teams battle in the first round of playoffs.

NAU leads the playoff field as the number 1 seed, with an impressive 9-1 record in league play. UCLA and LMU split their season series, with UCLA coming in 2nd in league with a 7-3 record, and LMU with a 6-4 record. GCU, ASU and CSUN are ranked 4, 5 and 6. UCSB won the Tier 2 South title, with a perfect 8-0 conference record. Santa Clara won the Tier 2 North title with an 8-1 season record and will represent Tier 2 North in the WCHC playoffs. CSU Fullerton and CSU Long Beach came in 2nd and 3rd in Tier 2 South and will fill out the rest of the playoff bracket.

In the first round, UCSB will face off against LBSU in the first game, and SCU will play CSU Fullerton. The winners of these games will move on to the next round and face NAU and UCLA in the next round, where LMU v CSUN and GCU v ASU will also play.

The Winners will face off in the semi-finals on Saturday, and the Championship game will be on Sunday morning to crown the 23/24 WCHC Champions.

Last years Champions, GCU, will look to repeat, but have a tougher road this season as the #4 seed. UCLA, last years regular season champions, will start one spot lower at #2.

Check out the Full Schedule. All games are held at The Cube in Santa Clarita, California and the tournament is a single loss tournament.

In their first season in the West Coast Hockey Conference, GCU can call themselves Champions, after defeating #1 Seed UCLA in a final second goal. GCU opened the scoring in the second period, and a 2 on 1 rush, but UCLA would come back, scoring twice in the second to lead 2-1 after two. GCU mounted a strong third period, tying the game halfway through the third, and winning it on a last second rush, when a forward got open in the slot and ripped it over the UCLA goalies shoulder to win the game with just 8 seconds on the clock. Congratulations to GCU on their first conference Championship!

How we got here:

#1 UCLA faced #2 GCU in the championship, but not all went according to plan.

Round 1: #7 CSUN easily knocked off the T2 North champion #10 Santa Clara by a score of 16-3. In the other game, #9 CSUF came back in the third, but couldn’t complete the win as #8 UCSB won the shootout in an exciting game.

Round 2: #1 UCLA took down #8 UCSB 6-3 in the first game of the day. In game 2, #2 GCU took down #7 CSUN in a spirited fast paced game. The first upset of the tournament came in game 3, as #6 LBSU came back in a strong third period to take down #3 ASU 5-4, and the final game of round 2 saw #5 NAU take their own strong third period to beat #4 LMU 5-2.

Round 3: #1 UCLA shut out #6 LBSU 3-0, in a fun possession oriented game. In the other semi-final, #2 GCU would start their late game heroics by tying the score with NAU in the third, and then scoring on a back door tip in with only 2 seconds to remain, advancing them to the Championship game where they would pull off a similar late minute heroics.

The 2023 playoff field is set, and it took to the final game of the season for the seeds to finalize. UCLA, with its weekend sweep over LBSU and LMU finalized the top spot in the tournament.

Seeds:

1. UCLA 2. GCU 3. ASU 4. LMU 5. NAU 6. LBSU 7. CSUN 8. UCSB 9. CSUF 10. SCU

The playoff format will be a standard 10 team field, with re-seeding as necessary between rounds should there be an upset. The four Tier 2 teams that made the playoffs will play in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday night

Thursday games:

5pm – CSUN v SCU – While these teams didn’t play league games, they did face each other twice this season, with a 1-1 split. CSUN was undefeated in league play this year, and SCU won the Tier 2 North division.

8 PM – UCSB v CSUF – With a split in league play, UCSB finished tied in points with CSUF, but won the tie breaker with a better goal differential in their two games.

Friday Games:

11 AM – UCLA v. TBD – UCLA will face the lower ranked team that wins on Thursday in the first game of the Quarter-finals. UCLA did not play any of their possible opponents in the regular season.

2 PM – GCU v. TBD – GCU finished second in the standings, and will face the higher ranked winner from Thursday. GCU did not face any of their possible opponents in the regular season.

5 PM – ASU v. LBSU – ASU split their season series with LBSU early in the year, each a one goal victory. ASU finished the year stronger, and secured the 3rd place finish.

8 PM – LMU v. NAU – Another season split, as the Lions beat NAU by 3 goals in their first game, and lost their second game by 1. The two teams finished tied in points but LMU won the tie breaker to be the home team.

Saturday Games: The semi-finals will be on Saturday, with the first game at 2pm and the second at 5pm. The games will re-seed as needed so the highest remaining team will play the lowest remaining team.

Championship: The Championship game will be on Sunday at 10:30 am, with the winning team guaranteeing their spot in the ACHA regional tournament.

The tournament will be held at the Cube Ice Rink in Santa Clarita, CA. This is UCLA’s home rink. Admission will be $10 for an adult day pass, $20 for an Adult weekend pass, and $5 for child or student ID day passes.

The playoffs appear to be a wide open field, with mostly splits between the top 6 teams, and the Tier 2 winner, CSUN, right on their heels. Come check out a great weekend of hockey!

We’ve reached the midpoint of the WCHC season, with half of the conference games played. Tier 1 is wide open, with teams splitting series and close games across the board. Tier two has seen 2 teams emerge in each region as front-runners, vying for the final playoff spots in the exciting February tournament.

The Tier 1 conference plays a 10 game schedule. As of today, Arizona State leads the tier with 8 points, after wins at LMU, LBSU and NAU. Though only having three games remaining on their conference schedule, ASU can wrap up a top 2 spot with a few more wins. The rest of the conference is back and forth, with many series split and UCLA yet to play the bulk of their schedule. All six Tier 1 teams make the playoff tournament, but are jockeying for position of first round games.

Tier two south will send three playoff teams to the playoffs, and CSUN is the current leader. Each team playing a 10 game schedule, CSUN has won all five of their Tier 2 games so far, and playing close games against Tier 1, CSUN is the favorite to lock up the top tier 2 spot. Not to be outdone, Fullerton also has 10 points, with their only loss coming to CSUN. UCSB and UCI are battling for the third playoff spot from the region, hoping to make it to the February Tournament.

Tier 2 North has become a two team race for the one playoff spot, with each team scheduled to play 9 conference games this season. SRJC and SCU are tied for first place, with SCU holding a slight advantage with one fewer game played. Though these two teams have split their first two games of the season, the winner may come down to their third game of the year. With all 4 Tier 2 North teams being new to the conference, whoever qualifies will make their first WCHC playoff appearance.

However it shakes out, we are looking at an exciting WCHC playoffs in February. Hosted by UCLA at the Cube in Santa Clarita, the 4 tier 2 teams will play in the first round, with the two winners joining the six Tier 1 teams in the final 3 rounds of playoffs. The winner of the playoffs will get an auto-bid to the ACHA regionals. Can LMU repeat as WCHC champions, or will we see a brand new WCHC team take it home this year?

The WCHC has announced that eight teams have joined the WCHC for the 2022/23 season, along with a tier realignment.

UCLA, ASU, NAU and GCU will be joining the conference, all playing in the WCHC T1. ASU and NAU will be rejoining the conference, with ASU holding two previous championships, and NAU holding four. UCLA and GCU will be joining for the first time.

And for the first time, the WCHC will add a northern California bracket, named Tier 2 North. Santa Rosa Jr College, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz and Santa Clara University will be the first teams to join this bracket. All three of these teams join the WCHC for the first time.

The conference, which consists of two tiers, will play a combined playoffs. All six Tier 1 teams will qualify, while the top 3 teams from Tier 2 South, and the winner of the new Tier 2 North will join the WCHC playoffs as well. The winner of Tier 2, will have the option to move up to Tier 1 the following season.

The tiers will break down like this:

Tier 1 – LMU, LBSU, ASU, GCU, NAU and UCLA

Tier 2 South – CSUN, CSUF, UCSB, UCI, CLU, CSUB, Chapman

Tier 2 North – UC Davis, SRJC, SCU, UCSC

We welcome the new teams to our conference, making us the largest conference in the ACHA West, and with Tier 1 having the highest average rankings from last season.