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.

The 2020 WCHC Prospect camp will take place August 15-16, 2020 at Lakewood Ice.  The eleven Universities that participate in the WCHC will be present to run, instruct and answer questions about each University and how to succeed in the ACHA hockey landscape.

CSU Northridge, CSU Fullerton, Loyola Marymount, CSU Long Beach, Chapman University, University of San Diego, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, CSU Bakersfield, Cal Lutheran and UCSB will all be present with their coaching staffs and general managers.  

The camp cost is $125 per player.  This includes (2) 1-hour practice slots, a game slot, and a 2 hour Q&A Information session about the Universities and the ACHA.  Each player will also get a custom WCHC camp jersey.  Saturday, August 17, the camp events will run from 12PM until 3PM.  On Sunday, the first event is from 11:30AM-12:30AM, followed by 2PM-3:30PM.

This is a great opportunity for your high school Junior’s, Senior’s and graduates playing Junior hockey to meet these University hockey programs face to face and learn about the exciting opportunities to play college hockey while getting a great education.

This camp is only open to players who will be applying to University in the next two years.  Please apply to the camp by clicking HERE.

The Matadors just didn’t lose, not once in this WCHC season.  Coming into playoffs with a perfect 8-0-0 record in the regular season, they breezed through the semi-finals with a win over USD, and came into their 5th consecutive Championship game looking for their 4th consecutive Championship.

From the CSUN Recap:

CSUN became the first team in West Coast Hockey Conference history to not only win four championships but to win them all in a row Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Loyola Marymount.

     The Matadors jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and never looked back.

     Dante Thorn opened the scoring at 10:15 by burying a rebound past Jason Footlick. Geno Norraik doubled the lead at 4:41. Norraik forced a turnover behind the net, skated out and scored through the five hole. Just 57 seconds later Christian Parks also scored five hole with a sharp angle wrist shot.

     LMU came out of the dressing room on fire and scored just 34 seconds into the middle frame. Brian Clem scored his fourth goal of the season against CSUN. But the Matadors made sure they had the three goal lead back before the break. Norraik sprung Quentin Abaya up the middle of the ice on a breakaway and Abaya scored over the left shoulder of Footlick.

     Just like in its semifinal game against San Diego CSUN ran into trouble in the final period taking three straight penalties. Clem was able to score yet again at 6:24 on the delayed second penalty. The Lions then received a two man advantage shortly after to really make things interesting but the Matadors survived.

     Sepe earned the victory in the WCHC Final for the fourth year in a row. Sepe is now 12-0-1-1 overall on the season.

     The win gives CSUN the auto bid from the WCHC into the regional tournament. The Matadors will learn exactly where they finished and who they will play later this week.

The Quarter Finals produced exciting games, and a huge upset in the first round of the WCHC Playoffs.

In the first game, 6th Seed USD took down the 3 seed, LBSU, scoring the game winning goal with only :30 seconds to play.  USD got up early, leading 2-0 after the first.  In the second, LBSU would battle back, to tie it 2-2, with USD scoring again to lead 3-2 after the 2nd.  LBSU would score early in the third, to tie it 3-3, where it remained the majority of the game.  But with under a minute to play, LBSU had the puck in their own end, and USD stole it, carried it to the net and scored to win it in dramatic fashion.  The final score was 4-3 in an exciting match up.  Brett Roenick scored a hat trick for USD in the victory.

In the second game, CSUF came out on top 6-4.  UCSB would get on the board first, and lead most of the first, but the Titans would tie it up late in the first to finish 1-1 after 1.  In the second, the goals came fast, as seven goals were scored in the frame.  CSUF had 4, to lead 5-4 after 2.  The third saw another swing in the game, with no goals scored until the final minute, as CSUF would chip the puck out and would score on an empty net, to win the game 6-4.

In the third game, the Lions scored early and often to beat Chapman 11-0.  The Lions goalies, Footlick and Campbell, combined for the shutout.

The Semi-Finals are up next, as #1 seed CSUN will host USD at 6pm, and #2 seed LMU will host #4 seed CSUF at 8:40.

The regular season came to and end on the first day of February, and the playoff brackets were finally set.  Playoffs will be held by Chapman at Anaheim ice from February 7-9.  It is a single loss tournament, with 7 of the 10 WCHC teams making the field.  The final standings are available on the standings page, here are the 7 teams to make the conference playoffs.

1) CSUN T1-1 • 2) LMU T1-2 • 3) LBSU T1-3 • 4) CSUF T1-4 • 5) UCSB T1-5 • 6) USD T2-1 • 7) Chapman T2-2

In the first round of playoffs, CSUN receives a bye.  LMU hosts Chapman, LBSU hosts USD and CSUF hosts UCSB.

The USD Toreros are in a commanding position in Tier 2, playing to a perfect 7-0 in the first semester.  They have locked up a first place finish in T2, and guaranteed a spot in the WCHC playoffs.  In tier 1, CSUN also is perfect, with LMU in second and the other three teams jockeying for playoff seeding.  There are 15 WCHC games left to determine who will make playoffs, and have a chance to win the WCHC Championship in February.