After its inaugural year as an independent team, Nevada’s club hockey program took a major step forward this season by joining the Division III West Coast Hockey Conference. The WCHC DIII league includes 11 other schools from California and Arizona, allowing Nevada to compete regularly against other West Coast programs.
The team’s season started in September, playing against Santa Rosa Junior College at home and picking up back-to-back wins, 5-0, then 9-1. Nevada played a schedule twice as long as its 2024-2025 season, finishing the regular season with a 9-5-0 record and placing fifth in the conference standings, including back-to-back 9-0 shutouts against the University of San Diego to close the season.
Nevada competed in its first WCHC playoff tournament, hosted by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz., from Feb. 27 to March 1. The Wolf Pack defeated Grand Canyon University 4-2 in the quarterfinals before falling 4-0 to Arizona State University, who went on to win the championship.
Support from Reno Ice and local fans has played a key role in the team’s growth since its launch in 2024. Reno Ice, which opened in January 2021 as Northern Nevada’s first permanent indoor ice rink, marked a major step forward for hockey in the region.
Since then, the rink has hosted a variety of hockey camps, programs and teams, including the Reno Ice Raiders semi-professional team and the Nevada men’s hockey club.
Players credited much of the team’s success to fans, who have sold out nearly every home game. Goaltender Owen Kennedy spoke after the team’s final regular season game, saying, “We poured our hearts into this year, and we’re just happy to share a great win tonight with all our fans. […] We can’t do any of this without the fans.”
After a foundational first two years, the club is looking ahead to an even more successful season next year.
“You can see, you know, after each game, like the support’s just growing, not only from the school but the community,” forward and alternate captain Christopher Lai said. “So I honestly don’t know what it’s going to look like in three or four years, but I’m excited to find out what it’s going to be.”
While the club’s season has come to an end, the team is already looking ahead to next fall, hoping to attract new fans and continue building support.
