The University of Northern Colorado’s hockey team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) finished their regular season with a 19-11 record and placing 8th in the Western Region of the ACHA. The Bears had a magical semi-final win against #12 Metro State Denver Roadrunners (MSU-D) 3-1 at the Greeley Ice Haus. While the Bears had nostalgia on their side, #3 University of Denver Pioneers (DU) were able to pull ahead and stay ahead in the Big Mountain Hockey Conference (BMHC) Final with a 5-4 win.

The Pioneers were able to become the second team in BMHC history joining Metro State as the only two to sweep the regular season and playoff bracket championships in the same season. Denver (2), Metro State (1), and UNC (3) have all won the regular season title before and Denver (1), Metro State (3), and University of Colorado (1) Boulder have won the playoff bracket championship (*playoff not created yet in BMHC first season 2016-17 and no season 2020-21).

Now that conference competition has been decided teams are looking towards ACHA Regionals in the hope to move onto the ACHA National Tournament. The top two teams in each ACHA Region receive automatic byes to the 2023 ACHA Nation Tournament in Boston/Marlborough, MA on March 16-21st. The next remaining 12 ranked teams in each region (excluding any auto designated conference champions – MACH in Southeast and TCHC in West) play a bracket style tournament with seeds three through six receiving first round byes. #12 Metro State, #8 UNC, and #3 Denver will all represent in the BMHC in the West Regionals bracket.

Congrats to Denver for a solid conference championship sweep and good luck to all BMHC teams playing in the ACHA West Regionals. There are even a few scenarios where fans could see BMHC rematches during the tournament and possibly even a BMHC representative in the ACHA National Tournament. Also, congrats to the BMHC All-Conference Team and all the players who gave BMHC fans another great season to cheer for.