The NM Ice Wolves Heading to Robertson Cup National Championship in Blaine, MN for the First Time in Franchise History
(Albuquerque, NM) Monday, May 16, 2022- The New Mexico Ice Wolves® today announced that after a thrilling win-or-go-home Game 5 in North Richland Hills, TX the franchise won its first ever South Division title. Thanks to a 29-save shutout from goalie Beni Halasz the NM Ice Wolves completed their series comeback with a 1-0 win on the road in the South Division Finals on Sunday punching their ticket to their first ever Robertson Cup National Championship. New Mexico was down 0-2 in the series before coming back to win the last three games in a row. Goals were hard to come by in the final game, but after a scoreless first period the only goal of the game would come off the stick of NM Ice Wolves leading scorer Dillan Bentley who scored on the power play for his fifth goal of the playoffs with assists to William Howard and Joe Prouty to put New Mexico ahead 1-0. It would stay that way the rest of the game as Halasz shut the door for his second shutout in the last three games of the series.
With the win the NM Ice Wolves advance to the Robertson Cup National Championship in Blaine, MN as the #3 seed where they will take on the #2 seed and NAHL East Division Champion New Jersey Titans in a best of three semi-final series starting Friday, May 20 at 7:30pm CT. Game 2 is on Saturday, May 21 at 7:30pm CT while Game 3 (if necessary) is on Sunday, May 22 at 6pm CT. The Robertson Cup National Championship Game is on Tuesday, May 24 at 7pm CT. The other two teams chasing the Robertson Cup are the NAHL Central Division Champion St. Cloud Norsemen facing off against the NAHL Midwest Division Champion Anchorage Wolverines. All of the Robertson Cup Championship games will be played in Blaine, MN at the Fogerty Arena. All of the team’s games can be watched on HockeyTV.com. Fans can select subscription options at www.hockeytv.com.
The first ever NAHL South Division Championship title for the NM Ice Wolves comes fresh off recently announced NAHL season honors in which NM Ice Wolves Head Coach Phil Fox was named 2021-2022 North American Hockey League (NAHL) Coach of the Year and Team Owner Stan Hubbard was named 2021-2022 NAHL Executive of the Year. The Coach of the Year selection is based on performance during the 2021-22 regular season, as voted upon by the league’s 29 Head Coaches while the Executive of the Year was voted upon by the league’s 29 owners and governors. In his third season behind the NM Ice Wolves bench, Phil Fox earns his first career Coach of the Year Award in the NAHL. The 36-year-old led the NM Ice Wolves to a franchise record 38 wins during the regular season and a second place finish in the South Division. In addition, six NM Ice Wolves players to date have made NCAA commitments. Fox was also the head coach of the South Division team at the 2022 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament.
Stan Hubbard, who is the Owner and Governor of the NAHL’s New Mexico Ice Wolves, continues to have more organizational success in 2021-22. The team recorded its most wins ever in a season and last November Hubbard welcomed the USA Women’s National Team coming to Albuquerque to train ahead of the Winter Olympics. That included exhibition games against the NM Ice Wolves. In April, Hubbard and the NM Ice Wolves raised $53,285 for the Feed My Starving Children organization to provide 220,020 meals for Ukrainians impacted by the war.
The coaching and executive honors came a day after the team was named the North American Hockey League (NAHL) South Division Organization of the Year and Forward Dillan Bentley named to the All-South Division Team. The divisional teams and honors represent the four divisions in the NAHL: Central, East, Midwest and South, with the divisional teams voted upon and selected by the league’s 29 head coaches and the other division honors voted by the members of the league’s board of governors. The awards are based on performance during the 2021-22 regular season. This was the second time in team history the NM Ice Wolves were named the South Division Organization of the Year honor after being given the honor in the team’s inaugural season in 2019-2020. The NM Ice Wolves finished their 2021-2022 regular season with back-to-back wins adding to an already record total for the most wins in team history.
To learn more about the NM Ice Wolves please visit their NAHL Team Page or on social media on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and the arena at www.outposticearena.com. For team media inquiries, please contact Aaron Martinez at 505-212-8762 or amartinez@reelz.com
About NAHL
The NAHL, the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II Junior league boasting 29 teams, with the addition of El Paso, TX and Anchorage, AK in the 2021-22 season, from across the United States, prides itself on the social maturity and skill development of student-athletes ages 16-20 with aspirations of advancing to collegiate and/or professional hockey. During the 2019-20 season, the NAHL recorded an all-time single-season record of 361 NCAA commitments, with a record 249 (70%) of those being NCAA Division I commitments. Over the course of the past five years, 1,500+ NAHL players have made NCAA commitments and 30+ NAHL players have been selected in the NHL Draft. For more information, visit www.nahl.com.