2013-14 WSHL season

This is the 2013-14 Western States Hockey League season. This was the league's 21st season. This is the league's third season under the sanctioning of the Amateur Athletic Union

Franchise Changes for 2013-14 Season

 * The Bay Area Seals become the Lake Tahoe Blue
 * The Missoula Maulers begin play after transferring from the American West Hockey League
 * The Colorado Jr Eagles begin play as an expansion team based in Fort Collins

Future Expansion
The league announced on February 6, 2014 the addition of three expansion teams for the 2014-15 season: The league announced on March 10, 2014 the addition of two additional teams also to begin play with the 2014-15 season:
 * expansion team based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to  be known as the Oklahoma City Jr. Blazers
 * expansion team based out of Aurora, Colorado to be known as the Colorado Evolution that will play out of the Big Bear Ice Arena
 * expansion team based out of Casper, Wyoming to be known as the Casper Coyotes  that will play out of the City of Casper Ice Arena.

The league announced on April 13, 2014 that the league was adding a 30th franchise:
 * an expansion team to be known as the Las Vegas Storm to play out of the Las Vegas Ice Center.  The organization had already been involved with the WSHL for about ten years hosting the league's "Western States Shootout" each December.
 * an expansion team to be known as the Butte Cobras to play out of the Butte Civic Center.
 * A to-be-named franchise based out of the Stumptown Ice Den in Whitefish, Montana will commence play for the 2014-15 season

Northwest Division
Team                    GP  W  L OTL SOL P   GF  GA  x-Idaho Jr. Steelheads   46 39  5  2   0  80 218  93 x-Ogden Mustangs        46 31 12  3   0  65 253 128 x-Salt Lake City Moose  46 31 13  1   1  64 228 137 x-Missoula Maulers      46 20 22  4   0  44 152 151 Southern Oregon Spartans 46 12 30 2   2  28 141 209 Seattle Totems          46 11 31  4   0  26 119 235

Mountain Division
Team                    GP  W  L OTL SOL P  GF  GA  x-Phoenix Knights        46 32 12  2   0 66 255 138 x-Cheyenne Stampede     46 28 16  2   0 58 219 149 x-Colorado Eagles       46 27 17  2   0 56 195 150 x-Boulder Bison         46 24 22  0   0 48 174 147 Arizona Redhawks        46 12 30  4   0 28 161 279 New Mexico Renegades    46  5 40  0   1 11  68 328

Midwest Division
Team                    GP  W  L OTL SOL P  GF  GA  x-El Paso Rhinos         46 44  2  0   0 88 374  83 x-Dallas Ice Jets       46 28 15  1   2 59 210 135 x-Texas Jr Brahmas      46 26 17  3   0 55 207 173 x-Dallas Snipers        46 21 23  1   1 44 172 191 Tulsa Jr Oilers         46  6 40  0   0 12  69 324 Wichita Jr Thunder      46  4 41  0   1  9  99 371

Pacific Division
Team                    GP  W  L OTL SOL P  GF  GA x-Fresno Monsters        46 37  5  3   1 78 240 122 x-Ontario Avalanche     46 32 11  3   0 67 207 142 x-Valencia Flyers       46 27 15  4   0 58 171 175 x-Long Beach Bombers    46 28 18  0   0 56 228 170 Lake Tahoe Blue         46 19 24  2   1 41 181 227 San Diego Gulls         46  8 35  1   2 19 142 226

Division Playoffs
Format The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. Both divisional rounds were best-of-three. The winners of each division's playoffs advanced to the Thorne Cup held at El Paso, Texas as well as the host team, the El Paso Rhinos and the team with the best regular season record of the four teams that lost in the division finals.

Northwest Division Semifinals

 * Odgen Mustangs defeated Salt Lake City Moose two games to one, 5-2, 4-1
 * Idaho Jr. Steelheads defeated Missoula Maulers two games to one, 3-0, 2-3, 5-2

Mountain Division Semifinals

 * Phoenix Knights defeated Boulder Bison two games to one, 3-5, 10-2, 4-2
 * Colorado Eagles defeated Cheyenne Stampede two games to one, 4-5, 6-2, 8-0

Midwest Division Semifinals

 * El Paso Rhinos defeated Dallas Snipers two games to none, 7-1, 3-1
 * Texas Jr Brahmas defeated Dallas Ice Jets two games to one, 2-3, 5-4, 3--2

Pacific Division Semifinals

 * Freso Monsters defeated Long Beach Bombers two games to none, 4-3, 9-5
 * Ontario Avalanche defeated Valencia Flyers two games to one, 5-6, 2-1 (ot), 5-4 (2ot)

Northwest Division Final

 * Ogden Mustangs defeated Idaho Jr Steelheads two games to none, 5-3, 4-3

Ogden advanced to the Thorne Cup

Mountain Division Final

 * Phoenix Knights defeated Colorado Eagles two games to one,  3-4, 9-1, 5-1

Phoenix advanced to the Thorne Cup

Midwest Division Final

 * El Paso Rhinos defeated Texas Jr Brahmas two games to none, 7-0, 5-2

El Paso advanced to the Thorne Cup. Since El Paso already qualified as host the runners-up, Texas qualified for the Thorne Cup as well.

Pacific Division Final

 * Fresno Monsters defeated Ontario Avalanche two games to none, 9-1, 2-1

Fresno advanced to the Thorne Cup

The Idaho Jr. Steelheads also qualified for the Thorne Cup as the division finalist with the best record not to win in the division finals.

Format
The 2014 Thorne Cup held April 2nd to 6th, 2014 was a two pool of 3 teams each modified round robin format where each team in one pool plays all the teams in the other pool. The top four teams moved on to the semifinals with the highest seed playing the lowest seed with the 2nd and 3rd seeds playing one another. The winners of the semifinals advanced to the Thorne Cup Final and earned a birth in the 2014 UHU Championship, which was held at the Las Vegas Ice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 16-20, 2014.

Standings
Team      GP W L OTL GF GA P  x-El Paso   3 3 0  0  18  8 6 x-Fresno   3 2 1  0  11  9 4 x-Idaho    3 1 1  1  12 10 3 x-Phoenix  3 1 2  0  10 11 2 Ogden      3 1 2  0   9 14 2 Texas      3 1 2  0   9 17 2 * -advance to semifinals

Round Robin Results

 * Fresno defeated Texas 6 to 3
 * Ogden defeated Phoenix 5 to 4
 * El Paso defeated Idaho 4 to 2
 * Texas defeated Ogden 3 to 2
 * Fresno defeated Idaho 4 to 3 in overtime
 * El Paso defeated Phoenix 5 to 3
 * Idaho defeated Ogden 7 to 2
 * Phoenix defeated Fresno 3 to 1
 * El Paso defeated Texas 9 to 3

Semifinals

 * El Paso defeated Phoenix 4 to 3
 * Idaho defeated Fresno 3 to 2

Final

 * El Paso defeated Idaho 7 to 3

By qualifying for the final, the El Paso Rhinos and Idaho Jr. Steelheads advanced to the 2014 UHU Championship.