Headed to Regionals, Ice Lobos are ready for more in stellar season

RIO RANCHO —Heading to uncharted territory has become a habit for the Lobos men's hockey team this season, packing their bags for their Division II ACHA Regional playoff debut this weekend.

The Ice Lobos finished the year 20-6-1, the only team to reach the 20-win mark in the West Coast Hockey Conference. They would back up their regular-season first-place title with a conference championship in the WCHC playoffs two weeks ago, reaching the conference summit in just their second season in Division II.

UNM finished last season 17-12 with a first-round exit in the conference bracket. It was a respectable debut after moving up a division, and perhaps the match to light their fire, now holding a conference title and a national tournament bid.

Now, with the team headed to Salt Lake City, this could be just the beginning of a frozen dynasty in New Mexico.

“This team has grown tremendously over the last year,” Lobos forward Tomas Palandra said. “I think coach (head coach Logan Lemirande) has done a great job with recruiting, but mostly switching the mentality of what this team wants to be. We are building a winning mentality and are seeing the results of it.”

Those results started to show in the middle of UNM’s season. As the calendar flipped to November, the Lobos sat at 4-4 on the year. A month later, ahead of winter break, that record ballooned to 12-4, via eight straight wins for the program.

“I would say that over the course of the season, we have identified and eliminated a lot of major mistakes that were holding us back,” Lobos forward Zach Ganshaw said. “At any level in competitive hockey, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is the one that will usually come out on top.”

New Mexico recorded sweeps over Eastern Texas Baptist, Colorado State, Grand Canyon and Cal State Northridge to catapult them into first place, never looking back.

After the strong finish to 2025, the Lobos carried their momentum into the new year at the Los Alamos Shootout, taking down Cal State Northridge, UCLA and SMU to sweep the outdoor weekend.

The program got comfortable with its new home of the McDermott Athletic Center in the City of Vision, finishing with a 12-3 record at the MAC. On top of the product on the ice, fans enjoyed the new setup at the center, with vendors setting up shop for concessions and the team hosting promotional nights such as free admission to youth hockey players and rally towel giveaways.

The MAC opened its doors to the Lobos in October, where they hosted Arizona State and Northern Arizona. Four months later, UNM would face off with the Sun Devils and Lumberjacks in the WCHC semifinals and championship. New Mexico would split those October matchups but leave no doubt in February, defeating NAU in the semis en route to a title victory over ASU.

“A lot of the younger guys on our team have fallen into their groove over the course of the season,” Ganshaw said. “They are contributing in all sorts of different ways, which has added a new layer of depth to our team.”

It has been quite the storybook of a season for this club, but now with a ticket to the big stage, they may not be finished writing more chapters.

“Ahead of the regional tournament, I think the boys had a good couple of weeks of practice,” Palandra said. “We are full of confidence rolling into Utah.”

Their first opponent in Utah will be a familiar one, with the eight-seed Lobos facing off against the nine-seed ASU Sun Devils. In preparation, the club has asked the community for donations to help them with travel and supplies for the trip to the Beehive State.

“We just need the support of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho,” Palandra said, "as we try to grow this program and bring some hardware back to the 505.”