MHL Drops the Puck on 2026-27: Every Game Counts, Four Teams Play for the Clear Cup

BRECKENRIDGE, CO — September 25, 2026

Alright, listen up, because this is a beauty.

The Mountain Hockey League is back for 2026-27, and I'm telling you right now, this is the biggest season of Senior A hockey the West has ever seen. Thirty teams. Ninety-five games and counting. From Reno to Mansfield, Oakland to Breckenridge, Park City to Vail — and now a bunch of hungry kids out of Santa Fe calling themselves the Chupacabras who want a piece of it too. You love to see it.

Here's the deal, and it's simple. The MHL isn't just a league anymore. It's the leaderboard for all of Senior A hockey. You lace 'em up against anybody — league team, barnstorming team, a bunch of firemen from New York — it goes on the board. Every goal. Every assist. Every penalty minute. Every game-winner. We keep the book on all of it, and it's live at mountainhockeyleague.co the minute the sheet comes off the ice.

That's real hockey. That's how it should be. You don't get to hide.

HOW IT WORKS

Every team gets scored on what they actually do on the ice. Win games, you climb. Lose games, you drop. Doesn't matter who you played or where — the record is the record.

And when the regular season wraps in April, the top four teams on the leaderboard punch their ticket to the playoffs. Semifinals, then the big one: The Clear Cup, presented by Bladetech, April 16-24, 2027, on the home ice of the number one seed.

Four spots. That's it. Everybody else goes home and thinks about it all summer.

THE DEFENDING CHAMPS

The Reno Ice Raiders are your 2026 Clear Cup champions, and let me tell you, these guys earned it. Went through Mansfield, went through Breckenridge, hoisted the hardware in front of a packed barn in Reno. They've got a target on their back now and twenty-two games on the schedule to defend it. Good luck, boys.

THE PLAYERS

New this season: official MHL Player Rankings. Every skater in the league gets ranked on what matters. Even-strength goals count more than power-play goals. Shorthanded goals count most of all. Game-winners get a bonus because that's the guy the coach trusts when it's on the line. And penalty minutes? Those cost you. You want to run around and take dumb penalties, you'll see it in your number, and so will everybody else.

You want to know where you stand? It's on the website. Go look.

OPENING NIGHT

The season opens Friday, October 16 when the defending champion Reno Ice Raiders host the San Diego Renegades at Reno Ice. From there it's twenty-eight weekends of mountain-town hockey across Colorado, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Texas and New Mexico — full check, NHL rules, 7:30 puck drops, and every one of them on the board.

FROM THE COMMISSIONER

"This league was built by hockey players who couldn't hang 'em up," said MHL Commissioner Richard M. Batenburg III. "Every winter we find out who can still go. This year, everybody's on the board, everybody's being measured, and four teams get to play for the Cup. That's it. That's hockey. Let's go."

ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN HOCKEY LEAGUE

The Mountain Hockey League is the leaderboard and official statistical record for Senior A hockey in the Western United States. Founded in 2022 by hockey players, for hockey players, the MHL tracks every game, every player and every stat for teams competing across Colorado, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Texas and New Mexico. The regular season runs October through April, with the top four teams competing for The Clear Cup, presented by Bladetech. Full schedule, standings, player rankings and stats at mountainhockeyleague.co.

Media contact: Richard M. Batenburg III, Commissioner — 74@breckvipers.com

SCOREKEEPERS: GET THE SHEET

Every game goes on the board, and the game sheet is how it gets there. Download the official MHL Game Sheet and the one-page Scorekeeper Guide below. Print it, fill it out with a pen, snap a photo, and email it to 74@breckvipers.com before you leave the rink. Put both team names and the date in the message. That's it.

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