Five seasons. 20 straight defeats. Six one-goal losses. Two in overtime.

Now forgotten.

Coming close to ending it several times over the last three years, the 12^th-ranked Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team finally snapped its long losing skid to the 2^nd-ranked Rebels of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in thrilling fashion, getting a Jack Thomas goal with six seconds left in overtime to win, 4-3, at AZ Ice Arcadia in Phoenix Friday night. A tight 2-1 loss to the Rebels Saturday night to finish out the regular season schedule did nothing to dampen the glow of the victory, which was the Lopes' first win in 21 games in the series with the perennial national title contenders. The win also solidified the Lopes' chances of clinching a top-12 seed in next month's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 National Tournament, which would mean back-to-back appearances for the program after reaching it for the first time ever last season.  

Friday: GCU 4, UNLV 3 (F/OT)

Over the years, the Lopes were used to seeing the Rebels score first in games, and UNLV's Jaxsen Wyatt obliged with an opening goal just three minutes into the game. The Lopes have also been no stranger to coming back to build a lead, which became reality gradually. GCU senior Hunter Schmitz first tied the game with two minutes left in the first period, then gave GCU a 2-1 edge four minutes into the 2^nd frame (on Caden Henrikson's 2^nd straight assist). Lopes' goalie Dmytro Kubrytskyi continued to weather a steady UNLV onslaught, knocking away 29 of 30 shots in the first two periods, which allowed Schmitz to set up Thomas for a power-play goal at the midpoint of the 3^rd period. Lopes' fans had little time to get secure with the 3-1 edge, though, as back-to-back goals from UNLV's Bradley Golant over the next five minutes knotted the score at 3-3, sending the game to extras. The Lopes' maturation about handling things in overtime – which features a 'sudden death' five-minute period of 3-on-3 – came to the forefront as GCU controlled the puck for much of the time. Still, each team fired four shots during the first four minutes of OT, and seemed headed for a shootout until the Lopes' defensemen showed their offensive abilities. In their final attack, GCU's Gavin Uckele steered right of the goal before flipping a pass to Thomas, who flicked the puck past Rebels' netminder Jeremy Forman with :06 showing on the scoreboard, and the Lopes' bench spilled out onto the ice in celebration. The Rebels outshot GCU, 53-27, but Kubrytskyi's 50 saves denied them the win.

Saturday: UNLV 2, GCU 1

Newfound confidence versus old swagger. Each worked well for half the game. With Kubrytskyi again stalwart in goal Saturday (39 saves), the Lopes showed new poise coming out of the locker room for the 1^st period and seemed unconcerned when they only registered five 1^st-period shots in skating to a 0-0 tie after the first 20 minutes. Owen Lugowski rewarded the Lopes for the lack of panic by breaking the scoreless tie with 11 minutes left in a 2^nd period that saw GCU fire a game-high 11 shots on goal. That GCU score somehow brought out the old confidence of the visitors, though, and from there, the Rebels set the pace on the game. Golant and Dylan Jensen took advantage of some newfound lanes in the GCU zone and cashed in a pair of goals in a four-minute span to give UNLV (28-5 overall, 19-3 WCHL) a 2-1 lead after two periods. The Lopes fought to regain their rhythm throughout the final 20 minutes to no avail, and UNLV netminder Doug Wakelyn took care of GCU's final nine shots to force the Lopes to settle for a split.

Tuesday is Judgment Day for both the Lopes (15-14 overall, 10-10 WCHL) and Rebels (who were national runners-up a year ago) as the ACHA will unveil the 24 participants for the 2025 ACHA D1 National Tournament that evening. The Lopes – who won their first-ever national tournament game a year ago in Round 1 against Illinois State University – hope to improve the #17 seed they owned for that tournament. The national tournament will commence on Thursday, March 13, with the last two surviving teams determining the national champion on Tuesday, March 18.