In the first-ever hockey meeting between the two schools, 5^th-seeded University of Nevada made the most of its first postseason game, upsetting 4^th-seeded Grand Canyon University D3 Men's Hockey, 4-2, in the opening-round matchup of the West Coast Hockey Conference Playoffs in Flagstaff. The loss brought a premature end to the Lopes' season, suffering their 5^th straight loss to end the 2025-26 campaign.

The Lopes had done a marvelous job of fighting off the distractions of the temporary closure of their home ice, AZ Ice Arcadia, along with numerous rescheduled games and venues to win 17 of their first 20 games of the season – including an 11-1 record from mid-October through the end of January. The Lopes' final road trip of the season of four games in four nights in three different Colorado cities proved fateful, though, as the Lopes went 0-4 against Air Force Academy, Colorado Mesa University and a pair of losses to the Colorado School of Mines.

Undeterred, the Lopes still headed to northern Arizona as one of the WCHC's top four teams. Unfortunately, the Lopes' first-round opponents, Nevada, were heading to the playoffs having finished their inaugural regular season of existence with seven consecutive victories. The Wolfpack picked up where they left off by leading most of the way against GCU, knocking the Lopes out of the single-elimination tournament to advance to the semifinals against eventual WCHC Champion Arizona State University.

The loss did little to dampen the accomplishments of the Lopes' squad, though, since they not only posted the first winning season in the history of the Division 3 program, but also shattered their previous high-water mark for wins in a single season (previous mark: 10), and swept in-state rival Northern Arizona University in four games for the first time ever.