Albuquerque to NCAA: Two Local Players Make New Mexico Hockey History

Albuquerque to NCAA: Two Local Players Make New Mexico Hockey History

Stanley Hubbard, goalie at the bottom, and Jake Wenner, second from the top right, with NM Ice team at a game in Los Alamos, NM in their early years: Photo courtesy NM Ice Wolves

For years, young hockey players in New Mexico grew up hearing the same message: if you wanted to play college hockey, you would have to leave home.

That may still be a path for some.

But it is no longer the only or the best path.

Albuquerque natives Stanley Hubbard and Jake Wenner have committed to NCAA hockey beginning with the 2026–27 season, creating a landmark moment for a state once considered far outside the traditional hockey map.

Hubbard will play NCAA Division I for Robert Morris in Pittsburgh. Wenner will play NCAA Division III for Albright College, joining the program’s inaugural varsity season.

Together, their commitments send a clear message: New Mexico hockey has arrived.

Two Different Roads, Same Starting Point

Both players started as young kids in Albuquerque with NM Ice at Outpost Ice Arena.

Lots of practices. Youth tournaments with lots of travel for games. Summer camps and skill sessions with NAHL coaches. Years of development on the same ice.

From those beginnings, their paths split in two very different directions.

Stanley Hubbard: The Homegrown Breakthrough

Hubbard’s commitment is historic because he never left New Mexico.

He began playing hockey in Albuquerque at four years old and developed entirely in New Mexico. He battled his way from NM Ice youth hockey into the New Mexico Ice Wolves junior ladder.

Now, in 2026–27, he will skate at the NCAA Division I level.

That makes Hubbard the first men’s player developed entirely within New Mexico to reach NCAA hockey at any level.

Jake Wenner: Leave, Develop, Return

Wenner’s route reflects the path New Mexico players once needed to take, but with a twist: he returned home to finish the journey.

After developing locally, he left Albuquerque for four years of Tier I (AAA) hockey in Colorado Springs. He then returned home to play junior hockey for the Ice Wolves NA3HL team, where he broke team scoring and assist records.

In 2026–27, he will join Albright College and help launch a new NCAA program from day one.

Why It‘s Happening Here

At the center is Outpost Ice Arena, one of the more unique hockey development setups in the Southwest, featuring two NHL-sized ice sheets, two connected training rinks for skill repetition, the NM Ice Wolves Speed Gym & Training Center, and coaching continuity from youth hockey through juniors.

Built on the Players Before Them

Albuquerque natives Matt Bieck and Cory King were the first New Mexicans to make it to NCAA hockey at Notre Dame and Chatham University, respectively. On the women’s side, Sonny Watrous, Jordan Hancock and Hailey Braaten have advanced to NCAA with Watrous playing at the Division I level and Hancock and Braaten at DIII.

The Real Meaning of This Moment

One stayed.
One left and returned.
Both made it.

And both begin NCAA hockey in the 2026–27 season.

That means the next player—and the next family—dreaming big in New Mexico no longer has to wonder if it’s possible.

Hubbard and Wenner, left to right, after helping their team win a tournament in Aspen, CO in fall 2016

Hubbard and Wenner pose with 1988 USA Olympic hockey player Todd Okerlund after he spoke to the team before a tournament at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO