The 2012âÂÂ13 AWHL season was the second season of the American West Hockey League. The regular season schedule ran from September 28, 2012, to March 2, 2013.
The Yellowstone Quake joined the AWHL from the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac) as the league's seventh member.
The Glacier Nationals, a team in the Northern Pacific Hockey League, played 20 games (10 home, 10 away) against AWHL teams in order to alleviate the travel time Glacier had to make to play other teams in their league. Glacier was the farthest east of all of the NorPac teams at the time.
The Helena Bighorns swept the Missoula Maulers in three games to advance to the finals. The Yellowstone Quake also swept the Gillette Wild in three games to reach the finals.
The Helena Bighorns swept the Yellowstone Quake in three games to win the 2012-2013 AWHL Championship.
By winning the AWHL Championship, Helena earned a berth to the 2013 USA Hockey Tier III Junior National Championship in Rochester, Minnesota. The Bighorns went 2âÂÂ1 in pool play, with a 2âÂÂ1 overtime win against the New Jersey Rockets of the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League, an 11âÂÂ2 win over the Boch Blazers of the Eastern States Hockey League, and a 5âÂÂ3 loss to the Atlanta Jr. Knights of the EJHL South. The Bighorns earned the second seed in their group and advanced to the semifinals, losing to the eventual national champion North Iowa Bulls 3âÂÂ2 in the second overtime period.