The American West Hockey League was a US-Based Tier III Junior league which was founded in 2011. The leagues teams were located in the states of Montana and Wyoming. The league was also affiliated with USA Hockey. The leagues website states a link to the previous version of the league, which was merged into the North American Hockey League in 2003, as several of the cities are represented in both versions of the league. The league was formed when five teams (Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Missoula, and the expansion Great Falls franchise) from the Northern Pacific Hockey League (Nor-Pac) withdrew to form the AWHL. The league added the Gillette Wild after the league was announce. The league added the Yellowstone Quake out of Cody, Wyoming to the roster for the 2012-13 season.