The America West Hockey League (AWHL) was a Tier II Junior A ice hockey league. The AWHL was formed in 1992 to offer junior ice hockey to the Rocky Mountain region of USA Hockey. It originally was called the American Frontier Hockey League (AFHL), and the name change to AWHL came in 1998. The AWHL merged with the North American Hockey League in 2003 and after the merger, the NAHL name was kept.
In the Summer of 2011, a new league called the American West Hockey League was formed in the same region as the former AWHL operating as a Tier III league. The new AWHL featured 6 teams, including the former AWHL teams Billings Bulls, Bozeman Icedogs, Great Falls Americans, and Helena Bighorns. The new AWHL would later be merged into the North American 3 Hockey League as the Frontier Division.