Troy, Mich. (December 8, 2022): The American Collegiate Hockey Association released its latest Men’s Division 2 Rankings today. These rankings are released on a weekly basis until Mid-December and then resume in early January, concluding with the Final Ranking the week of February 12th. The Top 20 for each region are listed below and full rankings can be found at M2 Ranking Page.
Northeast Region: Northeastern finishes the fall semester in line for and Nationals Autobid.
UMass and NE find themselves sitting in the Top 2 slots at the halfway mark of the M2 season. The Huskies replace Boston College in the #2 spot, with the Eagles falling to #4 this week. Vermont and Clarkson both jumped three places to put themselves in Regional competition. University of Maine makes the Top 20 for the first time this season, along with Connecticut College, which returns after falling out last week.
Central Region: Top 11 remain the same as 2022 comes to a close.
With many teams in the region having finished the 2022 part of the schedule, the rankings saw little movement. Michigan State and Adrian college swapped places with MSU moving back into the #12 slot. Sault College continues to rise in the rankings, coming in at #15, up two spots from last week. Minnesota Duluth grabs the #20 seed after not being ranked the last two weeks.
Southeast Region: University of Maryland’s 17-3 record helps propels them #10 at the break
The Terrapins moved up two slots to again place themselves in a key spot for Regionals. After starting the year at #8, MD had fallen out a guaranteed trip to the SE Regionals with a week left in the fall semester. This marks the highest ranking for Maryland at the break in over 5 years. The Top 9 teams spent a second week in the same positioning, with FGCU and Liberty opening a larger lead over the #3 seed, Miami. Rider University makes it first appearance in the Top 20 this week, replacing West Virginia University at #20
West Region: University of Utah continues to push for Regional spot on home ice
The Utes hit the holidays at #9 for the second week in a row, as they look to earn a bid to the West Regionals, which will be being held on Utah’s home ice. In the region that has seen the most movement of the four, Utah has stayed in the #8-#11 range all season. Denver and Utah State rose a spot, pushing MSU-Denver down to #5, just ahead of University of Montana. Dakota College was the biggest mover as the Jacks moved up three spots to #10.
Men’s Division 2 postseason is broken into the two levels. The top two teams in each region receive an automatic bid to the National Tournament, making up half of the field. The other half of the field is determined in Regional Tournaments with 12 teams competing for the two remaining spots from each region. Those eight winners will then join the eight autobids in the ACHA National Championship Tournament presented by FloHockey, in Marlborough, MA on March 17-21, 2023.
