The Structure & Policies of the ACDC

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACHA AMERICAN COLLEGIATE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE (ACDC

  1. The ACDC Men’s and Women’s Programs will be governed by current ACHA Bylaws and Policies, except as listed below. The items listed below are different from the ACHA Manual and will be followed and shared by both the Men’s program and the Women’s program:
    1. Annual Dues will be $1,100 per season which includes the following:
      1. USA Hockey registration, membership and insurance
      2. ACHA governance and oversight – Since the ultimate goal of this program is to prepare its’ members to develop a team successfully on and off the ice to become a full, national tournament bound program, the likely division to aspire for would be Men’s Division 3 or Women’s Division 2. Thus, Women’s teams will align with the Women’s D2 operational policies, with some exception listed below; and Men’s teams will align with Men’s D3 operational policies, with some exceptions listed below.
      3. ACDC section on ACHA website which will include:
        1. Men’s and Women’s separate pages
        2. List of Teams and Contacts
        3. LeagueStat products (stats, scores, schedules, etc.)
      4. ACDC Application Process and Review Committee:
        1. There will be a one-time application fee for new teams applying to this program.
        2. Applications to join or remain part of ACDC would be required annually.
        3. Institution can have multiple teams in the ACDC with unique rosters.
        4. Requests for a team’s movement between divisions season over season will be reviewed by a Review Committee to evaluate the viability of a team’s position to remain in ACDC or advance to another division.
        5. Teams that have completed a minimum of one full season as a member of the ACHA Collegiate Development Program (ACDC), and remain in good standing with the ACHA, may fulfill their probationary requirement through that participation. Upon application and approval to move into Division M1, M2, M3, W1, or W2, such teams shall be considered eligible for ACHA National Tournament participation, provided all other divisional and eligibility requirements are met.
      5. Access to all ACHA Partners and Sponsor products and pricing.
      6. Attendance to ACHA Annual Meetings
      7. Coaches participation in ACHA Prospect Showcase Series events through spring and summer.
      8. ACDC “Invitational Year-End Showcase” during the first weekend in March (Nominal Showcase Fee may be required) and will be streamed live if there is enough interest by ACDC members.
        1. ACDC Invitational Showcase would have a Dec. 1 deadline for teams to opt-in. (Logistics, format and location will be finalized prior to 2025-26 season beginning)
      9. ACDC teams may have “shared” players on their roster, from up to one other institution; meaning student-athletes attending a different university that does not have a non-NCAA college hockey program.
        1. The “Registered” school/ institution of the ACHA must maintain at least 75% of the approved rostered players. (i.e. State University has an approved roster of 20 players, 20 x 75% = 15 of those players or more must be from State University and the rest can be from another college nearby).
        2. The member ACHA institution (“host team”) must obtain agreement from school officials of any institution that provides players to the host school.
          1. This agreement shall provide authorization for the use of student-athletes and shall require the affiliated institution to provide academic eligibility information to the host institution.
          2. All players from all institutions must meet all ACHA academic eligibility requirements outlined for that program.
          3. The host institution shall be responsible for obtaining and submitting all academic eligibility paperwork for student-athletes from all affiliated institutions.
          4. No eligible player from the host school may be cut or in any way withheld from the team roster.
        3. If a team wished to apply to a different division in the ACHA, no “shared” players would be allowed to continue on the program. Players will not be “grandfathered” into other divisions where they otherwise would not be eligible for that program based on eligibility requirements.
      10. ACDC teams must use USAH certified game officials assigned by a local supervisor and not by teams.
      11. ACDC teams must have matching game jerseys and socks. All other equipment must meet NCAA Rule book standards but do not need to be matching colors although preferred.
      12. All ACDC Teams can have an official roster size of up to 25 players.
        1. A college is welcome to have more than one ACHA team across different divisions. In the event an institution has an ACHA member team in addition to an ACDC team, a player may not be dual rostered on both an ACDC team and a different ACHA team.
  1. The Following List Contains Items That ACDC Teams Would Not Be Eligible For:
    1. ACHA National Tournament
    2. Voting rights, offering Motions or Amendments at Annual Meeting
    3. International or Select Teams participation
    4. Any games vs. ACHA M1, M2, M3, W 1, or W2 opponents would not count in respective divisions rankings.
    5. Dual registration with any other college hockey association. Must be a full member of the ACHA and the ACDC.

3. Unique Women’s Program Items For ACDC Teams:

    1. Women’s ACDC teams should aim to use the Women’s D2 game protocols. The following exceptions can be made for Women’s ACDC games:
      1. Game warm up length may be 3-5 minutes.
      2. Period lengths may be 17 minutes.
        1. If playing a W2 member team for whom the game will be counting towards one of their unique opponents/games for nationals eligibility, 20-minute periods must be played.
      3. No ice cut is required but is still encouraged if budget allows.
    2. Games played by ACDC teams will not be ranked in the W2 ranking process. However, ACDC teams are still required to submit their game schedules to the ACHA for promotion and scoring via the ACHA website.
      1. Games must be scored in LeagueStat by the home team within 48 hours of the game’s completion.
    3. W2 Division (ACHA National Tournament bound members) are permitted to play up to 2 games vs ACDC teams that will count toward their 8 unique opponents and minimum of 14 games played to be eligible for Nationals.
    4. Academically, players may be enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours, applying to both undergraduate and graduate programs, to be eligible.

4. Unique Men’s Program Items For ACDC Teams:

    1. Game Protocol: 3 x 20-minute periods but can be flexible on warm-up times and ice cuts.
    2. Game Reporting:Home Teams shall score games in LeagueStat on a weekly basis bythe Monday at 11:59pm following the previous weekend
    3. ACDC members must play a minimum of 10 games during the season.