MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY BACK ATOP AMERICAN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION RANKINGS FOR THIRD TIME THIS SEASON
Beavers Have Held Top Spot in Rankings 1, 7, and 10
UNION LAKE, Mich. – (January 15, 2025) – Minot State University (23-2-3) is back in the top spot in 2024-2025 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #10. The Beavers finished 2024 with a trip to Arizona, defeating University of Arizona 6-1 and splitting with Grand Canyon University (4-2, 0-1 OT-SO). Starting off 2025, the Beavers went a perfect 5-0 in the friendly confines of Maysa Arena against Midland University (8-0, 6-0), rival University of Mary (6-2), and Iowa State University (10-0, 12-3), outscoring their opponents 42-5.
No. 2 University of Nevada-Las Vegas (17-1-1), the Men’s Division I national runners-up in 2024, finished out 2024 with a conference sweep of Arizona State University (1-0, 6-2) at City National Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., then a pair of exhibition games in Colorado against NCAA Division I opponents, University of Denver and Colorado College. Against the No. 5 ranked and defending NCAA Division I National Champion Pioneers, the Rebels raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and hit the intermission up 3-1. Two more tallies in the second period, including Preston Brodziak’s second goal of the game, put the Rebels up 5-1 heading into the third period. Three Denver goals in the first 8:35 of the third period cut the lead to 5-4, but Heath Mensch restored the two-goal lead just fifty seconds later. The Pioneers finally tied the game at 6-6 with 3:23 left in regulation sending the game into overtime. With neither team scoring in overtime, the game went to a shootout, where Mattias Dal Monte scored the only goal for a Rebels victory, (7-6 OT-SO). Goaltender Jeremy Forman finished with 58 saves. Sunday evening, Colorado College defeated the Rebels 8-0. Returning to action in 2025, the Rebels split a home series with University of Jamestown, winning 7-1 on Friday but falling 5-4 in an overtime shootout game on Saturday.
No. 3 Liberty University (13-4-2) was idle and will be back in action at home this weekend against Calvin University.
No. 4 Ohio University (11-3-0) finally played its first home games of the year at Bird Arena but fell out of the top spot after splitting its series with University of Pittsburgh. Friday night, the Panthers trailed 2-1 entering the third period but scored four times to take the 5-3 victory. Maverick Crupi broke the 3-3 tie at the midpoint of the period and added an insurance goal with 2:38 remaining in the game, both goals coming on the power play. Goaltender Grant Lindsay made 50 saves for the Panthers. Saturday evening after a scoreless first period, Laker Aldridge and Graham Broadfoot put the Bobcats up 2-0 after two periods. In the third period, defenseman Andreas Forand cut the lead to 2-1, but Barron Stibbe restored the two-goal lead with 8:21 remaining in regulation as the Bobcats prevailed 3-1, despite a stellar 38 save performance by the Panther’s Lindsay.
Adrian College (15-1-2), the defending Men’s Division I National Champions, rounds out the Top 5 after closing out 2024 with an 8-2 win over University of Michigan-Dearborn in the friendly confines of Arrington Ice Arena as defenseman Ethan McLaughlin (goal, 3 assists) and Nathaniel Mott (4 assists) paced the Bulldog attack.
Moving into the polls this week is No. 21 Arizona State University and No. 24 Stony Brook University, while Davenport University and University of Central Oklahoma drop out.
The Great Lakes 6 Hockey Conference, playing in its inaugural season, leads the way with four (of 6) of its member teams ranked, while Western Collegiate Hockey League has six (of 11) of its member teams ranked, Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has three (of 6) of its member teams ranked, and Midwest College Hockey has four (of 10) of its member teams ranked.
The ACHA uses two computer rankings generated by USHSHO.com, Ranking A (Wins with Maximum Goal Differential of 7) and Ranking B (Wins with Maximum Goal Differential of 1), and come up with an average of the two rankings. The ACHA will then use the list generated from the average for its weekly ranking. Ties will be broken using the higher ranked team from Ranking B until the Top 25 teams are listed. All games that go to overtime will be scored as ties in the computer ranking.
Over the past 21 seasons, 12 different schools have won the ACHA Men’s Division I National Championship: Lindenwood (4), Minot State (3), Adrian (3), Central Oklahoma (2), Illinois (2), Arizona State, Davenport, Delaware, Oakland, Ohio, Penn State, and Rhode Island.
Now in its 34th season of action, there have been a total of 14 schools that have won the ACHA Men’s Division I National Championship:
- Penn State University (5 times)
- Lindenwood University (4)
- Ohio University (4)
- Adrian College (3)
- Minot State University (3)
- North Dakota State University (2)
- University Central Oklahoma (2)
- University of Illinois (2)
- Arizona State University
- Davenport University
- Iowa State University
- Oakland University
- University of Delaware
- University of Rhode Island
A total of 73 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including former Men’s Division II member Drury University and former Men’s Division III members Northwood University and Saginaw Valley State University.
The computer ranking will for the eleventh time determine the 24 teams that qualify for the 2025 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships, which will include the following eight auto bids:
- (CHMA) College Hockey Mid-America
- (ECHA) Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
- (ESCHL) Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
- (GLCHL) Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League
- (MCH) Midwest College Hockey
- (NECHL) Northeast Collegiate Hockey League
- (WCHL) Western Collegiate Hockey League
- (WHAC) Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference
The eleventh ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
The 2025 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey will be hosted March 13-18 for the third time at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. This will be the second year of the 24-team format.
| 2024-2025 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #10 | |||||
| Rank | School Name | M1 Record | Previous | Trend | Conference |
| 1 | Minot State | 23-2-3 | 2 | ↑1 | MCH |
| 2 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 17-1-1 | 3 | ↑1 | WCHL |
| 3 | Liberty | 13-4-2 | 4 | ↑1 | INDEP |
| 4 | Ohio | 11-3-0 | 1 | ↓3 | INDEP |
| 5 | Adrian | 15-1-2 | 6 | ↑1 | GL6 |
| 6 | Jamestown | 17-6-0 | 5 | ↓1 | MCH |
| 7 | Niagara | 14-3-1 | 7 | ― | INDEP |
| 8 | Utah | 11-3-1 | 9 | ↑1 | WCHL |
| 9 | Drury | 19-1-0 | 11 | ↑2 | INDEP |
| 10 | Calvin | 17-3-0 | 10 | ― | GL6 |
| 11 | Maryville | 12-6-2 | 8 | ↓3 | INDEP |
| 12 | Grand Canyon | 9-7-1 | 13 | ↑1 | WCHL |
| 13 | Indiana Tech | 18-2-0 | 12 | ↓1 | WHAC |
| 14 | Mary | 16-7-0 | 14 | ― | MCH |
| 15 | Purdue Northwest | 11-6-1 | 18 | ↑3 | GL6 |
| 16 | Arizona | 9-10-0 | 16 | ― | WCHL |
| 17 | Oklahoma | 13-5-1 | 15 | ↓2 | WCHL |
| 18 | Pittsburgh | 13-8-1 | 20 | ↑2 | ESCHL |
| 19 | Oswego State | 14-6-3 | 19 | ― | NECHL |
| 20 | Grand Valley State | 14-5-0 | 23 | ↑3 | GL6 |
| 21 | Arizona State | 6-11-2 | NR | ↑5 | WCHL |
| 22 | Midland | 13-13-1 | 17 | ↓5 | MCH |
| 23 | Delaware | 11-8-3 | 22 | ↓1 | ESCHL |
| 24 | Stony Brook | 8-8-3 | NR | ↑2 | ESCHL |
| 25 | Northwood | 16-2-0 | 25 | ― | GLCHL |
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About American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) was founded in 1991 and is the national association for Non-NCAA Collegiate Hockey throughout the United States. Our organization of more than 450 colleges and university-affiliated teams representing 48 states provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes the sport of Hockey nationwide. With approximately 13,000 players and coaches as well as countless volunteers and game officials, the ACHA has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade and continues to be a viable option for college bound student-athletes to continue playing competitive hockey nationwide. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, the ACHA’s primary mission is to support the growth of Collegiate Hockey while emphasizing academic performance, personal development, and opportunities for regional, national, and international competition. The ACHA identifies standards which serve to unite and regulate teams at the collegiate level and entered its 34th season in September 2024. For more information, visit achahockey.org.
