MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY ENDS SEASON NO. 1 IN AMERICAN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION MEN’S DIVISION I RANKINGS
Beavers Enter National Championships as No. 1 Seed for 3rd Consecutive Year
UNION LAKE, Mich. – (February 25, 2026) – Minot State University (27-1-2) remains in the top spot of 2025-2026 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #16 for the seventh week in a row after winning the Midwest College Hockey (MCH) Playoff Championship at Albert Lea City Arena in Albert Lea, Minn., as this ranking marks the deadline for choosing the 24 participating teams for the 2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey. Four other conference playoff champions besides Minot State University were crowned this past weekend: West Virginia University from College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA); Adrian College from Great Lakes 6 Hockey Conference (GL6); Northwood University from Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (GLCHL); and Lawrence Tech from Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC). With their playoff titles in hand, all five teams secured the final automatic bids to the 2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey, joining the two teams that clinched berths as regular season champions of their respective conferences: University of Rhode Island from Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA) and University of Nevada-Las Vegas from Western Collegiate Hockey Leagues (WCHL).
The Beavers, regular season champions of MCH, defeated McKendree University (14-2) on Saturday afternoon as Jay Buchholz had the three-goal hat trick and Sheldin Howard, Eric Krywy, and Reece Henry each chipped in a pair of goals. Sunday afternoon, all four goals were scored on the power play as the Beavers defeated University of Mary (3-1) to win the MCH Playoff Championship. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Colby Joseph had the first goal, Walker Jerome got the game winning goal, and Matthew Yakubowski added the insurance goal while goaltender Will Dyke stopped 26 shots for the win. The Beavers have now held the top spot in 37 of the last 59 rankings and earned their 17th consecutive bid and 22nd overall. The Beavers will enter the 2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey as the top seed for the third year in a row, looking to bring home their fourth national title.
Ohio University (28-6-0) swept Liberty University (18-10-2) on the road at LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg, Va. Friday night, the Bobcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to have the Flames storm back with four unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead. A late power play goal by Will Cohen tied it 4-4 after two periods. In the third period, Kevin Kasper put the Bobcats up 5-4 only to have Bronson Hunt tie it 5-5 with just 1:05 remaining in regulation. In the 3-on-3 overtime period, Luc Reeve’s 21st goal of the season ended the contest with only 0:19 left on the clock. Goaltender Matt Zazon got the win making 35 saves while counterpart Konrad Kausch took the loss making 39 saves. Saturday night, the Bobcats used a four goal first period to chase Kausch from the net after just one period of action and cruised to a 5-2 victory. Noah Holt had a pair of goals, including the game-winner on the power play, to pace the offense while goaltender Scott Bird had 25 saves. No. 2 seed Ohio University, which won its last ACHA Men’s Division I National Championship in 2004, will be making its 33rd consecutive and 34th overall appearance, while No. 5 seed Liberty University makes its 10th consecutive and 18th overall appearance.
No. 3 Niagara University (24-4-0) didn’t allow a goal all weekend as they swept Syracuse University in the friendly confines of Dwyer Arena, winning 4-0 on Friday evening and 6-0 on Saturday afternoon. The Purple Eagles fired 84 shots on goal while only allowing 26 shots against as Jacob Dubinsky and Jackson Pundyk each posted shutouts. Lucas Fancy had a pair of goals, including the game-winner on Friday, while Charlie Belanger notched his team-leading 23rd goal of the season, including Saturday’s game-winner. The Purple Eagles will be making their fifth consecutive bid to Nationals and eighth overall appearance.
No. 4 University of Nevada-Las Vegas (25-4-1), regular season champions of the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL), split a pair of road conference games against University of Utah (2-5, 5-3) at Salt Lake City Sports Complex in Salt Lake City, Utah. Friday night, after a scoreless first period, Deven Nagra put the Rebels up 1-0 after two periods with a power-play goal. With just 4:37 remaining in regulation, the Utes were finally able to get one past goaltender Douglas Wakelyn to tie the game 1-1 and send it to overtime. Neither team was able to score during the five minute 3-on-3 overtime period, so the shootout came next. The first three shooters for both teams could not find the twine, but Heath Mensch solved goaltender Garrett Fuller putting the Rebels up 1-0. However, Paul Waldhauser responded to tie it 1-1 before Eli Fletcher netted the game-winning shootout goal for the 2-1 victory for the Utes. Fuller finished with 39 saves, in addition to stopping four of the five shootout attempts. Saturday night, trailing 3-1 on a Waldhauser power-play goal early in the second period, the Rebels stormed back with five consecutive goals to power their way to a 7-4 victory. Nagra tallied two more goals while Wakelyn kicked aside 27 shots for the win. The Rebels, the defending Men’s Division I National Champions, earned their fifth consecutive bid to Nationals and eighth overall in the last nine seasons.
Moving into the polls this week is No. 25 University of Illinois while Indiana Tech drops out of the Top 25.
The GL6 leads the way with six (of 7) of its member teams ranked, while MCH has four (of 7) of its member teams ranked, WCHL has five (of 11) of its member teams ranked, Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) has two (of 10) of its member teams ranked, CHMA has one (of 7) of its member teams ranked, and ECHA has one (of 11) 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.
Seventeen teams in the ranking will return after participating in the 2025 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships last season, including No. 6 seed Drury University (second consecutive/overall appearance); No. 7 seed Maryville University (sixth consecutive/overall appearance); No. 8 seed University of Jamestown (ninth consecutive/overall appearance);
No. 9 seed Adrian College (16th consecutive/overall appearance); No. 10 seed University of Mary (third consecutive/overall appearance); No. 11 seed Calvin University (fourth consecutive/sixth overall appearance); No. 12 seed University of Utah (third consecutive/overall appearance); No. 13 seed Grand Canyon University (third consecutive/overall appearance); No. 15 seed University of Arizona (fifth consecutive/23rd overall appearance); No. 16 seed Purdue University Northwest (third consecutive/overall appearance); No. 19 seed Midland University (second consecutive/third overall appearance); and No. 21 seed Northwood University (second consecutive/overall appearance).
Joining those schools will be seven teams that did not participate a year ago, including one team making their inaugural appearance: No. 14 seed Hope College (first overall appearance); No. 17 seed Missouri State University (sixth overall appearance and first since 2024); No. 18 seed Stony Brook University (14th overall appearance and first since 2022); No. 20 seed Grand Valley State University (third overall appearance and first since 2024); No. 22 seed University of Rhode Island (11th overall appearance and first since 2015); No. 23 seed Lawrence Tech (second overall appearance and first since 2023); and No. 24 seed West Virginia University (seventh overall appearance and first since 2014).
2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships team breakdown by conferences:
5 – GL6 Adrian, Calvin, Grand Valley State, Hope, and Purdue Northwest
5 – Independent Drury, Liberty, Maryville, Niagara, and Ohio
5 – WCHL Arizona, Grand Canyon, Missouri State, Nevada-Las Vegas, and Utah
4 – MCH Jamestown, Mary, Midland, Minot State
1 – ACCHL Stony Brook
1 – CHMA West Virginia
1 – ECHA Rhode Island
1 – GLCHL Northwood
1 – WHAC Lawrence Tech
Over the past 22 seasons, 13 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, Nevada-Las Vegas, Oakland, Ohio, Penn State, and Rhode Island.
Now in its 35th season of action, there have been a total of 15 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 Nevada-Las Vegas
- University of Rhode Island
A total of 81 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including former Men’s Division II members Central Michigan University, North Carolina State University, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and University of North Carolina, along with former Men’s Division III members Hope College, the reigning ACHA Men’s Division III National Champions, and University of Michigan-Flint. The Concordia University Ann Arbor program, which made the announcement to relocate to Siena Heights University back in April, folded in July before getting to play a game as the Saints.
The seventeenth and final ranking of the season will be released on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
The 2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey will be hosted March 12-17 for the fourth time at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. This will be the third year of the 24-team format.
| 2025-2026 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #16 | |||||
| Rank | School Name | M1 Record | Previous | Trend | Conference |
| 1 | Minot State | 27-1-2 | 1 | ― | MCH |
| 2 | Ohio | 28-6-0 | 3 | ↑1 | INDEP |
| 3 | Niagara | 24-4-0 | 2 | ↓1 | INDEP |
| 4 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 25-4-1 | 4 | ― | WCHL |
| 5 | Liberty | 18-10-2 | 6 | ↑1 | INDEP |
| 6 | Drury | 23-4-0 | 5 | ↓1 | INDEP |
| 7 | Maryville | 13-10-1 | 8 | ↑1 | INDEP |
| 8 | Jamestown | 22-11-0 | 7 | ↓1 | MCH |
| 9 | Adrian | 25-6-2 | 9 | ― | GL6 |
| 10 | Mary | 23-13-1 | 11 | ↑1 | MCH |
| 11 | Calvin | 20-8-2 | 10 | ↓1 | GL6 |
| 12 | Utah | 15-9-1 | 12 | ― | WCHL |
| 13 | Grand Canyon | 20-8-0 | 13 | ― | WCHL |
| 14 | Hope | 25-8-0 | 14 | ― | GL6 |
| 15 | Arizona | 13-10-3 | 15 | ― | WCHL |
| 16 | Purdue Northwest | 15-15-2 | 16 | ― | GL6 |
| 17 | Missouri State | 15-8-5 | 17 | ― | WCHL |
| 18 | Stony Brook | 14-13-3 | 20 | ↑2 | ACCHL |
| 19 | Midland | 7-18-6 | 18 | ↓1 | MCH |
| 20 | Grand Valley State | 17-13-2 | 19 | ↓1 | GL6 |
| 21 | West Chester | 23-8-1 | 21 | ― | ECHA |
| 22 | Indiana Pennsylvania | 27-4-4 | 22 | ― | CHMA |
| 23 | Kentucky | 21-4-1 | 24 | ↑1 | ACCHL |
| 24 | Davenport | 18-17-5 | 23 | ↓1 | GL6 |
| 25 | Illinois | 18-7-4 | NR | ↑1 | INDEP |
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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 560 colleges and university-affiliated teams representing 48 states provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes the sport of Hockey nationwide. With approximately 16,000 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 35th season in September 2025. For more information, visit achahockey.org.
