MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY REMAINS NO. 1 TEAM IN AMERICAN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION MEN’S DIVISION I RANKINGS
Top Three Teams Lose Six of Seven Games Played Over the Weekend
UNION LAKE, Mich. – (February 14, 2024) – Minot State University (26-6-1) holds the top spot in the 2023-2024 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men’s Division 1 Ranking No. 15. The Beavers, on top for the seventh consecutive week, were swept on the road by Maryville University. Friday night, the Saints jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Jaxon White and Sam Edwards. The Beavers awoke after the first intermission and had tied the game at 2-2 just 5:57 in the second period on goals by Joey Moffatt and Walker Jerome. After 18:50 of scoreless hockey in the third period, Campbell McLean netted the game-winner for the Saints in a thrilling 3-2 victory. Saturday night, the Beavers looked to bounce back and got a goal from Reece Henry to lead 1-0 after the first period. Sam Edwards tied it at 1-1 after two periods and Hunter Floris put the Saints up 2-1 with only 8:29 remaining in the third period. With the goaltender pulled in the last minute in regulation, Christian Kadolph tied the game for the Beavers with only nine seconds remaining. After a scoreless three-on-three overtime period, the Saints sent their fans home happy with the lone shootout goal coming off the stick of Timon Prexler. Saints’ goaltender Lucas Bain stopped 51 of the 55 shots he faced in the series.
No. 2 Adrian College (24-4-0) split a pair of games against Grand Valley State University with each team winning 3-1 at home. Thursday night at Arrington Arena, David Dell and Nash Hatcher staked the Bulldogs to a 2-0 lead before Bryan Clahassey got one past Noah DeCottignies for the Lakers to make it 2-1 with 6:45 left in the second period. However, Chad Noetzel scored less than two minutes later to put the Bulldogs back up by two after two periods, and they closed the door in the third period for a 3-1 victory. Saturday night after a scoreless first period at Griff’s Georgetown in Hudsonville, Mich., Jackson Collard got his first of the season to put the Lakers up 1-0 with 5:22 left in the second period. Blake Wideman tied it up for the Bulldogs with 3:18 remaining in the second and the period ended tied at 1-1. The Bulldogs peppered Laker goaltender Devin Naidow with 14 shots in the third period, but he stopped every one of them before Nicklas Sommerfield got the game-winner with 3:57 remaining in regulation. Chaise Tallaire put the game away with an empty net goal with 90 seconds remaining for the 3-1 victory, as Naidow finished with 41 saves.
No. 3 University of Central Oklahoma (24-5-2) had a rough weekend at home losing all three games it played at Arctic Edge Ice Arena, one in a shootout, one in overtime, and one in regulation. Thursday night, Utah’s Jacob Slater put the Utes up 2-1 just 38 seconds into the third period before Zach Guerra tallied a power play goal to tie it at 2-2 with only 3:55 left in regulation. Neither team scored in overtime, but the Utes won the shootout 2-1 behind goals from Michael Urtis and Benjamin Mickel. Friday night against Grand Canyon University, Ondrej Blaha put the Bronchos up 1-0 after the first period before Mykhailo Simchuk tied it a 1-1 after two periods. Neither team scored in the third period but Hunter Schmitz got his 14th goal of the season 2:46 into overtime for the 2-1 victory as goaltender Dmytro Kubrytskyi had 32 saves for the Lopes. Saturday night, Schmitz got the game-winner again, breaking a 2-2 tie with only 2:18 remaining in the second period. Braden Husby got the empty net goal with 0:47 left in regulation for the 4-2 Lopes win as goaltender Riley Morgan made 32 saves for the Lopes.
No. 4 University of Nevada-Las Vegas (21-6-2) swept a pair of conference road games at Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins, Colo. over Colorado State University (6-1, 5-2). Mattias dal Monte (two goals, two assists), Rob McCollum (two goals, assist), Tristan Rand (two goals, assist), Bradley Golant (one goal, two assists), and Jaxsen Wyatt (three assists) paced the Rebels offensively. Goaltender Sam Simon stopped 79 of the 89 shots he faced for the Rams.
Moving into the Top 5 this week for the first time in three weeks is University of Jamestown (22-8-0), which clinched the regular season championship of Midwest College Hockey (MCH) by sweeping conference rival University of Mary. Friday night on the road at Starion Sports Complex in Mandan, N.D., the Jimmies raced out to a 3-0 lead midway through the game and cruised to a 5-1 victory. Brandon Weare stopped 29 out of 30 shots while Keaton Cline, Reid Wilson, Carter Johnson, Morgan Venne, and Brad Fortin lit the lamp for the Jimmies. Saturday night in the friendly confines of Wilson Arena, the Marauders jumped to a quick 1-0 lead off the stick of Isaiah Thomas 5:58 into the contest, but Jordan Baranesky tied it late in the period to make it 1-1 after one period. Alek Erichuk got the game-winner in the second period and Jordan Kromm made it 3-1 after two periods as goaltender Weare blanked the Marauders the final 54:02 of the game making 30 saves.
Moving into the polls this week is No. 25 University of Colorado while Indiana University of Pennsylvania drops out of the Top 25.
The Western Collegiate Hockey League leads the way with eight (of 10) of its member teams ranked, while Midwest College Hockey has three (of 7) of its member teams ranked, Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League has four (of 10) of its member teams ranked, and Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has three (of 8) 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), to 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 20 seasons, 12 different schools have won the ACHA Men’s Division I National Championship: Lindenwood University (4), Minot State University (3), Adrian College (2), University of Central Oklahoma (2), University of Illinois (2), Arizona State University, Davenport University, University of Delaware, Oakland University, Ohio University, Penn State University, and University of Rhode Island.
Now in its 33rd 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)
- Minot State University (3)
- Adrian College (2)
- 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 72 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including University of Mary, which moves up from Men’s Division II after winning back-to-back National Championships in 2021 and 2022.
The computer ranking will for the tenth time determine the 24 teams that qualify for the 2024 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 sixteenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
The 2024 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships presented by FloHockey will be hosted March 7-12 for the second time at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. This will be the first year of the 24-team format.
| 2023-2024 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #15 | ||||
| Rank | School Name | M1 Record | Previous | Conference |
| 1 | Minot State | 26-6-1 | 1 | INDEP |
| 2 | Adrian | 24-4-0 | 2 | GLCHL |
| 3 | Central Oklahoma | 24-5-2 | 3 | WCHL |
| 4 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 21-6-2 | 4 | WCHL |
| 5 | Jamestown | 22-8-0 | 6 | MCH |
| 6 | Liberty | 18-7-1 | 7 | INDEP |
| 7 | Maryville | 21-9-2 | 8 | INDEP |
| 8 | Ohio | 22-7-4 | 5 | INDEP |
| 9 | Niagara | 18-7-1 | 10 | ESCHL |
| 10 | Mary | 21-11-1 | 9 | MCH |
| 11 | Purdue Northwest | 24-5-1 | 11 | GLCHL |
| 12 | Utah | 14-10-2 | 14 | WCHL |
| 13 | Calvin | 20-7-2 | 12 | GLCHL |
| 14 | Illinois State | 22-10-1 | 13 | MCH |
| 15 | Grand Valley State | 20-7-2 | 15 | GLCHL |
| 16 | Arizona | 13-13-1 | 19 | WCHL |
| 17 | Grand Canyon | 17-13-1 | 21 | WCHL |
| 18 | Indiana Tech | 23-9-1 | 16 | WHAC |
| 19 | Missouri State | 13-14-2 | 18 | WCHL |
| 20 | Pittsburgh | 17-12-2 | 17 | ESCHL |
| 21 | Delaware | 14-8-4 | 20 | ESCHL |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 14-10-2 | 25 | WCHL |
| 23 | Iowa State | 10-8-0 | 22 | INDEP |
| 24 | West Chester | 22-4-2 | 23 | ECHA |
| 25 | Colorado | 12-10-2 | NR | WCHL |
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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 460 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 33rd season in September 2023. For more information, visit achahockey.org.
