OHIO UNIVERSITY ATOP AMERICAN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION RANKINGS FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE WEEK
Bobcats Have Had to Postpone Eleven Home Contests This Semester
UNION LAKE, Mich. – (December 11, 2024) – Ohio University (10-2-0) continues to hold the top spot in 2024-2025 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #9. The Bobcats, which have victories this season over No. 2 Minot State University, No. 4 Liberty University, No. 6 Adrian College, and No. 8 Maryville University, were idle as they continue to deal with the delayed opening of their home rink, Bird Ice Arena. The arena closed in March of 2024 to undergo renovations, but its reopening was delayed for an unexpected facility equipment issue related to maintaining the arena’s ice surface. The Bobcats are hoping to see Bird Ice Arena back open for business in January of 2025
Minot State University (16-2-2) moved up two spots to No. 2 after sweeping a pair of conference games over rival No. 5 University of Jamestown (15-4-0). Friday night on the road at Wilson Arena, the Beavers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two periods on goals by Joey Moffatt, Reid Arnold, and Austin Clyne and came away with a 3-1 victory as Jake Anthony made 31 saves for the Beavers. Saturday night back home at Maysa Arena, the Jimmies jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on a pair of goals by Kole Christensson. In the second period, the Beavers tallied three power play goals off the sticks of Jay Buchholz, Colby Joseph, and Arnold to go ahead 3-2 after forty minutes. Arnold finished the scoring in the third period while Anthony added another 27 saves for a 4-2 triumph.
No. 3 University of Nevada-Las Vegas (14-1-0) swept a pair of low scoring conference games over Grand Canyon University at City National Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., and moved up three spots in the process. Friday night, second period goals by Heath Mensch, Dylan Jensen, and Oliver Band erased a 1-0 deficit for the Rebels. Hunter Schmitz tallied a power play goal midway through the third period, but the Lopes could not get the equalizer, falling 3-2 to the Rebels despite 45 saves from goaltender Dmytro Kubrytskyi. Saturday night, Tristan Rand broke a scoreless tie early in the second period and Dylan Jensen added an insurance goal just 1:12 into the third period as the Rebels shutout the Lopes 2-0. Rebels’ goaltender Jeremy Forman stopped all 24 shots he faced.
Liberty University (13-4-2) swept a pair of games over Drexel University (16-0, 8-2) at the LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg, Va. The Flames outscored the Dragons 24-2 and pumped 138 shots on goal in the two-game sweep. Leading the way for the Flames were Sam Feamster (3 goals, 4 assists), Hayden DeMars (3 goals, 3 assists), Jackson Vercellono (4 goals, assist), and Tucker Shields (2 goals, 3 assists). Drexel goaltender Ryan Nocerino turned aside 107 shots.
The aforementioned University of Jamestown rounds out the Top 5.
Moving into the polls this week is No. 20 University of Pittsburgh, No. 21 University of Central Oklahoma, and No. 23 Grand Valley State University, while Drexel University, Stony Brook University, and Missouri State University drop out.
The Great Lakes 6 Hockey Conference, playing in its inaugural season, leads the way with five (of 6) of its member teams ranked, while Western Collegiate Hockey League has six (of 11) of its member teams ranked, Midwest College Hockey has four (of 10) of its member teams ranked, and Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has two (of 6) 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 tenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, January 15, 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 #9 | |||||
| Rank | School Name | M1 Record | Previous | Trend | Conference |
| 1 | Ohio | 10-2-0 | 1 | ― | INDEP |
| 2 | Minot State | 16-2-2 | 4 | ↑2 | MCH |
| 3 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 14-1-0 | 6 | ↑3 | WCHL |
| 4 | Liberty | 13-4-2 | 3 | ↓1 | INDEP |
| 5 | Jamestown | 15-4-0 | 5 | ― | MCH |
| 6 | Adrian | 14-1-2 | 2 | ↓4 | GL6 |
| 7 | Niagara | 13-2-1 | 7 | ― | INDEP |
| 8 | Maryville | 11-5-2 | 8 | ― | INDEP |
| 9 | Utah | 11-3-1 | 10 | ↑1 | WCHL |
| 10 | Calvin | 16-2-0 | 11 | ↑1 | GL6 |
| 11 | Drury | 17-1-0 | 9 | ↓2 | INDEP |
| 12 | Indiana Tech | 16-2-0 | 12 | ― | WHAC |
| 13 | Grand Canyon | 7-5-1 | 13 | ― | WCHL |
| 14 | Mary | 14-5-0 | 15 | ↑1 | MCH |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 13-5-1 | 14 | ↓1 | WCHL |
| 16 | Arizona | 8-8-0 | 16 | ― | WCHL |
| 17 | Midland | 11-11-1 | 18 | ↑1 | MCH |
| 18 | Purdue Northwest | 8-6-0 | 19 | ↑1 | GL6 |
| 19 | Oswego State | 12-6-3 | 17 | ↓2 | NECHL |
| 20 | Pittsburgh | 12-7-1 | NR | ↑6 | ESCHL |
| 21 | Central Oklahoma | 8-8-0 | NR | ↑5 | WCHL |
| 22 | Delaware | 9-7-3 | 22 | ― | ESCHL |
| 23 | Grand Valley State | 11-5-0 | NR | ↑3 | GL6 |
| 24 | Davenport | 13-10-0 | 20 | ↓4 | GL6 |
| 25 | Northwood | 16-2-0 | 21 | ↓4 | 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.
