Women’s Division II Releases Third Ranking of 2021-22 Season

Women’s Division II Releases Third Ranking of 2021-22 Season

Northeastern, Delaware, Lake Superior State and Assiniboine maintain #1 spots in their regions

 

TROY, Mich. – Jan. 28, 2022 – The American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Women’s Division II (W2) today announced the third official ranking the 2021-2022 season. The results are based on games played and reported within the first ranking period that ended on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022. The 2022 ACHA National Championships will take place in St. Louis, Missouri in March 2022, and will include 16 W2 teams.

 

The full 2022 Nationals game schedule is available on the ACHA website, here. The 16 teams invited to Nationals from W2 will be broken into four pools (see ACHA Manual), to play three days of pool play starting on Tuesday, March 15. Every team is guaranteed three games, and the winner of each pool will compete in the semi-finals on Friday, March 18.

 

Due to a variety of concerns and challenges, several teams have declared they will not attend the 2022 National Championships. A full list of teams opting out is listed at the end of this release. Heading into the 2021-22 season, the division voted to allocate a certain number of invitations to each region based on the number of teams in the region, with the stipulation that the landscape may change and therefore mid-season modifications may be needed. Given fluctuating team numbers, and the number of teams opting to sit out of Nationals, the number of Nationals invitations per region is subject to change.

 

Teams highlighted in BOLD are the current contenders for Nationals invitations in their region as of Ranking #3:

 

*Teams with asterisks have opted out of Nationals 2022

 

NORTHEAST REGION (5 invitations)

  1. Northeastern University
  2. *Assumption University
  3. Boston College
  4. University of New Hampshire
  5. University of Vermont
  6. Providence College
  7. Merrimack College
  8. *Saint Anselm’s College
  9. *Boston University
  10. *University of Connecticut
  11. Paul Smiths College
  12. *Bentley University
  13. Union College

 

SOUTHEAST REGION (5 invitations)

  1. University of Delaware
  2. United States Naval Academy
  3. Rowan University
  4. Villanova University
  5. Liberty University
  6. Loyola University Maryland
  7. Mercyhurst University
  8. University of Pittsburgh
  9. West Virginia University
  10. University of Pennsylvania
  11. University at Buffalo
  12. University of Maryland
  13. Towson University
  14. Montclair State University
  15. West Chester University
  16. Brockport State University
  17. *Rochester Institute of Technology

 

CENTRAL (3 invitations)

  1. Lake Superior State University
  2. Sault College
  3. Adrian College
  4. Northern Michigan University
  5. Ohio State University
  6. Michigan State University
  7. *University of Notre Dame
  8. Central Michigan University
  9. Miami University
  10. Bowling Green State University
  11. Loyola University Chicago

 

WEST REGION (3 invitations)

  1. Assiniboine Community College
  2. Dakota College
  3. North Dakota State University
  4. University of Minnesota-Duluth
  5. Iowa State University
  6. University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
  7. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

 

In the Northeast, all teams maintained the same spot since the last ranking. In the Southeast, the top six teams also held steady, with the only changes being West Virginia moving up to #9, and University at Buffalo moving up to #11. The most disruption occurred in the Central region, with Sault College moving up to #2, bumping Northern Michigan down to #4, and Ohio State moving up to #5. In the West, North Dakota State University earned the #3 spot, swapping places with Minnesota-Duluth, now at #4, and Iowa State moved up one spot to #5.

 

The following three conferences with at least six W2 ACHA member teams will be offered an automatic bid for their top team to the 2022 W2 National Championships: Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association (CCWHA), Women’s Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference (DVCHC) and the Independent Women’s Club Ice Hockey League (IWCHL).

 

The following teams have declared they will not attend the 2022 National Championships: Assumption College, Bentley University, Boston University, California University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, Merrimack College, Rochester Institute Technology, Saint Anselm’s College, University of Connecticut, University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of Notre Dame. Any team that does not withdraw their intention to attend Nationals in advance, and ultimately turns down an invitation, is subject to disqualification from future National tournaments.

 

The final date that games will count towards W2 rankings this season is Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The ACHA Women’s Division II National Championships will begin Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The championship game will be held Saturday, March 19, 2022.

 

The fourth W2 ranking period will end on Feb. 6, 2022. Follow the W2 schedule and standings here.