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Illini slide up to No. 14
ACHA Release Ranking No. 18 Thursday, February 16, 2017 / 9:53 AM Credit: ACHA
Minot State University (21-1-2) extends their streak to 10 weeks of holding onto the top spot in the 2016-2017 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men’s Division 1 Ranking (#18), but comes after having their win streak snapped at 17 games after splitting their two-game road trip against University of Michigan-Dearborn last weekend. The Beavers beat Michigan-Dearborn 3-2 on Friday before defenseman Nick Zern scored a pair of goals in the last five minutes of the game, including the game-tying goal with less than a second remaining, helped the Wolverines deliver a shootout win (7-6 OT-SO 1-0) Saturday night. Zern had just returned from Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he represented the 2017 U.S. Men’s National University Team. Adrian College (27-1-0) moves up a spot to No. 2 after putting a three-win weekend on the board beating No. 25 Western Michigan on Thursday night and sweeping No. 16 Midland University on Saturday (4-3 OT) in the ESPN Game of the Week and Sunday (4-1). Ohio University (24-5-1) drops to No. 3 after a split on the Big Pond at Champaign, Ill. with the University of Illinois. Fourth-ranked Central Oklahoma clinched the Western Collegiate Hockey League Regular Season Championship with a home-and-home sweep over arch-rival Oklahoma, with a 3-1 win on Friday and a 6-3 win on Saturday. Lindenwood University (14-11-3) extended their win streak to six games and jumped up three spots to round out the Top 5 after sweeping CSCHL league-rival Robert Morris Illinois (3-2, 4-0) on the road at the Edge in Bensenville, Ill. With the ACHA National Championships less than a month away, five of the six autobids have been locked up, with only the champion of College Hockey Mid-America to be determined this weekend. Autobids have been secured by the following teams:
The Central States Collegiate Hockey League leads the way with all five of its member teams ranked, while the Western Collegiate Hockey League has six (of 8) member teams ranked, the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League has six (of 9) of its member teams ranked, and the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has three (of 6) member teams ranked. Over the past 14 seasons, 11 different schools have won the ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championship: Lindenwood (3), Illinois (2), Arizona State, Central Oklahoma, Davenport, Delaware, Minot State, Oakland, Ohio, Penn State, and Rhode Island. Currently in its 26th season of action, there have been a total of 13 schools that have won the ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championship:
A total of 59 teams will compete in Men’s Division 1 this season, including three new teams: Arizona State University, Jamestown University, and the University of Utah. The two teams departing Men’s Division 1 are Lebanon Valley College, which returns its program to NCAA Division 3 status, and Ithaca College. The ACHA will use the 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. Games that go to a shootout will be scored as ties. The computer ranking will, for the fourth time, determine the 20 teams that qualify for the 2017 ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championships, which will include the following six autobids:
The nineteenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, February 22, 2017. The 2017 ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championships will be hosted March 9-14 for the first time by the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, Columbus Blue Jackets, and OhioHealth Chiller Ice Rinks at the OhioHealth Ice Haus, in Columbus, Ohio. This will be the sixth year of the 20-team format.
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