ADRIAN COLLEGE NO. 1 FOR FIFTEENTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK IN AMERICAN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION MEN’S DIVISION 1 RANKING

No. 2 Liberty Sweeps No. 1 Adrian to Give Bulldogs First Losses of Season

UNION LAKE, Mich. – (February 26, 2020) – For the fifteenth consecutive ranking, Adrian College (25-2-0) remains in the top spot in the 2019-2020 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men's Division 1 Ranking No. 17 despite losing its first two games of the year on road at No. 2 Liberty University.  It was déjà vu both Friday and Saturday as the Flames scored the game-winning goal in the last minute of regulation to snap the Bulldogs 25-game winning streak.  Friday, Josh Fricks took a perfect back-door pass from Arturas Laukaitis on the power play and buried it to send the crowd at the LaHaye Ice Center into pandemonium with only 0:54 left in regulation for the 2-1 triumph.  Saturday, it was Garrett Nelson’s turn for the heroics as he took the 2-on-1 pass from Arturas Laukaitis and scored with merely 0:43 left to seal the 4-3 victory.  For the season, the teams split the 4-game series with each team winning its two home contests.

No. 3 Lindenwood University (23-7-0) swept its home conference series with Iowa State University at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo., winning comfortably 4-1 on Saturday before being pushed to overtime and then 9 rounds of a shootout on Sunday before Nick Greene delivered the winning shot past Cyclone goaltender Nikita Kozak, who finished with 42 saves.  The Lions pumped 47 shots on goal on Kozak on Saturday but it remained a one goal game into the third period until a pair of goals 4:26 apart by Hayden Ursulak gave Lindenwood enough breathing room to subdue the Cyclones.

No. 4 Ohio University (22-8-4) swept a pair of closely contested non-conference games against University of Pittsburgh.  Friday, defenseman Jake Houston broke the 5-5 tie with only 4:40 left in the third period and the Bobcats added an empty-net goal for a 7-5 victory.  Despite the 12 goals scored, there were only 44 combined shots on goal in the game.  Saturday, the goaltenders found their game as Jimmy Thomas turned aside 29 shots and four different players found the back of net for a 4-1 Bobcat conquest.  Despite the defeat, Panthers goaltender Matt Snader repelled 31 shots on goal.

Minot State University (15-4-3), the defending Men's Division I National Champions of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, rounds out the top 5 after sweeping University of Mary in a home-and-home series (5-3, 3-2 OT).  The Beavers took care of the Marauders on Friday night, but Saturday they needed to come from behind in the third period to send the game into overtime.  Davis Sheldon knotted the score at 2-2 and then scored the game winner just 0:35 into the extra session for the 3-2 overtime win.

The first three conference playoff champions will be crowned this weekend in College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA), Northeast Collegiate Hockey League (NECHL), and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), with the CHMA and NECHL playoff champions securing the final two autobids to the 2020 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships.

The Central States Collegiate Hockey League (5) leads the way with all of its member teams ranked, while the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has four (of 6) of its member teams ranked, the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League and Western Collegiate Hockey League both have four (of 7) of its member teams ranked, and the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference has three (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 17 seasons, 12 different schools have won the ACHA Men's Division I National Championship: Lindenwood (3), Central Oklahoma (2), Illinois (2), Minot State (2), Adrian, Arizona State, Davenport, Delaware, Oakland, Ohio, Penn State, and Rhode Island.

Now in its 29th season of action, there have been a total of 14 schools that have won the ACHA Men's Division I National Championship:

• Penn State (5 times)
• Ohio (4)
• Lindenwood (3)
• Central Oklahoma (2)
• Illinois (2)
• Minot State (2)
• North Dakota State (2)
• Adrian
• Arizona State
• Davenport
• Delaware
• Iowa State
• Oakland
• Rhode Island

A total of 70 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including eleven new teams: Aquinas College, Cleary University, Concordia University Ann Arbor, Grand Canyon University, Indiana Tech, Lawrence Tech, Maryville University, McKendree University, Midland University, Northern Illinois University, and Waldorf University. The sole team departing Men’s Division I is University of Arkansas.

The computer ranking will for the seventh time determine the 20 teams that qualify for the 2020 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships, including the following six autobids:

• (CHMA) College Hockey Mid-America (PLAYOFF CHAMPION)
• (ECHA) Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (Drexel University)
• (ESCHL) Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (Liberty University)
• (GLCHL) Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (Adrian College)
• (NECHL) Northeast Collegiate Hockey League (PLAYOFF CHAMPION)
• (WCHL) Western Collegiate Hockey League (University of Arizona)

The eighteenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, March 4, 2020.

The 2020 ACHA Men's Division I National Championships will be hosted March 19-24 for the second time by the Dallas Stars, Visit Frisco, and Children’s Health StarCenters at the Comerica Center, in Frisco, TX. This will be the ninth year of the 20-team format.

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About American Collegiate Hockey Association

The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a recognized 501(c)3 organization of over 500 college and university-affiliated programs which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes the quality of collegiate ice hockey throughout the United States.  Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, the ACHA's primary mission is to support the growth and development of college hockey programs nationwide.  The ACHA identifies standards which serve to unite and regulate teams at the collegiate level and enters its 29th season in September 2019. For more information, visit achahockey.org.