Minot State University’s sweep over Arizona State University (7-2, 5-1) over the weekend extends the Beavers’ hold on the top spot to eight consecutive weeks for the 2016-2017 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men’s Division 1 Ranking No. 16. Adrian College (22-1-0) swept Eastern Michigan (9-0, 7-2) while No. 3 Ohio University was idle. Fourth-ranked Davenport University (23-4-0) swept a home-and-home league conference series with Oakland University (6-5 OT, 6-3) while University of Central Oklahoma (23-7-1) rounds out the Top 5 after a home sweep of Stony Brook University, with a 3-1 win on Friday followed by a 4-3 victory Saturday.

Syracuse University (No. 23) will face University at Buffalo in the ACHA’s ESPN3 Game of the Week Friday, February 3 at 7 p.m. Eastern from the Northtown Center at Amherst in Williamsville, NY. The broadcast will mark the eighth time an ACHA game will be on ESPN3. Game can be viewed atgolivesportscast.com/category/acha/.

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:

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

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:

• (CHMA) College Hockey Mid-America
• (ECHA) Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
• (ESCHL) Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
• (GLCHL) Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League
• (NECHL) Northeast Collegiate Hockey League
• (WCHL) Western Collegiate Hockey League

The seventeenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, February 8, 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.