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UNION LAKE, Mich. – (December 7, 2016) – Minot State University won all three of its road games in Colorado to remain in the top spot in the 2016-2017 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men’s Division 1 Ranking No. 11. The Beavers (14-1-1) started out the trip with a 4-2 win over Colorado State University before sweeping the University of Colorado (3-1, 5-3). Adrian College (18-1-1) jumped up to the No. 2 spot after a 4-1 pre-Thanksgiving win over No. 4 Davenport University and a home-and-home sweep of Oakland University (12-0, 5-1). Ohio University (16-3-1) dropped to No. 3 despite sweeping a pair of Central States Collegiate Hockey League games with Lindenwood University (5-1, 4-1).  Davenport rebounded from its loss to Adrian by sweeping Indiana Tech (8-1, 4-2) to hold tight in the No. 4 position, while Arizona State split a pair of games with arch-rival University of Arizona and dropped two spots to round out the Top 5.  The Sun Devils (17-3-0) lost 2-1 on Friday before shutting out the Wildcats 5-0 on Saturday night at the Tucson Convention Center.

The ESPN3 Game of the Week will resume in January, as last week’s action saw Ohio University defeat Lindenwood 4-1 at Bird Arena in Athens, Oh., last Saturday.

The Central States Collegiate Hockey League leads the way with all five of its member teams ranked, while the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has five (of 6) of its member teams ranked, the Western Collegiate Hockey League has six (of 8) of its member teams ranked, and the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League has five (of 9) of its 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 twelfth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, December 14, 2016.

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, OH. This will be the sixth year of the 20-team format.

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