Utah M2 finishes semester ranked 5th in the West

December 12, 2025
Salt Lake City, Utah

The final American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men’s Division 2 rankings for the fall semester has been released, with YOUR Skatin’ Utes moved up to #5 in the West.

Utah M2 is on an absolute tear going 8-2 in the last 10 games and is 18-7 overall. Of note, all losses are to higher ranked teams, including two to Southeast region #1 Florida Gulf Coast, three to #2 Weber State, one to #3 Montana State, and one to #4 Utah State.

During the run up to Thanksgiving, the Utes had a clean sweep at the Annual Beehive showcase with wins over #14 Arizona State, #8 California, #26 Colorado State, and #17 Loyola Marymount.

Utah Rookie Adam Kural leads the team in the points column with 27 total points (15G, 12A) with sophomore Connor Beers close behind at 25 points (15G, 10A). Junior Maxwell Hove is next with 24 points (11G, 13A) with Sophomore Cole Turner just two points back with 22 points (4G, 18A).

The defensive core is being led by Assistant Captain Donovan O’Shea with 17 points (6G, 11A) and rookie Kai Tweten with 12 points (1G, 11A).

Goaltending for the Utes have been impressive so far.  Sophomore Ryan Winkelmann has handled the bulk of games with a record of 11-6 with a 3.18 GAA and .902 save percentage. Sophomore Jack Nowicki is 5-1 with a 2.47 GAA and .933 save percentage. Rookie Richard Lucy 2-0 with a 1.50 GAA and .893 save percentage.

The Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League, of which Utah M2 is a member, had an fantastic raking period with with eight (of 10) of its member teams ranked. Big Mountain Hockey Conference has two (of 6) of its member teams ranked, and Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference has two (of 8) of its member teams ranked. The Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference has two (of 8) its member teams ranked, and the West Coast Hockey Conference has four (of 9) of its member teams ranked, 

With the ACHA switching to a computer-based ranking from a coaches poll, 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. All games that go to overtime will be scored as ties in the computer ranking.

Now in its 35th season of action, there have been a total of 19 schools that have won the ACHA Men’s Division 2 National Championship: Life University (5), Florida Gulf Coast (4), Michigan State (4), Davenport (3), Mary (3), NYU (2), Oakland (2), Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Grand Valley State, Colorado, Miami (OH), Western Michigan, Colorado State, Ferris State, Buffalo State, Toledo, and Lindenwood.

A total of 189 teams will compete in Men’s Division 2 this season.

The computer ranking will be used to determine the 16 teams that qualify for each of the four 2026 ACHA Men’s Division 2 Regional Tournaments, Southeast, Northeast, Central, and West. The four wining teams from each tournament will earn a bid to the 2026 ACHA National Championships, which will be played from March 10-18, 2026 at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

If any of the conference auto bids are not filled (i.e., team has already qualified, unable to accept bid, less than four eligible conferences, etc.), the position(s) in the Regional will be filled by the next highest ranked team(s) within that Region as an At‐Large bid.

Men’s Division 2 Conferences include:
Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL)
Big Mountain Hockey Conference (BMCH)
Colonial States College Hockey Conference (CSCHC)
Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA)
Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League (MWCHL)
Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA)
Northern Collegiate Hockey League (NCHL)
Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference (PAC-8)
Super East Collegiate Hockey League (SECHL)
Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference (TCHC)
Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League (TSCHL)
Western Collegiate Club Hockey Association (WCCHA)
West Coast Hockey Conference (WCHC)

The fifth ranking of the regular season will be released on Thursday, January 12, 2026.

2025-2026 ACHA MEN’S DIVISION 2 RANKING #4