November 30, 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah
We’re officially past the halfway point of the ACHA season and the University of Utah Skatin’ Utes are now one step closer to making it back to Nationals for the second year in a row.
The Utes came in at number two in the second of four ACHA West Rankings this year, which were released Monday morning. The Utes held on to their spot after being ranked 2nd in the first poll of the season last month.
Arizona State Elite remained at number one in the poll, claiming all 12 first place votes after beating Utah in the Beehive Showcase before the Thanksgiving holiday. Utah State moved up one spot to number three, which sets up a matchup of two of the top three teams in the West on Thursday when Utah travels to Logan to take on Utah State this week.
The biggest mover in the poll was Northern Arizona, who jumped all the way up from 9th to 4th in rankings after having a strong month of November to make up for their poor start to the season. Coming in at number five was Arizona State Maroon who was followed by Weber State, who both jumped up one spot from the last ranking.
At number seven is Montana Tech, who fell four spots after being ranked 3rd in the first poll and went 0-4 in the Beehive Showcase. Northern Colorado moved up three spots from 11th to 8th and is followed by Boise State, who also struggled in the Beehive Showcase and fell four spots from 5th to 9th. UNLV, who Utah will see at home next week, stayed put at number 10 in the rankings.
Denver fell three spots to 11th while Long Beach State moved up a spot to 12th as those two teams currently hold the final two playoff spots at the halfway point of the season. On the outside looking in to the playoffs are Cal State Northridge (12th to 13th), San Jose State (stayed at 14), and Wyoming (unranked to 15th).
San Diego State and Texas A&M each fell one spot to 16th and 17th while BYU received their first ranking of the season at number 18. Washington, Loyola Marymount, USC, and Cal State Fullerton also received votes but were not ranked in the poll.
The Utes have three games left before the end of the first semester as they take on #3 Utah State in Logan on Thursday and #10 UNLV at home December 11th and 12th.
