August 16, 2016
Salt Lake City, UT
The first season of ACHA Division I hockey for the University of Utah Skatin’ Utes is just a couple of weeks away and today the Utes have released their schedule for the upcoming 2016-2017 season.
In their tenth season as a member of the ACHA, the Utes will play a hybrid schedule of teams from both Division I and Division II of the ACHA. In all, the Utes will play 13 games against Division II teams while playing 17 games against Division I schools, for a total of 30 games.
The Utes will have their 2nd Annual Alumni Game to kick things off on Friday, September 9th at the Utah Ice Sheet. The Utes will also play a preseason game against the WSHL’s Utah Outliers in Park City on September 16th.
The official season will kick off on the road the following week as the Utes will head to Ogden to take on Weber State on September 23rd. On September 24th, the Utes will host Utah State at the Utah Ice Sheet for their home opener and their first home game as an ACHA Division I school.
In Utah’s first season at the Division I level, the Utes will play a home and home series against Jamestown (North Dakota), which makes its debut at the Division I level as well this season. Arizona State is also back at the D1 level, and will take on the Utes in Arizona in October. In addition to the new D1 teams, the Utes will also play six teams that were ranked in the top 25 last season, including trips to last season’s D1 runner up #2 Iowa State, #5 Minot State, #15 Arizona, #16 Syracuse, and #24 Buffalo. The Utes will also have a home series for Senior Night against #23 Colorado State.
On the Division II side the Utes will play each of the in-state schools, along with Arizona State’s Division II team and Texas A&M. The Utes will also look to defend their back to back Wasatch Cup titles in January, where they’ll take on the Utah teams in the annual tournament in Provo January 27th and 28th.
If the Utes can finish in the top 20 in the Division I computer rankings at the end of the season, the Utes will punch their ticket to the ACHA Division I National Championship tournament in Columbus, OH. The single-elimination tournament begins on March 9th.
For the full schedule, click here.
Season tickets will be availble beginning August 22nd, 2016.
