Utah M1 moves up to #9 in final ACHA Computer Rankings of the semester

December 11, 2024
Salt Lake City, Utah

The first twelve weeks of the 2024-25 season are in the books, and the final computerized rankings of the semester have been published.

Your Skatin’ Utes have climbed to #9 in the Nation with an 11-3-1 record, and with the typical travel heavy fall schedule for Utah M1, the Utes have shown the nation they can win at home and on the road.  Nine of their fifteen games (60%) were on the road, and two of their three losses occurred at #3 UNLV (4-2 and 5-4).

The Utes have been on an absolute tear this fall outscoring their opponents 79 to 31. Three of the top six offensive producers in the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) wear a Utah Jersey. #24 Ethan Light leads the team with 26 points (9G, 14A), followed by #15 Landon Langenbrunner with 23 points (9G, 14A), and #14 Captain Michael Urtis with 22 points (12G, 11A).

Goaltending for the Utes is also on full display this semester with all three tendies showing prowess between the pipes; #30 Jaxon Letey with a 1.00 GAA with 2 games played, #31 Joseph Greilich with 1.50 GAA with 4 games played, and #32 Garrett Fuller with 2.40 GAA with 9 games played.

The rookie class for Utah has also been exceptional thus far. #6 Gion Coray leads the rookie class with 15 points (7G, 8A) with #12 Brady Schwab only 1 point behind with 14 points (6G, 8A). Utah rookies actually hold 2 of the top 4 spots on the WCHL rookie points leader board.

After the Holiday break, the Utes will hit the road for two more trips before a long four week home stand at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex.

First up will be the ACHA Showcase from January 17-19, 2025 in Chesterfield, Missouri, where Utah will take on Alabama, #8 Maryville, and Illinois State. The following weekend they will travel south to Tucson, Arizona and battle #16 University of Arizona in the Tucson Event Center.

The next four weekends will have the Utes at home hosting #3 UNLV, Colorado State, #13 Grand Canyon, and closing the regular season with University of Oregon.

The Western Collegiate Hockey League, of which Utah M1 is a member, had a strong performance with six (of 11) of its member teams ranked. The Great Lakes 6 Hockey Conference, had five (of 6) of its member teams ranked, while Midwest College Hockey has four (of 10) of its member teams ranked, and the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League has two (of 6) of its member teams ranked.

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 34th season of action, there have been a total of 14 schools that have won the ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Championship. Over the past 19 seasons, 12 different schools have won the ACHA Men’s Division I National Championship: Penn State (5), Lindenwood (4), Ohio (4), Adrian (3), Minot State (3), Central Oklahoma (2), Illinois (2), Arizona State, Davenport, Iowa State, Oakland, Delaware,   and Rhode Island.

A total of 73 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including former Men’s Division II member Drury University and former Men’s Division III members Northwood University and Saginaw Valley State University.

The computer ranking will be used for the eleventh time to determine the 24 teams that qualify for the 2025 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships, which will include the following eight auto bids:

-(CHMA) College Hockey Mid-America
-(ECHA) Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
-(ESCHL) Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
-(GLCHL) Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League
-(MCH) Midwest College Hockey
-(NECHL) Northeast Collegiate Hockey League
-(WCHL) Western Collegiate Hockey League
-(WHAC) Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference

Full Men’s Division 1 rankings can be found here.

The tenth ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, January 12, 2025.

2024-2025 ACHA MEN’S DIVISION 1 RANKING #9