Utah M1 ranked #12 in the nation, with six games left

February 4, 2026
Salt Lake City, Utah

The fourth American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men’s Division 1 rankings of Spring Semester have been released, with YOUR Skatin’ Utes ranked at #12 in the nation.

Utah M1 had a long holiday break but took to the ice last weekend with two wins over Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) rival Grand Canyon University. Friday’s 4-2 win had goals from Defenseman Karsten Senden, Forward Brady Schwab, and two from Forward Nikolas Schwab. Saturday’s 2-1 win was considerably tighter with goals from Forwards Gion Coray and Paul Waldhauser.

The Utes are currently 10-8-1 with only 6 games remaining in the regular season, four of which are at home over the next three weeks.

Utah Rookie Paul Waldhauser leads in the points column with 32 points (11G, 21A). Utah Sophomore Gion Coray is next with 26 total points (10G, 16A) and Utah Assistant Captain Brady Schwab rounding out the top three forwards with 19 points (7G, 12A).

Rounding out the top 10 slots amongst forwards is Trevor Kruczek with 16 points (5G, 11A), Zach Laurila with 8 points (4G, 4A), Jacob Slater with 7 points (2G, 5A), and Gavin Barr with 6 points (2G, 4A).

The defensive core is led by Assistant Captain Matthew Delany with 21 points (5G, 16A), Coltin Johnson with 8 points (2G, 6A), and Ripley Garden with 6 points (3G, 3A).

Between the pipes, Utah is excellent shape with Juniors Joseph Greilich and Garrett Fuller sharing the workload. Greilich is currently 3-3-1 with a 2.44 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Fuller is 7-5-0 with a 3.00 GAA and a .900 save percentage.

The Western Collegiate Hockey League, of which Utah M1 is a member, had a strong performance with seven (of 11) of its member teams ranked. The Great Lakes 6 Hockey Conference leads the way with five (of 7) of its member teams ranked, while Midwest College Hockey has four (of 7) of its member teams ranked, Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference has two (of 6) of its member teams ranked, and College Hockey Mid-America has two (of 7) its member teams ranked, and Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League has two (of 10) 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 15 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, Rhode Island, and UNLV.

A total of 81 teams will compete in Men’s Division I this season, including former Men’s Division II members Central Michigan University, North Carolina State University, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and University of North Carolina, along with former Men’s Division III members Hope College, the reigning ACHA Men’s Division III National Champions, and University of Michigan-Flint. The Concordia University Ann Arbor program, which made the announcement to relocate to Siena Heights University back in April, folded in July before getting to play a game as the Saints.

The computer ranking will for the twelfth time determine the 24 teams that qualify for the 2026 ACHA Men’s Division I National Championships, which will include the following six auto bids:

-(ACCHL) Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League
-(CHMA) College Hockey Mid-America
-(ECHA) Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
-(GLCHL) Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League
-(MCH) Midwest College Hockey
-(WCHL) Western Collegiate Hockey League
-(WHAC) Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference

The  ranking of the regular season will be released on Wednesday, February 1, 2026.

2025-2026 ACHA MEN’S DIVISION 1 RANKING #12

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