Utah M2 Head Coach Nick Fornelius awarded ACHA Division 2 Coach of the Year

April 25, 2025
Salt Lake City, Utah

University of Utah Hockey is honored to announce Men’s Division 2 Head Coach Nick Fornelius has been awarded the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men’s Division 2 Coach of the Year for the 2024-2025 season. He was also awarded the 2025 ACHA Western Regional Coach of the Year on March 10, 2025.

Coach Fornelius was named Men’s Division 2 Head Coach on July 7, 2021 and has a 25-5-3 regular season record for the 2024-25 season.

Nick was also a player for the team from 2014-2018, and member of the two Nationally qualified teams in 2015 and 2016.

Utah Captain Zeke Endy on the award, “Coach Fornelius is one of the finest coaches and best human you’ll ever meet. He does a great job of managing the line between friend and coach while carrying himself with a level of professionalism on and off the ice. He is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. What is even more impressive is the progress he has made with the team in just four seasons. Hopefully he cracked a smile when he heard about the award, but I wouldn’t count on it!”

Coach Fornelius lead the Utes to an auto-bid to the 2024-2025 ACHA National Championship in St Louis, Missouri from March 14-18, 2025. The Utes finished the 2024-25 regular season ranked 2nd in the West. This is the first National Tournament birth for M2 since the team moved to Division 1 in 2016.

“I am truly honored to receive this award. It reflects the exceptional efforts of our players and staff. Their unwavering dedication, passion, and hard work have been the driving force behind our success this last season. I am deeply grateful for their commitment,” said Fornelius.

The regular season schedule was stacked with the very best of the ACHA Western Region of Division 2, and the Utes capitalized on every opportunity. Guided by Head Coach Fornelius the team earned signature wins against #4 Weber State, #5 University of Providence, #7 Utah State, #11 University of Montana, #13 Boise State, #14 University of Denver, and #17 Northern Arizona University.

The capstone of the regular season was the 1-0 win over #1 Montana State for the first Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League Championship in team history in February.

Coach Fornelius also secured back-to-back conference championships after winning the 2024 PAC-8 Championship and the 2025 MWCHL Championship. With the February win, Utah M2 now has 5 conference championships in hand: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2024, 2025.

“Nick has been invaluable to our program for years, from a player and now a successful Head Coach. He has delivered a National Tournament birth in four short seasons as our Division 2 Head Coach. This award places him amongst the best coaches in the ACHA and we are lucky to have him. There isn’t a coach more deserving of this award in M2 than Head Coach Fornelius said, Utah GM AJ Boldan.

Now in its 34th season of action, there have been a total of 18 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, Lindenwood, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Grand Valley State, Colorado, Miami (OH), Western Michigan, Colorado State, Ferris State, Buffalo State, and Toledo.

A total of 182 teams competed in Men’s Division 2 this season.

The computer rankings determined the 14 teams that qualified for each of the 2025 ACHA Men’s Division 2 Regional Tournaments. The top two seeds from each region following the final Men’s Division II regular season rankings will bypass the Regional and receive an automatic berth in the 2025 ACHA National Championships, which was played from March 13-25, 2025 at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
Congratulations and well wishes for Nick can use the online form below.