American Collegiate Hockey Association


The American Collegiate Hockey Association is a college athletics association like the NAIA and NCAA. The purpose of the Association is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegiate ice hockey. The interest in college hockey has grown as the game of hockey has grown in the United States. But as aggressively as the sport has grown at the grass-roots level, the number of NCAA programs has not expanded as rapidly to meet the demand as these youth players reach college and look to extend their hockey-playing experience. This is why the ACHA level was created.
The ACHA shall emphasize academic performance, institutional sanction, eligibility criteria, standards of play, and opportunities for national competition.
The ACHA promotes all aspects of collegiate hockey stressing the personal development of individual athletes as well as national recognition for member organizations.. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments.
The ACHA currently has three men's and two women's divisions and includes approximately 450 teams from across the United States. Teams offer few athletic scholarships and typically receive far less university funding.
The ACHA offers an opportunity for college hockey programs that struggle with large budgets and Title IX issues, as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association financial structure. Sometimes, NCAA and ACHA teams will compete against one another.

Policies and regulation

The ACHA's primary mission is to support the growth of two-year and four-year collegiate hockey programs nationwide. The ACHA identifies standards that serve to unite and regulate teams at the collegiate level. The ACHA emphasizes academic performance, institutional sanction, eligibility criteria, and standards of play and opportunities for national competition, and the ACHA promotes all aspects of collegiate hockey stressing the personal development of individual athletes as well as national recognition for member organizations. In order to do this, the ACHA has developed organizational by-laws and a Policies and Procedures Manual to provide the policy foundation for the organization as it works to fulfill its purpose. These documents are reviewed yearly at the ACHA's annual meeting.
The ACHA's policies cover team and player eligibility, rules of play, ranking procedures, national tournament procedures, and other administrative issues, although the ACHA parallels the NCAA Division III with most eligibility requirements, recruitment processes, gameplay rules, etc. The league holds its annual meeting in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Hockey Coaches Association, in the month of April in Naples, Florida.

ACHA History

The ACHA was established on April 20, 1991. Fifteen charter members met during the Chicago Showcase in Skokie, Illinois at the North Shore Hilton. These member teams had been playing college hockey for many years but wished to legitimize its play by standardizing some of its procedures.
The members that created the organization were: Tom Keegan, Al Murdoch, Joe Battista, Jim Gilmore, Ernie Ferrari, Howard Jenks, Jeff Aikens, Don Spencer, Jim Barry, Scott Fuller, Leo Golembiewski, Ron Starr, Cary Adams, Jim Warden, and Jack White.
The inaugural year of the ACHA was the 1991–1992 season. The goal of the organization was to create an impartial governing body to monitor national tournaments, player eligibility, and general oversight. Over the years the ACHA quickly grew to over 150 teams in three men's divisions.
A Women's Division was added in 2000 with a second Women's division being added for the 2006–2007 season.
By the 2001–2002 season, marking their 10th anniversary, the ACHA had a total of 179 teams registered with 33 teams in Division 1, 100 teams in Division 2, 18 teams in Division 3, and 20 teams in the Women's Division.
By the 2002–2003 season that number raised to over 250 teams, with Division 3 adding over 80 teams alone.
By the 2003–2004 season the number raised to 278 teams: 40 teams in D-1, 124 teams in D-2, 87 teams in D-3, and 27 teams in the Women's Division.
By the summer of 2007 ACHA membership had reached 360 teams, that cover 48 of the 50 states.
During the summer of 2009 the University of Alaska Fairbanks established a Women's Division 2 team becoming the 49th state in the ACHA. Hawaii is currently the only state without an ACHA team.
Every year since 2003, the Men's Division 1 Showcase has been an event that features some of the top teams in the ACHA.
ACHA partners with Fasthockey.com to broadcast many of the league's games.
In 2017, the ACHA adopted a new hosting format for holding the annual National Championship Tournament for all Men's & Women's Divisions. Then ACHA Executive Director Michael Walley championed an idea to hold all of the ACHA's National Championship Tournaments in 1 major U.S. city, in partnership with that city's National Hockey League team. The inaugural year saw the 2017 ACHA National Championship Tournament Festival held in Columbus, Ohio, in partnership with the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. Then ACHA Executive Director Michael Walley assumed the role of Tournament Director for the inaugural tournament, Andy Storz was placed in the role of National Tournament Manager-Game Day Hockey Operations/P.A. Announcer/Anthem Soloist, while Fasthockey.com handled broadcasting. In July 2017, after undergoing a nationwide search, Russ Slagle was selected by the ACHA's Board of Directors and appointed to fill the vacant staff position of ACHA National Tournament Director, and A.J. Boldan was placed in the role of National Tournament Manager-Broadcast Operations/Executive Producer in conjunction with the ACHA opting to engineer its own National Tournament broadcasts on a newly launched YouTube channel "ACHA National Championships".

Membership

The ACHA includes both Men's and Women's Divisions. The Men's side is made up of three Divisions: 1, 2, and 3. Division 3 was the last to be established in 1999. Each division has its own distinguishing set of guidelines which are explained below. The Women's side has two divisions. Division 1 began in 2000 and Division 2 is the most recent addition to the ACHA with its inception in 2006.
Despite most teams non-varsity status, the caliber of ACHA play can be quite high, especially in Division 1. Many large universities that do not sponsor hockey at the NCAA varsity level have become powerhouses, such as Ohio University, Adrian College, and Lindenwood University. Additionally, several universities that do sponsor NCAA varsity hockey teams also field an ACHA-affiliated teams. Of all non-varsity sports activities, the ACHA-affiliated hockey teams generally garner the most attention at their universities, such as Missouri State where it is the third largest spectator sport. The same can be said for the Arizona and University of Georgia who draws the third largest fan base behind football and basketball.
All ACHA teams are members of USA Hockey and the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Men's Divisions

ACHA Men's Division 1 comprises 70 teams as of the 2019-2020 season. Some of these teams also compete against NCAA Hockey D1 and D3 Schools throughout the pre-season in informal exhibition games. There are nine conferences along with Independent teams that compete annually for the Murdoch Cup, which is awarded to the Men's ACHA Division 1 National Champion. Twenty teams compete in the National Tournament. These top-twenty teams are ranked/selected by way of computer rankings, and as determined by auto-berths from the seven regular-season Conference champions. At Nationals, teams ranked 1–12 all receive first-round byes, with teams ranked 13–20 matching up 20 vs 13, for the rights to play in the second-round in pre-determined bracket slots. Since 2012, two teams have moved from ACHA to NCAA Division I.
Conferences
ACHA Men's Division 2 is currently the largest division in the ACHA, it includes approximately 200 teams in 12 conferences and Independents. These teams are divided into four Regions. A total of 16 teams qualify for the National Tournament, four from each region. Each month of the season a ranking of the top 15 teams in region is released. After the final ranking in February the top two seeds from each region earn an automatic berth into Nationals. Seeds 3–10 compete in their respective single-elimination Regional Tournaments, with the two teams who win both of their games also earning a Nationals berth. The National Tournament is a pool play format with the winners of each pool advancing to the semifinals. The semifinal match-ups are the winner of Pool A vs. Pool C and Pool B vs. Pool D.
Conferences
ACHA Men's Division 3 consists of approximately 140 teams in nine conferences and Independents. These teams are also divided into four Regions. A total of 16 teams qualify for the National Tournament in the same manner as Division 2. The National Tournament has also been conducted in the same manner as Division 2 since 2010. Before that it was single elimination and every team played four games. The one exception is the semifinals match-ups. The winner of Pool A plays the winner of Pool B and the winner of Pool C plays the winner of Pool D.
Conferences
ACHA Women's Division 1 includes 25 teams for the 2019–20 season, with all but independent Wisconsin playing in one of the four WD1 conferences. Eight teams qualify for the national tournament each season: automatic bids are awarded to the playoff champions of the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association, the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League and Women's Midwest College Hockey, with the remainder of the field filled out by the highest-placing teams from the last of a series of weekly computer rankings. At nationals, the eight teams are paired off by ranking for a best-of-three first round, with the winners of those series advancing to the semifinals.
Conferences
ACHA Women's Division 2 includes 51 teams for the 2019–20 season, with a majority standing as a member of one of four conferences. All teams are sorted into the Northeast Region, the Southeast Region, or the West Region. At the end of the year, the top four teams from each region in the final edition of a monthly computer ranking are invited to the ACHA National Tournament. The WD2 tournament differs from WD1 in that teams are divided into four pools and play a round robin, with the pool winners advancing to the semifinals.
Northeast Region Conference
Southeast Region Conferences
West Region Conference
Players are selected from only ACHA Men's D1 to represent USA Hockey in the Winter World University Games, an IIHF and FISU event. ACHA Men's D2 and D3 division created the Select Teams to offer opportunities for the other Men division's to experience International hockey and they are ACHA events.
The Division 2 & Division 3 Selects Teams alternate going over to Europe each year during the Holiday Break to play European teams. The players are chosen from a round robin tournament in the spring usually in Pennsylvania. The tournament pits each conference's elite players against each other.

Logos

The original ACHA logo was created by Dave Kammerdeiner of the West Virginia University Art Department under the direction of Don Spencer for a cost of $50.
In August 2003, the ACHA held an official contest to design a new logo, with the winning school receiving free registration for the 2003–2004 season. The University of Washington's Husky Hockey team won the contest, with former graphic-design intern Tom Eykemans designing the new version of the logo.

Men's champions

Division 1

TeamTitlesYears
Penn State61990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Ohio41995, 1996, 1997, 2004
North Dakota State31991, 1993, 1994
Lindenwood32009, 2010, 2016
Central Oklahoma22015, 2017
Illinois22005, 2008
Minot State22013, 2019
Adrian College12018
Arizona State12014
Delaware12012
Davenport12011
Oakland12007
Rhode Island12006
Iowa State11992

Division 2

TeamTitlesYears
Life University51997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Florida Gulf Coast42012, 2016, 2018, 2019
Davenport32008, 2009, 2010
Michigan State32005, 2007, 2013
Oakland22004, 2006
NYU22015, 2017
New Hampshire12014
Grand Valley State12011
Colorado12003
Miami 12000
Western Michigan11996
Colorado State11995
Ferris State11994
Buffalo State11993
Toledo11992

Division 3

TeamTitlesYears
Adrian College32012, 2013, 2014
Saginaw Valley State22009, 2010
Sault College12019
Hope College12018
Aquinas College12017
Oakland12016
Michigan State12015
College of the Canyons12011
California University 12008
Kennesaw State12007
Wright State12006
Colorado12005
Calvin College12004
Muskegon College12003
Robert Morris 12002
Wyoming12001
Butler12000

Women's champions

Division 1

TeamTitlesYears
Lindenwood42006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Liberty32015, 2018, 2019
Miami University32014, 2016, 2017
Michigan State22003, 2011
Robert Morris 22005, 2007
Wisconsin22002, 2004
Minnesota12013
Northeastern12012
St. Cloud State12001

Results by school and year

37 teams have appeared in the ACHA Tournament in at least one year starting with 2001. The results for all years are shown in this table below.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
APP0102030405060708091011121314151617181920†
School
Michigan State17''
Massachusetts16
Michigan13
Rhode Island12
Robert Morris 11''
Liberty11'''
Minnesota10'
Colorado9
Lindenwood8''''
Grand Valley State7
Penn State7
Adrian7
Wisconsin6''
Western Michigan6
Miami6'''
Lindenwood–Belleville5
St. Cloud State4'
Northern Michigan4
Northeastern3
Maryland2
West LA College2
Connecticut2
McKendree2
Arizona State1
Pittsburgh1
Boston University1
Bates College1
Iowa State1
Pennsylvania1
North Country CC1
Buffalo1
North Dakota State1
Norwich1
Nichols1
Ohio State1
Midland1
Minot State1

† Tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Number shown is the team's final regular season ranking/seeding.

Division 2

TeamTitlesYears
Rainy River CC32008, 2009, 2011
Lakehead22017, 2018
Assiniboine CC12019
Minnesota-Duluth12016
North Dakota State12015
Iowa State12014
West Chester12013
Wisconsin–Stout12012
Northeastern12010
St. Scholastica12007

Results by school and year

37 teams have appeared in the ACHA Tournament in at least one year starting with 2007, the first year for Women's Division 2. The results for all years are shown in this table below, other than missing data for the third-place games from 2007 and 2009.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
APP0708091011121314151617181920†
School
Delaware10
North Dakota State8'
Rainy River CC8'''
Minnesota–Duluth6'
California 5
Buffalo5
Northeastern4'
West Chester4'
Northern Michigan4
Lakehead4''
Boston College4
South Dakota State3
St. Scholastica3'
Alaska3
Minot State3
Assiniboine CC3'
Vermont2
Wisconsin–Stout2'
Penn State2
Iowa State2
Michigan State2
Navy2
Bishop's2
Adrian2
Liberty2
Mercyhurst2
Rowan2
Bates College1
Pennsylvania1
Connecticut1
Slippery Rock1
Wisconsin–La Crosse1
Miami1
Aquinas1
Villanova1
Loyola Chicago1
Montclair State1
New Hampshire1

† Tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Number shown is the team's final regular season ranking/seeding.

Zoë M. Harris Award winners

The Zoë M. Harris Award is given to the player of the year in each ACHA women's division.

Notable players in professional leagues

Men

PlayerPositionACHA TeamYearsProfessional Organizations Signed WithYears
Daniel WalcottDLindenwood 2012–2013Selected #140 overall in the 5th round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers
Tampa Bay Lightning 		2014
Michael LeblerFIowa State 2007–2011EHC Black Wings Linz 2011–present
Anton LidemarFLindenwood 2009–2010Başkent Yıldızları SK 2003–2007KH Sanok, KH Zagłębie Sosnowiec, KTH Krynica 2007–2010
Justin DepretisFPenn State 2001–2006Wheeling Nailers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Wichita Thunder, Indiana Ice Miners, Flint Generals,2006–2009
Tom BoudreauFRobert Morris-Illinois 2001–2005Huddinge IK, Indiana Ice Miners, Reading Royals, Bakersfield Condors, Wichita Thunder, Jersey Rockhoppers, Mississippi Surge, Dayton Gems 2006–2014
Curtiss PatrickDPenn State 2001–2004Johnstown Chiefs, Wheeling Nailers, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Wichita Thunder 2004–2009
Glenn DetulleoFIowa State 2000–2001Essen Mosquitoes, Berlin Capitals, Missouri River Otters, Quad City Mallards, Vancouver Canucks, Kalamazoo Wings, Elmira Jackals, Wichita Thunder, Mississippi RiverKings, Huntsville Havoc 2003–present
Mark ScallyGPenn State 1996–2000Wheeling Nailers, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Asheville Smoke, Johnstown Chiefs, Texas Wildcatters, Asheville Aces, Long Beach Ice Dogs 2000–2006
Cody Stackmann-StavesDPitt-Greensburg 2011–2013Steel City Warriors 2014–Present
Ryan LoweGSan Jose State 2002–2007Utah Grizzlies, San Jose Sharks, Canberra Knights 2007–Present
Justin BarrCNorthern Kentucky 2006–2008Elmira Jackals, Buffalo Sabres, Danville Dashers, Utah Grizzlies Anaheim Ducks, Cincinnati Cyclones, Cape Cod Bluefins, Fayetteville FireAntz 2008–2014
Jonathan JulianoCDavenport 2010–2011Augusta RiverHawks, Orlando Solar Bears, Minnesota Wild, Danville Dashers, Dayton Demonz, Watertown Privateers,2011–Present
Mike SellittoRWFlorida Gulf Coast University 2007–2010Louisiana Ice Gators, Danbury Whalers, Kalamazoo Wings, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, New York Islanders 2010–2012
Paul KennyGRhode Island 2010–2013Providence Bruins, Boston Bruins 2013–Present
Tim BoyleDEndicott College 2014–2015Wichita Thunder, Ottawa Senators, Selected #106 overall in the 4th round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators2015–Present
Shawn SkellyFAdrian College 2007–2011Toledo Walleye, Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors, Las Vegas Wranglers, Wheeling Nailers, Pittsburgh Penguins 2011–Present
Cesare Dall'AraGKent State University 2012–2015Hc Neumarkt, Sc Auer 2015–Present
Ryan MinkoffFUniversity of Washington 2010–2014Virkiä 2015–2016

Women