The final weekend of CHMA regular season play is here! There are four CHMA games remaining and one playoff spot left. Duquesne needs to defeat John Carroll and Kent State on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to claim that spot. A loss in either of those will give the No. 6 seed to the West Virginia Mountaineers. The CHMA Tournament is scheduled for Feb. 18-20, 2022 at Gilmour Academy Ice Arena in Cleveland, with John Carroll acting as the host.
Last weekend, No. 13 ranked Pitt clinched the regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs by defeating IUP on Friday. Meanwhile, the Hawks clinched a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed with their victory over West Virginia on Saturday. Robert Morris clinched the No. 3 seed with victories over John Carroll and Duquesne.
Standings
All races are calculated to an out-right points win. Any ties are subject to the conference tiebreaker rules. Tiebreakers are: 1st: Most conference wins, 2nd: Head-to-Head (total points in head-to-head matchups), 3rd: Most conference non-shootout wins, 4th: Head-to-Head goals for/goals against differential, 5th: Goals for/goals against differential in conference games. GR- Games Remaining, PR- Points available in remaining games, MP- Maximum points a team can achieve.
Pitt finished their conference slate without a regulation loss, finishing 13-0-1 (23-3-1 overall). That single overtime loss was a 6-5 decision against IUP on Oct. 23. The Panthers will face the lowest remaining seed from the Friday, Feb. 18 quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 19. The club will have a road trip this weekend to end the regular season, playing at Drexel on Friday and Sunday and at West Chester on Saturday.
IUP finished the season with an overall record of 20-8-1 and a conference record of 11-3. The Hawks will face the highest remaining seed from the quarterfinal round.
Robert Morris (20-5-4, 10-3-1 CHMA) will face either West Virginia or Duquesne on Friday, Feb. 18 in the first round of the conference tournament. The Colonials have a trip to Niagara this weekend to finish their regular season.
John Carroll (17-8-2, 6-5-1 CHMA) and Kent State (16-10-1, 5-6-1 CHMA) will face each other in the first round as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively. While each has two conference games left to play, Kent State could take the No. 4 seed, but that would not change the first round matchup nor who they might play in the semifinals.
West Virginia (8-22-1, 4-10 CHMA) once again failed to clinch a playoff spot, falling to IUP (7-4) on Saturday and Pitt (12-3) on Sunday. The Mountaineers only hope is for a Duquesne loss to either John Carroll or Kent State.
The Dukes (9-16-1, 2-9-1 CHMA) need to defeat both John Carroll and Kent State to extend their season. Duquesne would face Robert Morris in the first round, whom they took a close 3-2 loss to last weekend.
Clinching Scenarios (Weekend of Feb. 11-13)
Pittsburgh clinched the regular-season championship, a first-round bye, and the No. 1 seed.
IUP clinched a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed.
Robert Morris clinched a playoff berth. The Colonials will be the No. 3 seed.
John Carroll clinched a playoff berth. The Blue Streaks can finish no higher than No. 4 and no lower than No. 5.
Kent State clinched a playoff berth. The Golden Flashes can finish no higher than No. 4 and no lower than No. 5.
West Virginia can clinch a playoff berth with a Duquesne loss in any fashion. The Mountaineers can only be the No. 6 seed.
Duquesne can clinch a playoff berth with two wins. The Dukes can only be the No. 6 seed.
Remaining Schedule
Friday, Feb. 11:
Mercyhurst @ Kent State, 7:30 p.m. Kent State Ice Arena
John Carroll @ Duquesne, 9:30 p.m. Alpha Ice Complex
Saturday, Feb. 12:
Kent State @ Duquesne, 7:10 p.m. Alpha Ice Complex
Mercyhurst @ John Carroll, 6:00 p.m. Gilmour Academy Ice Arena
AROUND THE ACHA
The top 20 ranked teams receive a bid to the ACHA Tournament in March. Think of it as “March Madness” on ice. Eight teams receive an automatic bid, regardless of ranking, for winning their conference. Those eight automatic bids come from:
- College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA) – Playoff Champion (TBD – tournament Feb. 18-20)
- Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA) – Regular season champion (Navy)
- Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL)
- Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (GLCHL)
- Midwest Collegiate Hockey (MCH)
- Northeast Collegiate Hockey League (NECHL) – Regular season champion (Niagara)
- Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) – Regular season champion (Central Oklahoma)
- Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) – Playoff champion (TBD – tournament Feb. 18-20)
If any conference winner is not ranked in the top 20, that team will replace the lowest ranked team until all conference winners are ranked. This happened in the 2019-20 season when Niagara won the NECHL and IUP won the CHMA. Neither team was ranked, so they replaced the 19th and 20th ranked teams, respectively.
| 2021-2022 ACHA Men’s Division I Ranking #16 | ||||
| Rank | School Name | M1 Record | Previous | Conference |
| 1 | Lindenwood | 13-0-0 | 1 | CSCHL |
| 2 | Minot State | 21-2-0 | 2 | Independent |
| 3 | Iowa State | 22-4-2 | 5 | CSCHL |
| 4 | Nevada-Las Vegas | 21-4-0 | 4 | WCHL |
| 5 | Liberty | 16-7-1 | 3 | Independent |
| 6 | Central Oklahoma | 26-4-0 | 6 | WCHL |
| 7 | Stony Brook | 18-6-2 | 7 | ESCHL |
| 8 | Adrian | 18-4-0 | 8 | GLCHL |
| 9 | Missouri State | 17-8-3 | 9 | WCHL |
| 10 | Maryville | 17-5-1 | 11 | MCH |
| 11 | Jamestown | 9-9-4 | 12 | Independent |
| 12 | Illinois | 16-14-1 | 10 | CSCHL |
| 13 | Pittsburgh | 23-3-1 | 13 | CHMA |
| 14 | Indiana Tech | 22-4-2 | 14 | WHAC |
| 15 | Ohio | 14-11-3 | 15 | CSCHL |
| 16 | Arizona | 14-9-1 | 16 | WCHL |
| 17 | Utah | 10-7-3 | 19 | WCHL |
| 18 | Michigan-Dearborn | 18-8-2 | 17 | WHAC |
| 19 | Niagara | 22-4-1 | 18 | NECHL |
| 20 | Aquinas | 16-6-1 | 20 | WHAC |
| 21 | Arizona State | 10-13-0 | 24 | WCHL |
| 22 | Rhode Island | 16-10-1 | 22 | ESCHL |
| 23 | Davenport | 17-7-0 | 21 | GLCHL |
| 24 | Midland | 12-11-3 | 23 | MCH |
| 25 | Delaware | 16-11-2 | 27 | ESCHL |
NOTES:
The CHMA has not had multiple bids since 2015, when No. 15 Robert Morris received the automatic bid and No. 20 John Carroll was included as the host institution. Both were defeated in the first round.
No. 2 Robert Morris defeated No. 15 Davenport in the first round of the 2021 ACHA Tournament; it was the conference’s first national tournament victory since No. 17 West Virginia defeated No. 16 Rutgers in 2012.
With the exception of 2020-2021, where only a quarter of ACHA Men’s Division 1 teams competed during the season, no CHMA team has ever been ranked higher than No. 13 at the end of the regular season. Pittsburgh is currently ranked No. 13.
