ADRIAN — Ice hockey is a sport at Adrian College that has become known to everyone across the country.
It’s hard to compare success at the NCAA and ACHA levels. At Adrian, he has seven hockey programs and five of his teams competed in this year's national tournament, with four of his teams advancing to the national semifinals and two of his teams advancing to the national championship. I won.
Adrian University. hockey school. “Growing up in Michigan, watching hockey and playing hockey, I thought adding a hockey program would draw students to Adrian College,” Adrian College President Jeffrey Docking said. . “My biggest and most pressing responsibility at the beginning of my tenure here was to increase enrollment, and hockey seemed like a natural fit, and it is.” Adrian College He started playing hockey in the NCAA when the Arlington Ice Arena opened in 2007. Adrian then added his own ACHA hockey team. As time went on, Adrian added his second ACHA team, and soon there were five ACHA hockey teams on the campus of this small liberal arts college. Adrian College became the home of NCAA men's and women's hockey, ACHA men's Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3 hockey, and ACHA women's Division 1 and Division 2 hockey. ” The idea to add ACHA hockey came to me when students approached me after I was fired from the university. NCAA hockey team,” Docking said. “They asked if we could add ACHA hockey so we could continue playing. And it took off from there.” His ACHA hockey at Adrian College has won seven national championships since its inception. We keep winning. The Bulldogs won back-to-back ACHA Men's Division 3 Hockey National Championships from 2012 to 2014, won the Division 1 National Championship for the first time in 2018, won it again in 2021 and 2024. Did. The ACHA Women's Division 1 team won the championship. After reaching the final four five times since the program began in 2012, they won their first national championship in 2024. The 2024 Adrian College MD1 and WD1 National Championships marked the school's first ACHA national title since 2010. Both levels were achieved in the same season. NCAA men's hockey won its first NCAA national championship in 2022. Adrian College Track & Field's first team NCAA National Championship. His 2023-24 season of NCAA men's hockey marked his fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III Frozen Four. Women's NCAA hockey was also successful at Adrian College, with him appearing in the NCAA Division III Frozen Four three times. All of this success would not have been possible without exceptional coaching. In 2024, NCAA men's hockey head coach Adam Krug completed his 10th season and NCAA women's hockey coach Sean Skelly completed his sixth season. ACHA Men's Division 1 head coach Gary Astaroth is completing his eighth season, and ACHA Women's Division 1 head coach Carter Clark is completing his second season.
“When I hire coaches, I look for people who fit the culture,” Docking said. “They're humble, hard-working, they know what it takes to succeed academically, and they know the type of players we're looking for athletically.” The 2023-24 hockey season will include: It was one of the best seasons for all of Adrian College hockey. . Five hockey programs competed in their respective national tournaments, with both NCAA teams advancing to the Division III Frozen Four and both ACHA Division 1 programs winning his ACHA National Championship. Although the team did not advance to the semifinals, the Adrian College ACHA Women's Division 2 team also competed in the national tournament, capped by head coach Maddie Maloney, who was named National Coach of the Year in her second season as head coach. won the year award. ACHA Men's Division 1 posted an overall record of 34 wins and 5 losses for him, spending most of the season as the No. 2 team in the country. The Bulldogs, who earned the No. 2 seed in the national tournament, advanced to the semifinals by defeating No. 15 Calvin University and No. 7 Liberty University. From there, the team defeated No. 8 Ohio University before shutting out No. 5 UNLV, 3-0, for its third national championship in the past seven seasons. ACHA Women's Division 1 had a similar story, finishing the season with 30 points. -A 6-2 record and most campaign spending ranked third in the country. After earning the No. 3 seed in the ACHA National Tournament in St. Louis, Adrian defeated No. 10 Arizona State University and No. 7 University of Michigan-Dearborn to advance to the semifinals. The Bulldogs then defeated No. 2 Midland University and then No. 4 Minot State University to win the national title. The ACHA Women's Division 1 National Championship will be the first competition for a women's team in Adrian College Athletics history. The NCAA women's hockey team spent most of the season ranked No. 5 in the nation, finishing the season with a record of 28 wins and 3 losses. He contributed to an undefeated 16-0 season in conference play. They won the NCHA Regular Season Championship and the NCHA Sluts Cup Championship, winning on home ice. Adrian received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to Frozen 4 for the third time in program history. Unfortunately, Adrian's season ended with a heartbreaking 3-2 road loss in the semifinals to No. 1 Cal State River Falls. In the end, the NCAA men's hockey team finished the season with a strong record of 24 wins, 7 losses, and 1 record. Third consecutive trip to Frozen 4. Adrian posted a 16-2 conference regular season record and won the NCHA Peters Cup. The Bulldogs ultimately stumbled to rival St. Norbert College in the Harris Cup final, but qualified for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid. The team, which was ranked in the top three in the nation for much of the season, earned its way back to the Frozen Four with wins over UW-Stevens Point and St. Norbert. The season ended with a 2-1 loss on a trip to second place Trinity College.
Thanks to this long-standing success, Adrian College has become known nationwide for what can be done behind glass. Eight of Adrian College's 11 national championships have been on the ice. Whether it's NCAA hockey or ACHA hockey, it's a tradition for Adrian to hoist a trophy at the end of the year.
Adrian University. Hockey school.
The next purchase at Arrington Ice Arena should be a larger trophy case.
