On the Friday of November 4, 2016 the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Commissioner Brian Moran revealed that Calvin men’s ice hockey would be moved up to Division I starting with the 2017-2018 season.
The approval of the change in status for the Knights men’s ice hockey team by the association members mean that Calvin will join the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League, one of the nation’s highest ranking conferences. The GLCHL currently has four of the top 25 teams of the nation, and consists of the following nine colleges: Adrian College, Davenport University, Eastern Michigan University, Indiana Tech, Kent State University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Oakland University, Rochester College and Western Michigan University.
Mike Petrusma, the Head Coach for Calvin College explained that “Calvin College is excited to become a part of the top division in the ACHA and is looking forward to the challenges that Division 1 will present. Calvin wanted to move to ACHA Division 1 because of the professional manner that all of the teams, and the division as a whole, conduct themselves. Additionally, the growth of the division over the past few years and the potential that it has moving forward was a huge draw for our program.”
The Knights ice hockey team have had a great season so far, going 9-0 to earn the number one spot on the national D III rankings. Although they have had six new recruits, the team has been working hard to increase teamwork. This year, a big returning senior class has bolstered the team’s performance. Coach Petrusma added that “It’s not an easy to put your own wants and needs to the side and accept a role that’s different than you may have envisioned for yourself, but our guys are doing it. That’s going to contribute to our success. It’s going to help us reach our goals of winning the league, the conference playoffs, and eventually the national championship. It’s still early in the season – we’re going to run into injuries and guys are going to miss games, so the next man up has to really buy into his role and be ready to step up.”
This weekend, on November 11th, Calvin will face Oakland University, ranked second.