No. 19 Warriors Fall to No.14 Hope College in ACHA Championship

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — No. 19-seeded Midland University traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, to face No. 14-seeded Hope College in the 2026 ACHA Men's Hockey National Championships. An early surge from Hope forced Midland to a tough 5-2 loss, ending the Warriors' season.

The Flying Dutchmen got on the board first with a power-play goal at the 9:41 mark. A few minutes later, they added another goal at 12:19. Before the first period ended, Hope scored again to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

Hope College added an insurance goal at the 15:48 mark of the second period. Tommy Babb got the Warriors on the board before the period ended, scoring at 18:29 with assists from Hugo Lukacovic and Ethan Brown to cut the deficit to 4-1.

Jared Wisely struck for the Warriors with a goal at the 11:17 mark of the third period, assisted by Babb and Karl Grafelman, trimming the lead to 4-2. Hope College added a goal late at the 19:18 mark to secure the 5-2 victory.

Hope College held a slight edge in shots, 25-22.

"I think the first period got away from us, and in a tournament like this it's really tough to come back from. However, the team showed a 'never give up' mentality for the remaining 40 minutes, all the way until the final buzzer, which is something every coach should be proud of.

I'm very thankful to all the players for their commitment to hard work, especially the graduating class, which was my very first class recruited to Midland. They committed to a team that had no business playing in the top 20, and they brought the culture to the point of making the national tournament in back-to-back seasons.

I would like to thank them and their families for their trust and hard work over the last four years. I'm very proud of the culture the players bring day in and day out."

Midland's season comes to an end with an overall record of 7-25.