It hasn’t quite been a return to normal in college hockey this season, because “normal” has been difficult to define.
But Atlantic Hockey has managed to play every league game scheduled, in front of fans, so that’s something to be grateful for.
Let’s take a look at where things stand at roughly the halfway point of the season as teams pause for the holidays.
Falcons flying high
The biggest surprise so far has been Bentley, currently in first place in Atlantic Hockey and riding a five-game winning streak. The Falcons, picked to finish eighth in the coaches preseason poll, also have wins over Ohio State and Boston College. Goaltender Evan DeBrouwer has had the hot hand, backstopping the current streak while only allowing seven goals over that span.
Transfers making a difference
DeBrouwer, a graduate student transfer from Arizona State, where he appeared in 51 games, is one of many transfers making a difference in Atlantic Hockey.
In all, 29 players transferred into the league, not including the players from Robert Morris who ended up on other AHA rosters.
The teams with the largest number of transfers: Bentley (6), Canisius (7) and Sacred Heart (7) are currently first, second and fifth, respectively, in the Atlantic Hockey standings. That’s probably not a coincidence.
Still struggling, but getting better
If Atlantic Hockey wants to get more than just its playoff champion into the NCAA tournament, it needs a competitive non-conference record.
Historically, this has been a problem with the league getting just one at-large bid in 18 seasons.
So far this season, AHA teams are 17-40-3 (.308), which is nothing to shout about, but the highest winning percentage since 2017-2018 (I’m throwing out last season’s .455 winning percentage with a limited non-conference schedule that included a third of the games against Long Island University).
Thirty of the 60 non-conference games played so far have been against teams ranked in the DCU/USCHO Division I poll, so the league is seeking out tough competition. Now it just needs to win more of those games.
See you in Utica
Atlantic Hockey is taking the Goldilocks approach to selecting a site for its 2021-22 championships. Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena was the site from 2007-2018, but its capacity of 10,556 was too large to adequately fill.
In 2019, the league moved the championships to HarborCenter in Buffalo (capacity 1,800) but that was on the small side and too far west for the majority of teams.
Utica’s Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, with 3,860 seats, might be the right size for this event and Utica is closer to the center of the league’s footprint.
The AHA hopes that the Utica hockey community, which enthusiastically supports Division III Utica College as well as the AHL’s Comets, will also come out to see some Division I hockey.
Looking ahead
Mercyhurst will be the first team back after Christmas when it travels to Dartmouth for the Ledyard Bank Classic, facing No. 20 Boston College in the first round on December 30.
We’ll ring in the new year in conference play on January 1, when Rochester Institute of Technology travels to Sacred Heart and Air Force flies to Springfield, Mass. to take on American International.
We’ll be taking a break until then. Happy Holidays and we’ll see you in 2022.
