{"id":130215,"date":"2021-11-10T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=130215"},"modified":"2021-11-10T09:58:06","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T15:58:06","slug":"this-week-in-atlantic-hockey-american-international-benefiting-from-tough-early-schedule-at-start-of-21-22-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2021\/11\/10\/this-week-in-atlantic-hockey-american-international-benefiting-from-tough-early-schedule-at-start-of-21-22-season\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Atlantic Hockey: American International benefiting from tough early schedule at start of ’21-22 season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
AIC senior Elijiah Barriga scored a goal to help the Yellow Jackets gain an Atlantic Hockey standings point in a 3-2 overtime loss against RIT this past Sunday (photo: Kelly Shea).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When discussing American International, his opponent last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson referred to the Yellow Jackets as \u201cbattle tested.\u201d<\/p>\n

AIC is just nine games into the 2021-22 campaign but has already squared off with No. 12 Providence, No. 9 Massachusetts (twice), No. 5 Quinnipiac (twice) as well as series against Army West Point and RIT, teams expected to finish in the top four in Atlantic Hockey.<\/p>\n

Battle tested, indeed.<\/p>\n

Eric Lang\u2019s squad\u2019s record is currently 2-6-1 heading into a rematch with Providence on Friday. The Friars won the first meeting, 5-1.<\/p>\n

“The results aren\u2019t quite up to our standards,” said Lang, in his sixth year behind the Yellow Jackets’ bench. \u201cBut we can draw from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lang drew comparisons to the 2018-19 season that saw his team advance to the NCAA regional finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe year we beat St. Cloud in the (NCAA) tournament, every one of our nonconference games was against NCAA tournament teams,\u201d he said. “This year looks similar. We\u2019ve got at least four potential (NCAA) teams on our schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve got to start winning a couple. We have a loss and a tie to Quinnipiac. We were tied with UMass with under four minutes to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

AIC gets another shot at Providence on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just who you play, but when you play them,\u201d said Lang. “We played an angry UMass team that had just been swept (by Minnesota State). Now we get Providence after they got swept by UMass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s adversity, but it\u2019s early. I think this schedule sets us up for success down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the Yellow Jackets are 2-2 in conference, splitting with Army West Point and gaining four of six points from RIT.<\/p>\n

Like a lot of teams this season, AIC is carrying a large roster thanks to players electing to stay an additional year. So far, 26 out of 28 skaters have seen action, with goaltenders Alec Calvaruso and Jake Kucharski splitting time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not quite sure we\u2019ve evaluated enough to get our lineup set,\u201d said Lang. \u201cWe\u2019re using these early games to find our 12 best forwards and six top defensemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lang said that, for now, he will continue to rotate time net.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing a trend in the NHL of a 60-40 split,\u201d he said. \u201cDown the road, we\u2019ll probably see 70-30 or 80-20 to keep our starter fresh down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lang added that while his team is meeting some expectations, they have a ways to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say we\u2019re good but not great in any one area,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d give us a B-minus right now but we need to be an A in some key areas, especially on defense. We\u2019ve been the master of the 2-1, 3-2 game over the past few seasons, and it\u2019s led to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yellow Jackets are looking to be the first team in Atlantic Hockey history to win four consecutive regular-season titles. The AIC seniors would like nothing more than to make that happen to cement their legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s some thing that we\u2019ve discussed,\u201d Lang said. “It\u2019s there for the taking. We\u2019ve had lots of turnover and you think you might have to take a step backwards, but we\u2019ve been able to reload.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we again have a very strong hockey team that will be right there at the end with an amazing opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When discussing American International, his opponent last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson referred to the Yellow Jackets as \u201cbattle tested.\u201d AIC is just nine games into the 2021-22 campaign but has already squared off with No. 12 Providence, No. 9 Massachusetts (twice), No. 5 Quinnipiac (twice) as well as series against Army […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":130216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,4,1],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[847],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Atlantic Hockey: American International benefiting from tough early schedule at start of '21-22 season - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When discussing American International, his opponent last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson referred to the Yellow Jackets as\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130215\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Atlantic Hockey: American International benefiting from tough early schedule at start of '21-22 season - 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