{"id":97173,"date":"2015-03-08T22:11:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T03:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/atlantic-hockey-blog\/?p=1797"},"modified":"2015-03-08T22:11:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T03:11:31","slug":"three-things-march-8-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2015\/03\/08\/three-things-march-8-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things: March 8, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three things from the first postseason weekend in Atlantic Hockey:<\/p>\n

And then there were eight<\/h4>\n

Only one first round series went the distance, and that also featured the only upset this past weekend. Niagara opened at Holy Cross with a classic road playoff 2-1 win, and then rebounded from a three-overtime loss in Game Two to take the deciding Game Three, 5-3.<\/p>\n

Air Force and Sacred Heart swept their first round series to advance, so we have the following quarterfinal matchups in store, all best-of-three series:<\/p>\n

No. 11 Niagara at No. 1 Robert Morris
\nNo. 8 Sacred Heart at No. 2 Canisius
\nNo. 7 Air Force at No. 3 Rochester Institute of Technology
\nNo. 5 Mercyhurst at No. 4 Bentley<\/p>\n

It takes time<\/h4>\n

There was a lot of bonus college hockey <\/a>played this weekend, including the marathon<\/a> on Saturday between Niagara and Holy Cross, which went to three overtimes before the Crusaders’ T.J. Moore’s game winner in the 111th minute of play. The game went into the record books as the longest in Atlantic Hockey history and the eighth longest<\/a> in Division I history.<\/p>\n

Pick your poison<\/h4>\n

So which of the quarterfinal hosts has the easiest route to Rochester? I don’t think there is an easy out in this round when you consider:<\/p>\n