2015 Atlantic Hockey men's ice hockey tournament explained

Year:2015
Conference:Atlantic Hockey
Gender:Men's
Dates:March 6–21, 2015
Teams:11
Finalarena:Blue Cross Arena
Finalcity:Rochester, New York
Champions:RIT
Titlecount:2nd
Coach:Wayne Wilson
Coachcount:2nd
Mvp:Matt Garbowsky
Mvpteam:RIT
Prevseason Year:2014
Prevseason Link:2014 Atlantic Hockey Tournament
Nextseason Year:2016
Nextseason Link:2016 Atlantic Hockey Tournament

The 2015 Atlantic Hockey Tournament was the 11th Atlantic Hockey Tournament. It was played between March 6 and March 21, 2015, at campus locations and at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. The tournament was won by the RIT Tigers. By winning the tournament, RIT earned Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The tournament format changed this year because the Connecticut Huskies left the league for Hockey East, leaving 11 teams. Under the new format, the top five (instead of four) seeds all receive a bye into the quarterfinals, but the fifth seed doesn't host a quarterfinal series.

The tournament features four rounds of play. In the first round the sixth and eleventh, seventh and tenth, and eighth and ninth seeds, as determined by the conference regular season standings, will play a best-of-three series with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. The top five teams from the conference regular season standings receive a bye to the quarterfinals. There, the first seed and lowest-ranked first round winner, the second seed and second-highest-ranked first round winner, the third seed and highest-ranked first round winner, and the fourth seed and the fifth seed will play a best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second-highest and second-lowest remaining seeds will play a single game each, with the winners advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

Bracket

RIT and Bentley finished tied for third place; RIT is the third seed based on the third tiebreaker (head-to-head goal differential). Air Force and Holy Cross finished tied for sixth place; Holy Cross is the sixth seed based on the first tiebreaker (head-to-head results).Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

First round

(8) Sacred Heart vs. (9) Army

Quarterfinals

(4) Bentley vs. (5) Mercyhurst

Semifinals

(2) Canisius vs. (3) RIT

Championship

(3) RIT vs. (5) Mercyhurst

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[1]

Notes and References

  1. News: RIT defeats Mercyhurst to claim second Atlantic Hockey Championship. Atlantic Hockey Association. 2015-03-21. 2015-03-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20150923180010/http://www.atlantichockeyonline.com/sports/mice/2014-15/releases/201503227rool8. 2015-09-23. dead.