2021–22 Atlantic Hockey season explained


Color:	color:white; background:#12527e;
Color Text:	white
Season:	2021–22
Season:	2021–22
Conference:	Atlantic Hockey
Shortconference:	Atlantic Hockey
Division:	Division I
Sport:	ice hockey
Pixels:	250 px
Duration:	October 2, 2021– March 25, 2022
No Of Teams:	10
Regular Season:
Season Champs:	American International
Mvp Link:	Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year
Top Scorer:	Colin Bilek Neil Shea
Tournament:
Tournament Champs:	American International
Tournament Place:	Air Force
Mvp Link2:	Atlantic Hockey Most Valuable Player in Tournament
Top Scorer2:	Blake Bennett
Ncaa:
Bids:	1
Conf Rec:	0–1
Best:	Regional semifinal
Ncaa Team:	American International
Prevseason:	2020–21
Nextseason:	2022–23
Labelstyle:	background:#eeeeee;

The 2021–22 Atlantic Hockey season was the 19th season of play for Atlantic Hockey and took place during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The regular season began on October 2, 2021, and concluded on February 26, 2022.^[1] The conference tournament began in March, 2022 and concluded with American International winning the conference championship.

Realignment

On May 26, 2021, Robert Morris University announced that it would be ending both its men and women's varsity hockey programs effective immediately.^[2] Fundraising efforts to save both program began immediately. While more than $1 million was secured in less than 3 months, by mid-August the school decided that the donations were insufficient to guarantee the program for the 2021–22 season and the team would look to return for the 2022–23 campaign.^[3]

Due to the dissolution of the WCHA, Alabama–Huntsville submitted a bid to join Atlantic Hockey. The 10 existing conference members mulled over admitting UAH, Long Island (an Independent who had been in a scheduling alliance with Atlantic Hockey in 2021), and an unnamed third team that had expressed interest in joining the conference. The member teams ultimately decided against expansion for the 2021–22 season by a unanimous vote.^[4]

Coaches

Bill Riga replaced David Berard as head coach for Holy Cross during the offseason.^[5]

Wayne Wilson enters the season needing 9 wins to reach 400 wins.^[6]

Records

Team	Season at school	Record at school	Atlantic Hockey record
Air Force	25	410–378–93	211–129–64
American International	6	82–73–14	68–43–13
Army	18	204–300–82	167–212–76
Bentley	20	252–336–81	191–206–72
Canisius	5	52–62–13	42–44–10
Holy Cross	1	0–0–0	0–0–0
Mercyhurst	34	572–459–96	234–186–56
Niagara	5	47–71–15	36–48–15
RIT Tigers	23	391–274–73	216–136–49
Sacred Heart	13	142–237–45	115–164–38

Non-Conference record

Of the sixteen teams that are selected to participate in the NCAA tournament, ten will be via at-large bids. Those 10 teams are determined based upon the PairWise rankings. The rankings take into account all games played but are heavily affected by intra-conference results. The result is that teams from leagues which perform better in non-conference are much more likely to receive at-large bids even if they possess inferior records overall.

As a whole, Atlantic Hockey had a poor record against other conferences. While two programs ended with even marks in the regular season, no league member had a winning record in non-conference play. On aggregate, Atlantic Hockey posted losing records against every conference with the exception of ECAC Hockey.

Regular season record

Team							Total
Air Force	1–1–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–3–0	2–4–0
American International	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–1–1	1–4–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–5–1
Army	0–3–0	0–0–0	2–0–1	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	2–4–1
Bentley	1–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–0	1–2–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	2–4–0
Canisius	1–1–0	1–1–0	1–1–1	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	3–3–1
Holy Cross	0–2–0	0–0–0	1–1–0	1–4–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	2–7–0
Mercyhurst	1–3–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–2–0	0–0–0	1–0–0	2–5–0
Niagara	0–2–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–3–0	1–5–0
RIT Tigers	1–1–0	0–0–0	3–1–0	0–0–0	0–2–0	0–0–0	4–4–0
Sacred Heart	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–1–0	2–3–1	0–0–0	0–0–0	3–4–1
Overall	5–14–0	1–1–0	8–6–3	5–16–1	0–2–0	3–6–0	22–45–4

Statistics

Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes^[7]

Class	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Junior	26	10	15	25	10
Senior	26	7	18	25	20
Senior	24	7	17	24	6
Junior	25	9	14	23	10
Graduate	25	10	13	23	12
Junior	26	6	16	22	2
Sophomore	24	9	13	22	20
Senior	26	12	10	22	8
Freshman	26	9	13	22	27
Junior	26	7	15	22	4

Leading goaltenders

Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average^[8]

Class	GP	Min	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Sophomore	16	966	35	2	.915	2.17
Junior	23	1294	52	1	.924	2.41
Freshman	23	1313	53	4	.927	2.42
Junior	20	1009	41	0	.904	2.44
Junior	19	1128	46	1	.909	2.45

Conference tournament

See main article: 2022 Atlantic Hockey Tournament.

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2022 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.

Midwest Regional semifinal

Game summary
Heavy favorite, Michigan, lived up to their billing early when the Wolverines scored twice in the first five minutes of the game. Alec Calvaruso held the fort and stopped the tournament's top seed from extending their lead afterwards. Past the mid-way point of the period, AIC finally got a bounce their way when Blake Bennett tried to center the puck. It deflected up into the air, hit Luke Hughes in the back and then rolled past a sprawling Erik Portillo. A penalty taken by AIC at the end of the first period resulted in a Michigan power play goal less than a minute into the second. A quick passing play a few minutes later put Michigan ahead by 3 and the Wolverines looked to be just too much for the Yellow Jackets. A few minutes later, however, AIC scored their second goal of the game after a turnover at the Michigan blueline. The Wolverines responded the very next shift when Dylan Duke potted his team's 5th goal, however, the play was reviewed for offsides. While a Michigan player had entered the zone before the puck, it was unclear whether or not an AIC player had shot the puck into the zone. While it appeared that Michigan had caused the puck to cross the blueline, the video was ruled inconclusive and the goal was allowed to stand. AIC continued to play hard, forcing Michigan to take consecutive penalties in the middle of the period, but weren't able to capitalize on their opportunities. Michigan tried to play a sleepy third period and bleed away the clock but AIC kept playing hard. After Garrett Van Wyhe took an inadvisable holding penalty in the middle of the period, Bennett found himself alone in front of the net and slid the puck around Portillo. Near the end of the game, after the Yellow Jackets pulled their goaltender, Nick Blankenburg cross-checked Elijiah Barriga into the board from behind. There was some concern that the Michigan captain might receive a suspension for the hit and miss the team's next game.^[9]

Ranking

See main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

USCHO

Air Force	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
American International	20	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	18	18
Army	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Bentley	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Canisius	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Holy Cross	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Mercyhurst	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Niagara	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
RIT	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Sacred Heart	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.^[10]

USA Today

Air Force	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
American International	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Army	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Bentley	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Canisius	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Holy Cross	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Mercyhurst	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Niagara	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
RIT	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Sacred Heart	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

^[11]

Pairwise

Air Force	14	46	28	41	49	53	51	51	58	53	51	52	52	49	44	47	48	51	46	49	48	45	43
American International	14	12	50	53	43	39	37	34	31	30	30	27	25	20	18	21	19	21	21	23	24	22	bgcolor=gold	20
Army	14	24	44	47	46	44	48	41	44	43	35	39	39	40	43	41	41	39	37	40	40	42	42
Bentley	14	39	20	33	36	32	38	38	36	28	31	32	35	37	33	34	40	43	44	44	42	45	43
Canisius	14	16	35	32	33	32	29	31	30	31	34	34	36	36	37	36	35	37	31	36	37	39	39
Holy Cross	14	22	45	43	47	51	57	58	52	52	53	53	54	53	54	52	53	52	55	51	53	51	51
Mercyhurst	14	49	37	38	37	46	49	47	38	43	45	49	47	47	51	51	51	48	45	44	41	39	39
Niagara	14	49	53	52	52	52	50	52	51	51	50	48	49	52	50	50	46	46	47	44	50	50	50
RIT	14	18	33	34	34	38	45	37	33	32	43	44	43	42	40	39	37	39	39	38	39	38	38
Sacred Heart	14	35	34	31	35	42	46	44	35	38	36	35	32	38	36	37	37	34	37	34	35	35	35

Note: teams ranked in the top-10 automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Teams ranked 11-16 can qualify based upon conference tournament results.^[12]

Awards

Atlantic Hockey

Award ^[13]	Recipient
		Chris Theodore, American International
		Carter Wilkie, RIT
		Jake Stella, American International
		Zak Galambos, American International
		Daniel Haider, Army
	Colin Bilek, Army
Neil Shea, Sacred Heart
		Jake Kucharski, American International
		Eric Lang, American International
^[14]
	Position	Second Team
Jacob Barczewski, Canisius	align=center	G	Gavin Abric, Army
Zak Galambos, American International	align=center	D	Anthony Firriolo, Army
Drew Bavaro, Bentley	align=center	D	Logan Britt, Sacred Heart
Chris Theodore, American International	align=center	F	Keaton Mastrodonato, Canisius
Colin Bilek, Army	align=center	F	Neil Shea, Sacred Heart
Will Calverley, RIT	align=center	F	Jake Stella, American International
	Position	Rookie Team
Jake Kucharski, American International	align=center	G	Tommy Scarfone, RIT
Brandon Koch, Air Force	align=center	D	Luis Lindner, American International
David Melaragni, Canisius	align=center	D	Mitchell Digby, Air Force
Braeden Tuck, Sacred Heart	align=center	F	Carter Wilkie, RIT
Carson Brière, Mercyhurst	align=center	F	Clayton Cosentino, Air Force
Ryan Leibold, Holy Cross	align=center	F	Shane Ott, Niagara

Conference tournament


		American International

Player	Pos	Team
		American International
		Air Force
		American International
		American International
		American International
		Air Force

Notes and References

Web site: Composite Schedule . Atlantic Hockey . August 30, 2021.
Web site: Benz . Tim . Robert Morris hockey players mourn loss of men's and women's teams, lash out at administration . Trib Live . 28 May 2021.
Web site: Robert Morris hockey programs on hold until at least 2022–23 season . Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . August 12, 2021 . August 13, 2021.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey votes no on expansion . UAH Chargers . July 12, 2021 . August 30, 2021.
News: Holy Cross names Bill Riga head men's ice hockey coach . Holy Cross Crusaders . May 4, 2021 . August 21, 2021.
Web site: Men's Ice Hockey Coaching Records. NCAA. 2015. March 9, 2016.
News: 2021-2022 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics . Atlantic Hockey . September 14, 2021.
News: 2021-2022 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics . Atlantic Hockey . September 14, 2021.
News: AIC 3, Michigan 5 F . USCHO . March 24, 2022.
Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: USA Today Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: Men's Division I PairWise Rankings . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces 2021-22 Regular season Awards . Atlantic Hockey . March 17, 2022 . March 17, 2022.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces 2021-22 All-Conference Teams . Atlantic Hockey . March 16, 2022 . March 16, 2022.