Three things from Atlantic Hockey play this weekend:
1. Two teams have been able to open some distance from the pack, with Niagara and Holy Cross four points ahead of the rest. But the Crusaders have two loses to go with their five wins, while the Purple Eagles remain perfect in conference play (5-0). Niagara swept Army 5-0, 4-1 last weekend and has now outscored AHA competition 19-2 in those five games. Holy Cross defeated Bentley (4-3) and Sacred Hart (6-3) to keep pace.
2. After finishing in the top four all six seasons it’s played in Atlantic Hockey, Rochester Institute of Technology has stumbled to a 1-3-1 start in conference play, with all three losses coming at home. The Tigers had never before lost three conference home games in a regular season and never came out of a home weekend series with less than a point. But losses to Mercyhurst (5-3) on Friday and Canisius (6-3) on Saturday begs the question: Is this an aberration or the New Normal for RIT? The Tigers have never played an AHA post-season game outside of Rochester, but that mark may fall as well this season unless things can be turned around. RIT travels to Holy Cross for a pair of games this weekend.
3. American International and Connecticut both registered good non-conference wins last week. The Yellow Jackets defeated Quinnipiac 2-1 on Election Night, and UConn won 3-1 at Merrimack on Saturday. Those can be put on the wall next to wins for the league against Michigan (RIT), Alaska (Canisius), and Quinnipiac (Robert Morris). No wins against the WCHA yet, but Air Force tied Alaska-Anchorage and Canisius took Minnesota to the limit in a 1-0 loss.
4. And a bonus if you haven’t seen this. I like to call it the “Full Serratore” – a post-game press conference with Air Force coach Frank Serratore. Always quotable and with never a dull moment, this example from Friday’s 5-1 win at Penn State is getting passed around a lot. As I tell people who have sent me the clip: Welcome to my world. This is not atypical, and I get the benefit of quotes like this all season. And Serratore correctly predicted the result of Saturday’s game. Enjoy.
[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVk99lxZaLA&feature=plcp”]
