Three (O.K. four) things from the weekend in Atlantic Hockey
Wrapping up the regular season
For a change, very little came down to the final game of the regular season in Atlantic Hockey. Seeds 1,6,7,8 and 12 were already settled before the puck was dropped on Saturday as well as three of the four teams to earn first-round byes.
The main battle was for that fourth bye, and it came down to Air Force and Robert Morris. The Falcons defeated Niagara 4-1, while Robert Morris fell to Mercyhurst 5-2.
The final seedings are as follows:
1. Mercyhurst
2. Bentley
3. Air Force
4. Connecticut
5. Robert Morris
6. Niagara
7. Canisius
8. Holy Cross
9. Rochester Institute of Technology
10. Sacred Heart
11. American International
12. Army
That sets up the following first round best-of-three series:
No. 12 Army at No. 5 Robert Morris
No. 11 AIC at No. 6 Niagara
No. 10 Sacred Heart at No. 7 Canisius
No. 9 RIT at No. 8 Holy Cross
Kings of the hill
Atlantic Hockey has a new all-time scorer. With a goal and an assist on Friday, Bentley’s Brett Gensler set the all-time AHA career record for points at 159, surpassing Pierre-Luc O’Brien, who amassed 158 for Sacred Heart between 2003-2007.
Robert Morris’ Cody Wydo also had a record-setting weekend, scoring his 22nd and 23rd goal of the season. Wydo surpassed Ryan Cruthers, who tallied 22 goals during his senior campaign (2007-2008) for the Colonials.
RIT-TER
Saturday’s game between Canisius and RIT was the final one in the history of Ritter Arena, home to the Tigers for 46 seasons.
RIT defeated the Golden Griffins 3-1 to mark the end of an era. Canisius was also the opponent for the Tiger’s first Divsion I home game at Ritter back in 2005.
Both teams will have new digs next season. Canisius moves from Buffalo State Ice Arena to Buffalo’s HarborCenter, currently under construction next to the First Niagara Center, home to the Buffalo Sabres. RIT is building the Gene Polisseni Center, which will have twice the capacity of Ritter.
Coaches vs. Writers
Now that the 2013-14 regular season is in the books, let’s look back and see how accurate the coach’s preseason poll was vs. USCHO writers Dan Rubin and myself.
| Final Standings | Coach’s Poll | USCHO |
| Mercyhurst | T-2nd | 1st |
| Bentley | 9th | 5th |
| Air Force | T-2nd | 3rd |
| Connecticut | 6th | 7th |
| Robert Morris | 7th | 8th |
| Niagara | 1st | 2nd |
| Canisius | 4th | 4th |
| Holy Cross | 8th | 9th |
| RIT | 5th | 6th |
| Sacred Heart | 12th | 12th |
| AIC | 11th | 10th |
| Army | 10th | 11th |
It looks like Dan and I were the better prognosticators, off by a total of 24 places vs. 28 for the coaches.
