RIT’s Matthew Wilde and Niagara’s Jack Richard have returned to their respective AHA schools after departing via the transfer portal in previous seasons. (Photos: RIT, Niagara Athletics)
The transfer portal hasn’t been kind to Atlantic Hockey America in recent years.
Since 2021, when most restrictions on transferring were removed by the NCAA, there’s been a steady exodus of top players to other conferences. For example, after the 2024-25 season, five of the seven players named to the AHA all-conference first team transferred out of the league.
One of them was Matthew Wilde, who transferred to Massachusetts from Rochester Institute of Technology after scoring 55 points in his first two seasons, helping the Tigers win the conference title in 2024.
A year earlier, Niagara lost Jack Richard, who averaged 0.67 points per game his freshman year before transferring to Merrimack.
This season, both Richard and Wilde returned to their original teams, Richard after two seasons and Wilde after one.
So far, so good. Wilde has six goals in nine games, including five this past weekend as RIT and Bentley split a conference series. He was named Atlantic Hockey forward of the week.
Richard has six points in nine games, and is tied for the team lead in goals with three so far.
Both players say that they were grateful for the experience of playing elsewhere, but are glad to be “home”.
Richard says he never stopped thinking about Niagara, and when his roommate at Merrimack, Hunter Wallace, was thinking about transferring for a new opportunity, Richard advised him to look into Niagara.
“When he went into the portal, I did help him out a little bit with Niagara,” said Richard. “I always said great things about Niagara. I think everyone in college hockey knows what kind of place Niagara is. It’s a special place and the coaches really care for you.”
A short time later, Richard took his own advice. When he put his name in the portal, the first team to reach out was Niagara.
There were no reservations from coach Jason Lammers.
“We believe that this program is a family, and we work really hard to run it like that,” Lammers said. “So, when (Richard) decided to move on, it really struck a chord with our family here and with me personally, and it really, really hurt my feelings. But, he’s such a wonderful person that when he went (back) in the portal, we decided to give it a try and see if he was interested in coming back.”
“Niagara was the first team that called me,” said Richard. “I didn’t think there would be a second chance. (Lammers) called me and I just knew.”
“(Richard) was incredibly receptive to (coming back),” said Lammers. “We just thought it was like bringing somebody back home. We’re excited to have him back, and he’s been a huge addition to our program — obviously on the ice, but more importantly, in the classroom and off the ice in terms of the way he interacts with our campus community and in our dressing room. He’s got a wonderful story to tell that sometimes it looks cooler or better somewhere else, but the reality is that everyone needs to find a place where they want to be.”
“There’s a lot of things I’ve learned in the last few years after transferring,” said Richard. “I think the one major thing is that the grass isn’t always green around the other side.”
Wilde says the decision to leave UMass and return to RIT was a difficult one, but he’s happy with the results.
“When (last) season ended, I kind of took a couple of days, took a couple of weeks, talked about things with my parents and my advisor,” he said. “When I got in the portal, (returning to RIT) just seemed like the right move. I talked to (RIT coach) Matt (Thomas) and the staff here, it seemed like a really good fit for me.”
Thomas, an RIT alum, was hired to replace the retiring Wayne Wilson at the end of the 2024-25 season. Wilde had already announced his departure.
“As the new coach coming in, yeah, it sucked,” said Thomas. “(The guys that transferred) were good players. You want good players, but their minds were made up.”
Thomas says he made sure the players leaving knew there was a way back, if they wanted it.
“Like I’ve said publicly, one of the things I did say to Wilde when he went into the portal was ‘listen, if it doesn’t work out and you change your mind, you’re welcome to come back.'”
Wilde decided to take Thomas up on the offer, and so far, everything is on track.
“I really couldn’t ask for more,” said Wilde of his return to RIT. “Everyone’s been great about it. Seeing old faces from my first two years, players that are still here, everyone’s been super receptive.
“For me, it was the right decision.”