When discussing American International, his opponent last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson referred to the Yellow Jackets as “battle tested.”
AIC is just nine games into the 2021-22 campaign but has already squared off with No. 12 Providence, No. 9 Massachusetts (twice), No. 5 Quinnipiac (twice) as well as series against Army West Point and RIT, teams expected to finish in the top four in Atlantic Hockey.
Battle tested, indeed.
Eric Lang’s squad’s record is currently 2-6-1 heading into a rematch with Providence on Friday. The Friars won the first meeting, 5-1.
“The results aren’t quite up to our standards,” said Lang, in his sixth year behind the Yellow Jackets’ bench. “But we can draw from this.”
Lang drew comparisons to the 2018-19 season that saw his team advance to the NCAA regional finals.
“The year we beat St. Cloud in the (NCAA) tournament, every one of our nonconference games was against NCAA tournament teams,” he said. “This year looks similar. We’ve got at least four potential (NCAA) teams on our schedule.
“But we’ve got to start winning a couple. We have a loss and a tie to Quinnipiac. We were tied with UMass with under four minutes to play.”
AIC gets another shot at Providence on Friday.
“It’s not just who you play, but when you play them,” said Lang. “We played an angry UMass team that had just been swept (by Minnesota State). Now we get Providence after they got swept by UMass.
“It’s adversity, but it’s early. I think this schedule sets us up for success down the road.”
So far, the Yellow Jackets are 2-2 in conference, splitting with Army West Point and gaining four of six points from RIT.
Like a lot of teams this season, AIC is carrying a large roster thanks to players electing to stay an additional year. So far, 26 out of 28 skaters have seen action, with goaltenders Alec Calvaruso and Jake Kucharski splitting time.
“I’m not quite sure we’ve evaluated enough to get our lineup set,” said Lang. “We’re using these early games to find our 12 best forwards and six top defensemen.”
Lang said that, for now, he will continue to rotate time net.
“You’re seeing a trend in the NHL of a 60-40 split,” he said. “Down the road, we’ll probably see 70-30 or 80-20 to keep our starter fresh down the stretch.”
Lang added that while his team is meeting some expectations, they have a ways to go.
“I’d say we’re good but not great in any one area,” he said. “I’d give us a B-minus right now but we need to be an A in some key areas, especially on defense. We’ve been the master of the 2-1, 3-2 game over the past few seasons, and it’s led to success.”
The Yellow Jackets are looking to be the first team in Atlantic Hockey history to win four consecutive regular-season titles. The AIC seniors would like nothing more than to make that happen to cement their legacy.
“It’s some thing that we’ve discussed,” Lang said. “It’s there for the taking. We’ve had lots of turnover and you think you might have to take a step backwards, but we’ve been able to reload.
“I think we again have a very strong hockey team that will be right there at the end with an amazing opportunity.”
