This Week in Atlantic Hockey: With Air Force continuing to struggle with consistency, injuries, Falcons focusing on attitude, work ethic

Last weekend’s series between Air Force and Niagara brought some good news and bad news for the Falcons. The good news was that Frank Serratore’s team was able to snap a nine-game losing streak on Friday when the offense came to life in a 6-3 win over the Purple Eagles. While that outburst included two … Read more

AIC’s Grounds, Air Force’s McCormick each suspended one game by Atlantic Hockey for penalties in Jan. 20 games

Atlantic Hockey announced Saturday two one-game suspensions for two players after Friday night games. AIC forward Aaron Grounds has been suspended for his major penalty and game misconduct for hitting from behind, which occurred at the 17:28 mark of the first period at Mercyhurst. Upon review, the infraction was deemed to warrant a suspension. AIC’s … Read more

Fan voting now open for 2023 Hobey Baker Award to help determine top men’s D-I college hockey player

It’s Hobey Baker time. Beginning at noon ET today, fan balloting opened for the 2023 Hobey Baker Award. Awarded annually to college hockey’s top player, the Hobey Baker’s popular fan voting will run from now until Sunday, March 5 at midnight. College hockey fans can cast their vote by going to the voting website. Follow … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Sacred Heart’s new Martire Family Arena has successful first game, includes ‘an elevated fan experience’

In 2007, I attended my first Sacred Heart game as part of Rochester Institute of Technology’s radio broadcasting crew. The game was played at SHU’s home rink at the time, the Milford Ice Pavilion. The place, to be kind, wasn’t up to the standards of a Division I Hockey program. In 2016, SHU upgraded and … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Dawning on retirement as conference commissioner, DeGregorio reflects on accomplishments over years

Last April, Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio announced that this season, his 20th, would be his last at the helm. He will also retire as commissioner of the College Hockey America women’s conference, which he has led for 13 years. At age 76, and after 40 years in college athletics, DeGregorio said that it was … Read more

Atlantic Hockey announces rescheduled Canisius-Air Force, Sacred Heart-Canisius conference series

Atlantic Hockey today announced a pair of changes to its 2022-23 conference schedule. The previously-postponed Canisius at Air Force series originally scheduled for Dec. 30-31 will now be played Feb. 13-14 at Cadet Ice Arena in Colorado Springs. Both games will start at 7:05 p.m. MST. Additionally, the Sacred Heart at Canisius series scheduled for … Read more

New Jersey marketing events group seeking interest in adding second men’s college hockey postseason national tournament

March Madness for men’s Division I college hockey could look a little bit like college basketball in the very near future. The Gazelle Group, a sports marketing and events company in New Jersey, has distributed memorandums to each of the men’s college hockey coaches to gauge interest in the establishment of a second postseason national … Read more

Air Force, Minnesota Duluth, Northeastern, Wisconsin to make up field for 2023 Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off Dec. 28-29 in Milwaukee

The Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off returns to Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee with Air Force, Minnesota Duluth, Northeastern, and Wisconsin comprising the third annual event from Dec. 28-29. Wisconsin won the inaugural event in 2021 and advanced to the title game of the 2022 tournament last week. An on-sale date for tickets to the event as … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Handing out midterm awards, plus asking key questions as second half of 2022-23 season gets underway

In the last Atlantic Hockey column, we handed out midterm grades for each Atlantic Hockey team. As we head into the second semester, what players are in the running to make the dean’s list? Here are my midterm awards. Will things change before the league names the actual winners in March? They sure will. But … Read more

Canisius-Air Force college hockey series scheduled for Dec. 30-31 postponed due to Buffalo airport closure

This weekend’s Atlantic Hockey series between Canisius and Air Force scheduled for Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31 at Cadet Ice Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., has been postponed. The postponement is due to the weather-related closure of the Buffalo, N.Y., airport this week, which will prevent Canisius from traveling to Colorado. Makeup dates … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Handing out mid-term grades to all 10 conference teams at 2022 holiday break

With the first half of the Atlantic Hockey season in the books, let’s hand out some mid-term grades: Air Force (6-10-2, 2-7-1 AHA) Atlantic Hockey Standings: Ninth Points Per Game: 0.70 (Ninth) PairWise Ranking: 55 The Lowdown: The Falcons have some quality wins, including over Colorado College and RIT. But they’ve dropped five in a … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: After lethargic start, Army West Point making point to be team that’s ‘hard to play against’

The first half of Army West Point’s 2022-23 season came in two parts, according to coach Brian Riley. And his team needed to go through some rough times in Part One to get to Part Two. “I saw somewhere that we have the second-youngest team in college hockey,” said Riley, in his 19th year behind … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Sluggish first half of ’22-23 season has Holy Cross hungry to turn around fortunes for second-half run

There have been some growing pains for Holy Cross in the first half of this season. A challenging schedule has meant more losses than wins so far, but the consistency that coach Bill Riga has been looking for is starting to emerge. “We’ve been up and down, especially early in the season,” Riga said. “We’ve … Read more

HCA tabs Western Michigan’s Polin, Quinnipiac’s Graf, WMU’s McAllister, Niagara’s Veltri for November monthly honors

The Hockey Commissioners Association has announced the four men’s college hockey award winners for Nov. 2022. Western Michigan’s Jason Polin and Quinnipiac’s Collin Graf are co-players of the month, while WMU’s Ryan McAllister is rookie of the month and Niagara’s Chad Veltri is goaltender of the month. Polin scored 10 goals in November as part … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Riding four-game winning streak, Mercyhurst aiming to keep momentum going through end of 2022

Mercyhurst wasn’t getting a lot of puck luck earlier in the season. Coach Rick Gotkin, in his 35th season behind the Lakers’ bench, felt that his squad was better than its 1-9-2 record indicated. “I think that our early record said as much about our opponents as it did about us,” he said. “We played … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Robert Morris prepping for return in ’23-24 with Colonials planning to be ‘even better’ than before

It’s been a strange couple of years for Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. On May 26, 2021, with no warning, RMU’s president and board announced that effective immediately, it was canceling their men’s and women’s hockey programs. Coaches, players, alumni, and fans were in shock. But quickly, Schooley helped lead a massive effort to restore … Read more

Bemidji State, North Dakota to co-host 2023 Ice Breaker Tournament, which will kick off ’23-24 college hockey season

The Ice Breaker Tournament, the traditional start to the NCAA Division I men’s hockey season, will be co-hosted by Bemidji State and North Dakota in 2023-24, it was announced jointly this week by the host schools and College Hockey Inc. Army West Point and Wisconsin will also participate in the event, scheduled for Oct. 13-14 … Read more