Atlantic Hockey Tournament Preview

Last year Air Force tied for the regular season lead in Atlantic Hockey, and followed that up with not only a conference tournament championship, but a first round NCAA win over Michigan, and being just an overtime period away from the Frozen Four.

This year RIT ran away with the league with a 22-5-1 conference record. They ranked 2nd in the conference in scoring (3.47 gpg) and first in defense (2.18 goals allowed per game). They’re also great on special teams, second in the conference in both the PP and the PK. Although they’re a decently high scoring team, they do so with a balanced lineup. Their two leading scorers have 13 and 11 goals, and then it goes 10, 10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7. So there is really no way to take RIT out of the game by shutting down one player.

Contrast that with Air Force. The defending league champs have gotten another great year from Jacques Lamoureux, who backed up his TCHB player of the year season with a very good 20-20–40 year. But Air Force’s only other double digit goal scorer is Matt Fairchild, who has 10.

My sleeper team though is Sacred Heart. They have the 2nd leading goal scorer in the country in Nick Johnson, who has potted 25 goals in 34 games played this season. Fellow Senior Dave Jarman is tied for 3rd in the conference in points per game (1.32 ppg). However, the Pioneers don’t stay out of the box very well, and are dead last in the conference on the penalty kill. Also, expecting a Freshman goalie to take you to a tournament title is a tad unrealistic.

In the end, I think this can only go RIT’s way. The Tigers will likely be the 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, but they will be a tough out for either Denver or Miami (probably).