The opening round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament consisted of a pair of sweeps, one by the favorites and one by an underdog.
At Mercyhurst, the story was Lakers goaltender Kyle McClellan who stopped 74 of 76 Holy Cross shots he faced in a pair of 2-1 wins.
At Niagara, Bentley got a pair of goals from Collin Rutherford in Game 1 and the same from Cole Kodsi in Game 2 to complete a sweep of the Purple Eagles with wins of 3-2 and 4-1.
That means we’re down to eight teams and it’s on to the quarterfinals.
Previewing the quarterfinals
Bentley at American International
The teams were supposed to meet in the quarterfinals in 2020 before everything was shut down, and again last season, but Bentley had to drop out of the tournament due to COVID protocols.
Hopefully, the third time’s the charm.
The Falcons (14-18-2) are coming off that sweep of Niagara, the first time Bentley has been able to win consecutive games since Jan 15 and Jan. 21.
AIC (18-12-3) ran away with the regular season title thanks to an 11-game winning streak from Nov. 27 to Jan 27, but has cooled off a bit since then, going 4-2-2 to close out the regular season.
The teams split their only regular-season series.
Mercyhurst at Canisius
The first game of this series will be the 83rd Division I meeting between the longtime rivals, with Mercyhurst leading the all-time series 37-35-10 based on a sweep of the Golden Griffins the final weekend of the regular season. The Lakers won the season series 3-1.
Mercyhurst (14-18-4) enters the series on a five game winning streak while Canisius (16-14-3) is 3-2 in its last five games.
Air Force at Army West Point
This is the fifth meeting between the two rivals in the Atlantic Hockey tournament, with the Falcons (13-16-3) advancing in each of the previous four: once at Air Force (2010), once at West Point (2018) and twice in Rochester (2007 finals and 2017 semifinals).
The teams split their series this season with the Black Knights (14-15-4) coming away with four of the six available points.
Sacred Heart at Rochester Institute of Technology
The last two times these teams have met in the postseason, the road team came out on top in three games. Sacred Heart (14-16-4) upset the Tigers in Rochester in 2018, and RIT returned the favor in Bridgeport in 2019.
RIT (16-14-4) won both regular-season meetings.
Awards season, Part II
It’s time to look at our choices for all-league:
Atlantic Hockey First Team
F Colin Bilek, Sr., Army West Point
F Carson Briere, So., Mercyhurst
F Will Caverley, Sr., RIT
D Drew Bavaro So., Bentley
D Dan Willett, Sr., RIT
G Gavin Abric, So., Army West Point
Atlantic Hockey Second Team
F Will Gavin, So., Air Force
F Keaton Mastrodonato, Jr., Canisius
F Carter Wilkie, Fr., RIT
D Zak Galambos, Jr., AIC
D Brandon Koch Jr., Air Force
G Kyle McClellan, So., Mercyhurst
Atlantic Hockey Third Team
F Ryan Leibold, Sr., Holy Cross
F Neil Shea, Jr., Sacred Heart
F Chris Theodore, Sr., AIC
D Anthony Firriolo, Jr., Army
D Nick Hale, Jr, Holy Cross
G Jacob Barczewski, Jr., Canisius
