Atlantic Hockey announced Thursday its 2021-22 regular-season awards.
Honorees this year include five from Atlantic Hockey regular-season champion AIC – Forward Chris Theodore (player of the year), defenseman Zak Galambos (best defenseman), forward Jake Stella (best defensive forward), goaltender Jake Kucharski (goaltending champion) and head coach Eric Lang (coach of the year).
They are joined by RIT’s Carter Wilkie (rookie of the year), Sacred Heart’s Neil Shea (scoring co-champion) and Army West Point’s Colin Bilek (scoring co-champion) and Daniel Haider (individual sportsmanship award). Sacred Heart was honored with the lone team award as the AHA’s team sportsmanship award recipient.
Theodore turned in his finest season yet in a Yellow Jackets uniform to earn player of the year honors and did it at the expense of his conference opposition, notching 24 of his 26 points in league play. Four of his seven goals in conference action opened the scoring in AIC’s favor, and he scored two game-winning goals and set up five others. Incredibly, each of those seven decisive plays came against a different conference opponent. He was the playmaker on the winners against Bentley (Nov. 18), Air Force (Jan. 1), Mercyhurst (Jan. 14), Sacred Heart (Jan. 21), and RIT (Feb. 2), and scored the deciding marker against Holy Cross (Jan. 8) and Army West Point (Feb. 10).
He was able to do that and still play strong defense, turning in a +12 rating that placed him near the top of the league in the category. To top it off, he also starred in AIC’s signature out-of-league showing, scoring the winning tally against Connecticut (Jan. 11) as part of AIC’s 11-game winning streak.
Wilkie quickly established himself as one of Atlantic Hockey’s top first-year players, winning five of the first seven Atlantic Hockey rookie of the week honors of the season as well as rookie of the month recognition for October and November. He finished the regular season ranked third in the conference with 27 points and second with 12 goals, including five of the game-winning variety – tied for the third-highest total in the country. He scored the deciding tally 30 seconds into overtime in a 3-2 upset at then-No. 12 Notre Dame on Oct. 21, and also notched the game-winner to seal RIT’s 3-2 overtime win at AIC (Nov. 7). Wilkie netted the deciding tally with 10.6 left in regulation to defeat host Niagara, 4-2 (Feb. 18) and recently won his seventh AHA rookie of the week honor after scoring the overtime game-winning goal to seal the Tigers’ 3-2 win at Air Force (Feb. 25). He entered the postseason tied for ninth among the nation’s freshmen in scoring and tied for fourth in goals.
Lang led the Yellow Jackets to an unprecedented fourth-straight Atlantic Hockey regular-season title with the Yellow Jackets taking the conference crown by 11 points over second-place Canisius. AIC led the league in every way, scoring the most goals and allowing the fewest and rattling off an 11-game win streak during the season. It was a total team effort at both ends of the ice, with six of the nine players in Atlantic Hockey to rate plus-10 or better coming from AIC, including the league’s only two players with plus-20 or more in Brian Kramer and Luis Lindner. Lang capped off an incredible regular season run with his 100th win as AIC’s head coach in the season finale against Niagara. This is his third coach of the year honor, which ranks second all-time in AHA history.
Galambos had the unenviable task of filling the role of the graduated AHA player of the year Brennan Kapcheck, and he delivered in a huge way to receive best defenseman accolades this season. Quarterbacking AIC’s power play to a 23.0 percent conversion rate, he led AIC at both ends of the rink, blocking 60 shots and notching 18 assists, a team high. He had an eight-game point streak (two goals, eight assists) from Jan. 15 against Mercyhurst through Feb. 10 against Army West Point. He was at his best against the best opposition as well – he had seven points in nine games played against Canisius, Army, and RIT, the teams that finished with AIC in the top four in the AHA. Five of his assists came on game-winning goals: Jan. 2 against Air Force, Jan. 15 against Mercyhurst, Jan. 22 against Sacred Heart, Jan. 27 against Holy Cross, and Feb. 10 against Army. He also hit the net himself for the winner Nov. 6 against RIT.
Stella may have been Atlantic Hockey’s most improved player in 2021-22. Centering the team’s top line meant he saw the best opposition everyone could throw at him, and yet he dazzled with a nine goals and 23 points line in 25 league games. He centered AIC’s top power play and penalty kill units as the Yellow Jackets iced one of the best special teams in the league. He scored AIC’s first hat trick of the season against Bentley (Nov. 18) and followed with another three-point showing against Canisius (Nov. 26) a week later, ultimately piling up six multi-point games against AHA opponents, including a three-assist night at RIT (Feb. 4). His sudden offensive flair was at no expense of his ability to deny the opposition, either, as evidenced by his plus-15 rating in league play, among the top five in the AHA.
Bilek, a two-time team captain, shared the Atlantic Hockey scoring championship with 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists in AHA play this season. He also led the conference in points over the full regular season with 31 (11g-20a) at the end of the regular season as well as contributing to a top-10 penalty kill in the country. A constant scoring threat, the Brighton, Mich., native led the Black Knights in goals with 11, in assists with a career-high 20, and points with 31; his 145 shots were second in the league. He finished with three multi-goal games, including a hat-trick against Yale on November 12. Bilek and teammate Daniel Haider are tied for the most hat-tricks in the league. Bilek was named the AHA Player of the Month in November after a seven-point month where he scored four times and recorded two assists in five games to lead the team in points and goals. He was also named AHA Player of the Week on November 15 and February 21. He was nominated for the 2022 Hobey Baker Award in January.
Shea has been the top point scorer for the Pioneers this season as he led the team in assists and points during the regular season. He accounted for 11 goals, and 18 assists on the year for a total of 29 points and shared Atlantic Hockey Scoring Champion honors after posting 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists in AHA play. The Marshfield, Mass. native has recorded a total of six multi-point games with his most recent coming against Army West Point on February 25 in which he tallied two goals with an assist for a three-point night. He sits in second in Atlantic Hockey in points and third in assists. He’s garnered one AHA Player of the Week honor as well as one Player of the Month nod this season.
Kucharski aimed to prove his 5-0-0 record as a rookie a season ago was not a fluke. He accomplished that mission, turning in critical goalkeeping performances for the Yellow Jackets all season long to capture goaltending champion honors with the lowest goals-against average in conference play. He finished 11-3-2 in 16 starts in AHA action with a 2.17 GAA. Included in those numbers were seven games with one goal or less, including shutouts of Bentley (Nov. 11) and Holy Cross (Jan. 8) as well as AIC’s win over Connecticut (Jan. 11) where he stopped 24 shots and was the game’s first star. He cemented AIC’s AHA regular season title with a stretch run of 8-1-2 after January 1, and in the lone loss he suffered, AIC was beaten 1-0.
Haider had a career season as a senior for the Black Knights. In addition to only being whistled for three minor penalties all season, he finished the regular season fourth on the team in goals with seven, fifth in assists with 12, and third on the team in points with 19. His plus-6 rating led the team. Haider was named AHA player of the week on January 31 after a four-point weekend at Air Force. He scored his first career hat trick, including a pair of power-play goals, in the 8-3 win over the Falcons on January 28.
Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo and the Pioneers ended the 2021-22 regular season as the least-penalized team in NCAA Division I. SHU averaged just 3.3 penalties and 7.41 penalty minutes a game this season. Sacred Heart was whistled for only 112 penalties totaling 252 minutes in 34 contests this season. The Pioneers have now won the last two AHA team sportsmanship awards that have been presented (2019-20 and 2021-22).
