American International coach Eric Lang lifts team to Atlantic Hockey crown

Goalie Zackarias Skog and defenseman Ryan Polin celebrate AIC’s upset of St. Cloud State in the NCAA tournament. (Getty Images)

When Eric Lang first returned to American International’s campus as head coach in 2016, he stressed a “crawl, walk, run” approach.

Senior captain Shawn McBride remembers hearing that mantra consistently when he was a sophomore.

“It speaks to how he wanted to do things, how he wanted to change things,” McBride said. “It was more about the process than the end goal.”

The Yellow Jackets were coming off a seven-win season in 2015-16 after winning just four games the year prior. The team had yet to record a winning season in the 21st century, their best year being a 12-17-6 finish in 2013. The program was in a rut with no end in sight.