Hockey East and ECAC teams still have to wait until Friday night to commence their respective quarterfinal playoff series, but Sacred Heart opens its Atlantic Hockey championship quest a couple of nights earlier when RIT pays a second visit to Bridgeport, Conn., this winter.
Holy Cross was the only Atlantic Hockey club from New England in action last weekend as it lost a pair of tight decisions to Robert Morris in the first round. With the pair of wins, the Colonials makes the trip out to Massachusetts this weekend for a best-of-three set with No. 2 Bentley. In a third series set to begin on Friday, first-place American International hosts Army West Point.
Here is our capsule look at the three Atlantic Hockey playoff series involving New England clubs this weekend. A trip to the league’s final four at HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y., is also on the line for Niagara and Air Force.
No. 5 RIT (15-15-4) at No. 4 Sacred Heart (15-15-4)
Wednesday-Friday, 7:05 p.m. at Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Conn.
What to watch for: While the bottom five teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings battled it out last weekend, this series was already set as both teams received byes to the quarterfinal round. The Pioneers will be looking to move onto the semifinals for the first time since 2009-10 against a Tiger team with which they split a pair of games a month ago and took three of four from this season. The save counter could go up for SHU freshman Josh Benson this week as RIT takes the third-most shots per game (29.35) in Atlantic Hockey, while the Pioneers lead the league in that category (30.32). Despite that, there is already a proven recipe for success as the Pioneers took this year’s set after winning a three-game series in the first round last March.
Fun fact: The Pioneers are 8-1-1 this season when freshman Austin Magera scores a goal. He leads Atlantic Hockey with six game-winners and has three multiple-goal efforts in his last eight games.
No. 10 Army West Point (11-18-7) at No. 1 American International (18-15-1)
Friday-Sunday, 7 p.m. at MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
What to watch for: The Yellow Jackets awaited last weekend’s results after clinching their first-ever Atlantic Hockey regular-season title. In the end, AIC drew an Army team that it swept (despite being outshot) in Feb. 9-10 meetings and has since gone 3-2-3, including an opening-round sweep at Mercyhurst. Head coach Eric Lang worked alongside Army’s Brian Riley for four years before taking over at AIC and brings his team into the series after splitting its season-ending series with Sacred Heart. Leading the way offensively is junior Blake Christensen who was held scoreless in only six of AIC’s 34 games this season and has already set the program’s Division 1 scoring record with 42 points.
Fun fact: Riley has started Waltham, Mass., native Matt Penta in each of Army’s last seven games. The junior stopped 59 of the 62 shots he faced in last weekend’s playoff set at Mercyhurst.
No. 8 Robert Morris (14-20-2) at No. 2 Bentley (16-13-5)
Friday-Sunday, 7:05 p.m. at Bentley Arena, Waltham, Mass.
What to watch for: Despite finishing the season with only one win in its last five games, Bentley clinched second place in the league standings for the first time since 2014 after finishing the season with a 1-0-1 weekend at Army. Seniors defenseman Tanner Jago (2-3-5) and forward Drew Callin (1-4-5) averaged a point per game during that season-ending stretch, while sophomore Luke Santerno added a pair of goals to his team-leading point total of 35. Santerno was one of a trio of two-goal scorers when the Falcons swept RMU by a combined 10-3 score in January, but the Colonials have won four straight after taking two one-goal games from Holy Cross to open the postseason last weekend.
Fun fact: In addition to posting its best regular-season finish since 2014, the Falcons had not recorded as many as their 34 points during an Atlantic Hockey schedule since they had 36 in that same year.
