American International became the first program in Atlantic Hockey history to win four consecutive regular-season championships, clinching the crown and subsequent top seed with Friday’s 5-1 win at Mercyhurst in the first of a split two-game set.
The Yellow Jackets were just 3-10-1 entering the 2022 calendar year, but they had put together a non-conference gauntlet to prepare them for conference play and their goals of making four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
Senior Elijah Barriga’s second career hat trick against the Lakers and the team’s second of the season lifted AIC to the win, its 16th of the season in conference play. Barriga scored three of four unanswered goals to break a 1-1 tie after one period and win the game; Minnesota State transfer Chris Van Os-Shaw had the other.
“I never ever want to take for granted how hard this journey is,” AIC coach Eric Lang said. “We have guys in this locker room that winning trumps everything. That's all they care about. All individuality is on the back burner. It's all about us and we. It's the most precious thing in sports (to) set a goal and go out and accomplish it.”
The Yellow Jackets join Harvard (1986-89) and Boston University (1994-98) as New England programs to accomplish the feat in the history of NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey. However, two in BU’s stretch of five in a row were shared titles.
Elsewhere in Atlantic Hockey, Bentley earned two much-needed points in a shootout win against Air Force. Senior Luke Orysiuk scored twice and Lucas Vanroboys had an assist before netting the deciding goal for the Falcons, who forced overtime after erasing a two-goal deficit. Graduate student Brendan Hamblet (Hopkinton, Mass.) tied the game with just 2:30 left in regulation. The Falcons were 0-7-2 with five consecutive losses in their previous nine games.
Sacred Heart and Holy Cross were unable to gain any ground entering the final weekend of the regular season, losing back-to-back games to Canisius and Army West Point, respectively. Senior Austin Magera’s eighth goal of the year for Sacred Heart spoiled a shutout bid with 1:08 left in the third period.
Boost for BC, skid snapped
U.S. Olympians Marc McLaughlin (North Billerica, Mass.) and Drew Helleson returned to their Boston College team before Friday’s series opener with Northeastern, arriving on campus just hours before playing in the game at Matthews Arena. McLaughlin scored the Eagles’ third goal -- his Hockey East-leading 19th of the season -- in a 4-1 win.
The win snapped BC’s 12-game winless streak (0-10-2) including five straight losses before last Monday’s Beanpot tie against Harvard. The Eagles, who hadn’t won since Dec. 31 before Friday, were on the short end of Saturday’s 4-1 game against their longtime rivals.
BC coach Jerry York (Watertown, Mass.) had planned for McLaughlin and Helleson to be in Saturday’s lineup after the trip home took them from Beijing to Tokyo to New York before arriving in Boston, but a call from the Crimson’s Ted Donato changed his plans.
“I don’t know what time zone they’re in now, but … Teddy called me and said, ‘I just talked to my two players (Nick Abruzzese and Sean Farrell [Hopkinton, Mass.]) and they really want to play,’ ” York said. “Sure enough, I called our players and they said, ‘Yeah, we’d like to play.’ … I was so surprised, but they’re younger, they’ve got a lot more grit and they want to play hockey.”
York had praised his team’s resiliency and effort level in practice throughout the Eagles’ longest drought in his tenure on the Heights. The boost from Beijing has BC back in business.
“We’re a very different team with those two guys healthy and ready to go, so I think we’re going to be a tough out as we get down the stretch here,” York said. “There’s not much difference between winning and losing and we were just on that cusp. I think our structure is getting better in all three zones, our goaltending is getting better.”
Little decided in Hockey East
Merrimack was the only Hockey East team to sweep its weekend series, scoring twice in the third period and again in overtime to beat Vermont in Saturday’s finale. Sophomore Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) scored the last two Warrior goals.
The visiting Catamounts, who had pitched a shutout of New Hampshire the previous Friday, built a 2-0 lead on first collegiate goals by Joel Maatta and Porter Schachle before Merrimack got on the board with 6:20 left in regulation.
“I thought we were really good for about 54 minutes and then we took penalties against one of the best power plays in college hockey. We don’t have the depth to sustain that,” Vermont coach Todd Woodcroft said. “... That’s a fantastic team over there, so I think we’ll learn that if you’re going to play with the big boys you have to be smarter and be engaged for the whole 60.”
Massachusetts and UMass Lowell remain in a first-place tie with 40 points apiece after splitting their weekends against Connecticut and Providence, respectively. Sophomore Ryan Tverberg scored a goal and three assists and senior Jachym Kondelik hit the career 100-point mark Saturday for UConn, which earned its program-record 13th conference win by a 4-2 score.
Freshman Nick Poisson scored the game-winning goal -- his 10th of the season -- for Providence as it posted up a 3-0 lead in its home win to end the series. Lowell’s Friday night win came by the same 3-2 score.
Bulldogs bounce back
Seven consecutive losses entering the weekend had dropped Yale to the bottom of the ECAC Hockey standings, but the Bulldogs got back in the win column in a big way with a 3-2, 5-2 sweep of Union and RPI in New Haven. It was Yale’s second weekend sweep of the New York Capital District opponents this season.
The Bulldogs got two power-play goals in a 2:02 span by former Berkshire captain Briggs Gammill to overtake RPI and sweep the weekend. The freshman also assisted on two goals while Nathan Reid earned both victories, making 17 of his 31 saves in the third period of Friday’s win over the Dutchmen, who Brown went on to top in a Saturday shootout.
On Saturday, senior Kyle Johnson scored and Justin Pearson (Nashua, N.H.) dished out two assists. Rookie Kieran O’Hearn got the scoring going with a shorthanded goal.
Harvard enjoyed the same results against Princeton and Quinnipiac, shutting out the latter opponent by a 1-0 margin. Dartmouth’s Clay Stevenson pitched a 26-save shutout and freshman Sean Chisholm had a third-period goal and assist Saturday to lead a 2-0 win over Princeton.
THREE MORE STARS:
Hockey East - Ben Poisson, Maine
Poisson scored a goal in each game of the Black Bears’ rivalry series with New Hampshire, but his shorthanded marker during Friday’s 6-3 win was one for the highlight reels. It was Maine’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
With the Black Bears working to kill a major penalty, the junior forward was the only player with a stick following a series of blocked shots. Poisson knocked the puck free, out of the zone and chipped it past UNH goalie David Fessenden who came out to the faceoff circle to attempt to make a play.
https://twitter.com/hockey_east/status/1494850201324032001
ECAC - Mitchell Gibson, Harvard
Gibson pitched a 39-save shutout lifting the Crimson past Quinnipiac -- which blanked Dartmouth, 5-0, the previous night -- to secure its second win of an ECAC set. It was Gibson’s second shutout in a row and third career, resulting in the team’s first win over a top-five opponent since Feb. 21, 2020.
The senior made double-digit saves in all three periods, including 14 in the first and 12 in the third. Captain Casey Dornbach scored the lone goal in support of Gibson for a 1-0 win.
Atlantic - Nick Hale, Holy Cross
The reigning AHA Defensive Player of the Week continues to rank second on the Crusaders with 21 points after recording just a pair of assists in 15 games last year. He added to his season total with an assist on sophomore Matt Guerra’s lone goal of a 2-1 Thursday setback.
The junior defenseman has three points in as many games including a two-point effort with a goal and an assist in the Crusaders’ second win at Air Force on Feb. 12.
THIS WEEK’S HAT TRICK:
1. Busy finish in the ECAC: It will be a busy final weekend of the ECAC regular season for Yale and Harvard as both teams have three games scheduled. The Crimson will play its three in three days, joining travel partner Dartmouth in games at Union and RPI before heading down to Princeton for a Sunday rescheduled capper.
The Bulldogs will visit Clarkson and St. Lawrence (in a typical joint weekend with travel partner Brown) following Tuesday’s Heroes Hat clash in Hamden. Following the midweek affair, Quinnipiac will host Cornell and Colgate.
2. Rivalry highlights Hockey East slate: With both teams having found the win column recently, Boston College and Boston University complete their league series with a home-and-home set on Commonwealth Avenue. Friday’s game in Chestnut Hill will mark the 286th meeting between the archrivals.
Elsewhere, UConn and Northeastern match up in a key home-and-home between two teams just places apart in the middle of the standings, while UMass heads to Vermont and Maine visits Providence for two games apiece.
Merrimack and New Hampshire play a standalone Saturday game Saturday in Durham, N.H., while UMass Lowell has a weekend off from league play to face LIU in a non-conference game for the second time this season.
3. Atlantic Hockey wraps up: AIC has the top of Atlantic Hockey wrapped up entering a home set with Niagara, but the region’s three other teams will also skate with playoff positioning on the line. Holy Cross will look to finish the regular slate on a strong note when it takes on Massachusetts league rival Bentley in a home-and-home series beginning Friday in Waltham.
Sacred Heart faces Army West Point in a key set. The Pioneers, who have 10 regulation wins in league play, are five points behind in fifth place.
