2020–21 Atlantic Hockey season

The 2020–21 Atlantic Hockey season was the 18th season of play for Atlantic Hockey and took place during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The start of the regular season was delayed until November 19, 2020 and concluded on February 27, 2021.[1]

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey season
Season2020–21
ConferenceAtlantic Hockey
DivisionDivision I
Sportice hockey
DurationNovember 19, 2020–
March 26, 2021
Number of teams11
Regular season
Season championsAmerican International
Season MVPBrennan Kapcheck
Will Calverley
Nick Prkusic
Top scorerWill Calverley
Atlantic Hockey Tournament
Tournament championsAmerican International
  Runners-upCanisius
Tournament MVPJustin Cole
Top scorerMason Krueger
NCAA tournament
Bids1
Record0–1
Best FinishRegional semifinal
Team(s)American International
Atlantic Hockey seasons
« 2019–20 2021–22 »

Season

COVID-19

The entire Atlantic Hockey season was held under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season's start was delayed for more than a month while university and health officials could decide on a safe way to play games. In the end, the conference was divided into two regions, East and West, with the two groups of teams only playing one another. This was done to reduce the amount of travel and exposure that the players and staff members would experience throughout the season.[2] As a result of this arrangement, the conference standings would not be altered, however, tournament seeding would continue with east and west teams until the semifinal round.

Non-Conference

Unlike other seasons, the 20-21 season would see only a small number of non-conference games being played. This, like many other alterations, was due to COVID-19. This would cause the Pairwise Rankings, which were normally used to determine the at-large bids for the NCAA tournament, to be rendered useless. However, due to the perception of Atlantic Hockey as the weakest of the six Division I conferences, only the eventual tournament champion would go on to make the national tournament.[3]

Standings
2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OW OL SW PTS PT% GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#15 American International †*12111010032.88947181915406740
Army15104131130.66742332215617148
Robert Morris15105021029.64458482415908569
Canisius1385011024.61542341711605946
RIT1375100123.5904340209926870
Sacred Heart1366112020.51335381861024359
Mercyhurst1678111123.47954502181216467
Bentley15411015016.35635481651104251
Niagara1539302115.33339532271235770
Air Force133912109.23132491431013556
Holy Cross123902007.19422381641203052
Championship: March 20, 2021
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Coaches

Records
Team Head coach Season at school Record at school Atlantic Hockey record
Air Force Frank Serratore 24 407–368–92 208–120–63
American International Eric Lang 5 67–69–14 57–42–13
Army Brian Riley 17 189–294–81 157–208–75
Bentley Ryan Soderquist 19 247–325–81 187–195–72
Canisius Trevor Large 4 41–56–13 34–39–10
Holy Cross Bill Riga 6 80–104–34 70–68–30
Mercyhurst Rick Gotkin 33 564–447–95 227–178–55
Niagara Jason Lammers 4 40–59–12 33–39–12
RIT Tigers Wayne Wilson 22 382–265–71 209–131–48
Robert Morris Derek Schooley 16 191–153–42 125–99–39
Sacred Heart C. J. Marottolo 12 136–227–43 109–158–37

Statistics

Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes[4]

Player Position Team GP G A Pts PIM
Nick PrkusicSeniorRobert Morris268192714
Randy HernándezFreshmanRobert Morris261116272
Grant HerbertJuniorRobert Morris268152318
Will CalverleyJuniorRIT17913224
Keaton MastrodonatoSophomoreCanisius201111226
Carson BrièreFreshmanMercyhurst225162110
Jake HamacherSeniorRIT19613194
Elijah GonsalvesSophomoreRIT198101822
Nick JennySeniorRobert Morris26612184
Brennan KapcheckSeniorAmerican International15017178
Dan WillettSeniorRIT19413178

Leading goaltenders

Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average[5]

Player Class Team GP Min GA SO SV% GAA
Trevin KozlowskiSeniorArmy14773250.9221.94
Stefano DuranteSeniorAmerican International9491170.9062.07
Chad VeltriSophomoreNiagara16976380.9242.33
Zack LaRocqueSeniorAir Force10377150.9102.39
Jacob BarczewskiSeniorCanisius16718290.9232.42

Conference tournament
Main article: 2021 Atlantic Hockey Tournament

Teams are reseeded for the semifinals

First round
March 8–9 		Quarterfinals
March 12–14 		Semifinals
March 19 		Championship
March 20
E1 American International — — —
E4 Bentley 7 E4 Bentley — — —
E5 Air Force 3 East DivisionE1 American International 2
W5 Niagara 1
E2 Army 4 4*** —
E3 Sacred Heart 0 3 —
E1 American International 5
W2 Canisius 2
W1 Robert Morris 3* 2 1
W4 Mercyhurst 2 W5 Niagara 2 3** 2
W5 Niagara 3 West DivisionE2 Army 3
W2 Canisius 4*
W2 Canisius 5 6 —
W3 RIT 2 2 —

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

NCAA tournament
Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Midwest Regional semifinal
March 26, 2021
7:30 PM		(1) North Dakota5 – 1
(4–0, 0–0, 1–1)		(4) American InternationalScheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 1,435
Game reference
Adam ScheelGoaliesStefano Durante (20 min)
Jake Kucharski (40 min)		Referees:
Bobby Lukkason
Brady Johnson
Linesmen:
Tyler Landman
Nathan Voll
(Bernard-Docker, Sanderson) Jasper Weatherby (13) – 08:581–0
(unassisted) Jasper Weatherby (14) – GW – 11:542–0
(Kleven, Caulfield) Grant Mismash (10) – 14:163–0
(Gaber, Bast) Collin Adams (12) – 16:224–0
4–157:46 – Tobias Fladeby (10) (Theodore, Callahan)
(Kawaguchi) Collin Adams (13) – 58:085–1
12 minPenalties12 min
33Shots25

Ranking
Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings

USCHO
Team Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Final
Air Force NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
American International NRNRNRNRNRNR1920192020191715161616161515N/A15
Army NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR19NRN/ANR
Bentley NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Canisius NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Holy Cross NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Mercyhurst NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Niagara NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
RIT NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Robert Morris NRNRNRNRNR20NRNR201717NR191919NRNRNRNRNRN/ANR
Sacred Heart NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN/ANR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20. [6]

USA Today
Team Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Final
Air Force NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
American International NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR141515151515141515
Army NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Bentley NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Canisius NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Holy Cross NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Mercyhurst NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Niagara NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
RIT NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Robert Morris NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Sacred Heart NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR

[7]

Awards

NCAA
AHCA All-American Teams[8]
East First TeamPositionTeam
Brennan KapcheckDAmerican International
East Second TeamTeamPosition
Trevin KozlowskiGArmy
Colin BilekFArmy
Will CalverleyFRIT

Conference

Conference tournament
Tournament MVP
Justin ColeAmerican International
All-Tournament team
PlayerPosTeam
Stefano DuranteGAmerican International
Logan GestroDCanisius
Brennan KapcheckDAmerican International
Elijiah BarrigaFAmerican International
Justin ColeFAmerican International
J. D. PogueFCanisius

References
  1. "Composite Schedule". Atlantic Hockey. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  2. "Atlantic Hockey Announces Return to Play in Pods". Neutralzone.com. October 16, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  3. "2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championship selections announced". NCAA.com. March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  4. "2020-2021 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". Atlantic Hockey. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  5. "2020-2021 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". Atlantic Hockey. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  6. "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  7. "USA Today Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  8. "Boston College, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin lead way with three All-American college hockey players apiece for '20-21 season". USCHO.com. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  9. "Atlantic Hockey Names 2020-21 Regular season Award Winners". Atlantic Hockey. March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  10. "Atlantic Hockey Announces All-Conference and All-Rookie Winners". Atlantic Hockey. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
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