Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

AHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Conference Hockey Championship
Sport Ice hockey
Conference Atlantic Hockey Association
Format Single-elimination / best two-of-three tournament
Current stadium Blue Cross Arena
Current location Rochester, New York
Played 2004-present
Last contest 2013 Atlantic Hockey Tournament
Current champion Canisius
Most championships Air Force (5)
Official website Atlantic Hockey Online

The AHA Tournament was the conference tournament for the Atlantic Hockey Association. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament was first held in 2004 after the cessation of the MAAC men's ice hockey tournament, the first year of conference play. The final four games were held at Tate Rink in West Point, New York in 2004. The tournament championship moved to the Northford Ice Pavilion in Northford, Connecticut for 2005 then to the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts for 2006. Starting with the 2007 tournament, the final four was moved to a neutral site, the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, the home of the AHL's Rochester Americans.[1]

Championships by season

Season Regular Season Champion Tournament Champion NCAA National Champion Notes
2003-04 Holy Cross Holy Cross Atlantic Hockey Association play begins with American International, Army, Bentley, Canisius, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart
2004-05 Quinnipiac Mercyhurst Final AHA season for Quinnipiac, (leaving for the ECAC)
2005-06 Holy Cross Holy Cross
2006-07 RIT Air Force Air Force and RIT join the AHA
2007-08 Army Air Force
2008-09 RIT
Air Force
Air Force
2009-10 RIT RIT
2010-11 RIT Air Force Niagara and Robert Morris join the AHA
2011-12 Air Force Air Force
2012-13 Niagara Canisius
2013-14 Final AHA season for Connecticut, (leaving for Hockey East)

Formats

2004-2005

The AHA Tournament format begins as a single-game elimination three-round format, with an additional play-in game for the teams the finished eighth and ninth.

2006

After Quinnipiac leaves to join the ECAC, the 8-team conference drops the play-in game from the tournament.

2007

With Air Force and RIT joining the conference, but with RIT's ineligibility for the conference tournament, a play-in game was added for one year.

2008

The opening round becomes a best-of-three with 5 separate series played between all ten of the conference teams with the two remaining lowest-seeded teams playing in a final-five game to determine the last semifinalist. All series after the opening round are single-elimination.

2009-2010

The four lowest-seeded teams play two play-in games to determine the final two qualifiers for the quarterfinals.

2011

With Niagara and Robert Morris joining the conference, the tournament was expanded to have four rounds. The tournament competitors were split into two groups: 'East' and 'West', and each group was arranged to play so that the top two finishers for each group received a bye into the quarterfinals while the remaining four teams in each group played single-elimination games to advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals remained a best-of-three format while the final four stayed as single-elimination games.

2012-2013

The 'East' and 'West' groupings are dropped and the opening round becomes a best-of-three series with the top four finishers receiving byes into the quarterfinals.

Championship appearances[3]

By school

No. School Record Pct
5 Air Force 5–0 1.000
4 Mercyhurst 1–3 .250
3 RIT 1–2 .333
2 Holy Cross 2–0 1.000
2 Sacred Heart 0–2 .000
1 Canisius 1–0 1.000
1 Quinnipiac 0–1 .000
1 Bentley 0–1 .000
1 Army 0–1 .000

By coach

No. Coach Record Pct
5 Frank Serratore 5–0 1.000
4 Rick Gotkin 1–3 .250
3 Wayne Wilson 1–2 .333
2 Paul Pearl 2–0 1.000
1 Dave Smith 1–0 1.000
1 C. J. Marottolo 0–1 .000
1 Shaun Hannah 0–1 .000
1 Rand Pecknold 0–1 .000
1 Ryan Soderquist 0–1 .000
1 Brian Riley 0–1 .000

MAAC[4]

The MAAC founded its hockey sponsorship starting in 1997 due to NCAA regulations that required all Division I conferences to participate in all Division sports. At the founding of the MAAC hockey conference, only three of the eight founding teams were full members of the conference (Canisius, Fairfield, Iona). The MAAC began play starting with the 1998-99 season and quickly added two additional teams (Mercyhurst and Bentley) the following year. Army joined the conference for the 2000-01 season, bringing the conference up to eleven member teams. At the conclusion of the 2002-03 season Fairfield and Iona both discontinued their men's ice hockey programs, and while the conference's remaining nine teams could continue without them, having only one full member necessatated the folding of the MAAC hockey conference as the eight associate members had no vote for the legislation the conference passed. The following year all of the teams continued their programs in the newly formed Atlantic Hockey conference.

References

  1. "History of Atlantic Hockey". 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  2. "Atlantic Hockey Champions". 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  3. "Atlantic Hockey Tournament History". 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  4. "History of the MAAC". 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-13.

External links

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