READING , Pa – The Holy Cross Crusaders and the Sacred Heart Pioneers have moved on to the second round of the AHAC tournament. The winner of the tournament will earn and automatic bid in the NCAA Frozen Four Championship tournament.
The Sixth Annual Atlantic Hockey Association Championship Tournament has a new format once again for the upcoming playoffs. All ten teams in the will participate in the tournament. The First Round will be a one-game series with the 7th and 8th seeds hosting the 10th and 9th seeds, respectively. The following weekend will be a best two-out-of-three quarterfinal series with the top four seeds hosting. The Semifinals will be held on Friday, March 20 with the Championship contest being played on Saturday, March 21.
Last season Air Force made it two Tournament Championships in a row, as the Falcons defeated Mercyhurst, 5-4 in double overtime. This past weekend the 7th seeded Holy Cross faced off against 10th seeded American International, while 8th seeded Scared Heart went against 9th seeded Connecticut. HC won 1-0 in overtime, while SH won 4-2. Ian Dams earned his first collegiate shutout in the 1-0 overtime win over American International. He stopped all 30 shots that he faced and is now 6-5-1 on the season. His 16 career victories are tied for third all-time in school history. His 1,064 career saves ranks third. Sacred Hearts Dave Jarman factored in on all four goals of the Pioneers goals in the teams win over UConn with two goals and two assists. Below is a preview of the upcoming quarterfinal each series beginning on Friday night. (notes are from the Atlantic Hockey’s web site.) #8 Sacred Heart at #1 Air Force Top-seeded AFA was off last week and will host No. 8 Sacred Heart, March 13-15, 7:05 MT each night at Cadet Ice Arena. Air Force will host an AHA playoff game for the third straight year. Air Force is 3-0 at home in the AHA playoff and 7-0 all-time in the AHA Tournament. Air Force and Sacred Heart have played 13 times in the all-time series and Air Force holds a 9-1-3 lead. AFA won all four games this season by a combined score of 23-6. Six of the 13 games in the series have gone into overtime. AFA and Sacred Heart have played once in the playoffs and the Falcons won, 5-4 in overtime, in the 2007 AHA semifinals. AFA is 4-0-2 vs. Sacred Heart at Cadet Ice Arena. #7 Holy Cross at #2 R.I.T. With the 1-0 overtime win over American International, the Holy Cross Crusaders now have an 8-4-0 all-time record in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament having won two titles (2004 & 2006). The Crusaders vs RIT match-up will be a rematch from last season when RIT swept the series with two 5-4 overtime wins. In 2007, Holy Cross lost at Air Force in the quarterfinals. In 2006 at the Hart Center, Holy Cross defeated AIC in the quarterfinals (3-1), UConn in the semifinals (4-1) and Bentley in the championship game (5-2), earning their second title and second NCAA Tournament appearance. Holy Cross won the first-ever Atlantic Hockey Tournament in 2004, earning the program’s first ever spot in the NCAA Tournament. Holy Cross is now 5-0-0 all-time in Atlantic Hockey Tournament games played. #6 Army at #3 Mercyhurst Mercyhurst and Army have met twice in conference playoffs. The Lakers won 2-1 at the Ice Center March 9, 2002, in the MAAC Quarterfinals and 4-2 last March in Rochester in the Atlantic Hockey Semifinals. The Lakers lead the all-time series 19-9-0. The teams split four games this season, each winning a pair on its home ice. Junior forward Chris Risi, who scored the overtime game-winner against Canisius 2-28, has tallied at least one point in 10 of the last 11 games he’s played. Senior forward Matt Pierce has collected a t least one point in seven of his last eight contests. Sophomore goalie Ryan Zapolski started 3 of the four games this season against Army. He allowed seven goals in the three contests and was 2 and 1. The Lakers are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games. They started the season 1-8 but have gone 18-6-3 since. The last time Mercyhurst had at least 20 wins in a season was 2005-06 (22-13-1). #5 Canisius at #4 Bentley Bentley will host Canisius for game one of their quarterfinals series with the Golden Griffins. The two teams last met in the postseason in 2005, with Bentley taking a 4-2 win in a quarterfinals game in Buffalo. That was the only time they’ve met in the postseason. Friday’s game will be the Falcons’ first home playoff game since the 2005-06 season when they hosted Army and posted a 4-3 double overtime win. That was also the same year Bentley advanced to the AHA Championship game. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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