Atlantic Hockey America Men's Tournament Preview: What You Need To Know
Atlantic Hockey America Men's Tournament Preview: What You Need To Know
The Atlantic Hockey America postseason gets started this weekend with three one-game playoffs, paving the way for the rest of the tournament field.
The Atlantic Hockey America Men's Postseason Tournament gets started with the opening round which will feature three matchups where the winner of each advances to the quarterfinals. The winner of the AHA postseason championship will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA men's hockey tournament.
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AIC (8) hosts RIT (9) on Friday, followed by two games on Saturday. Canisius (6) hosts Mercyhurst (11), and Air Force (7) hosts Robert Morris (10). All three will be streamed right here on FloHockey, as will the rest of the AHA Men's Postseason Tournament which concludes with the championship game on March 22.
Here’s a look at what’s at stake and some of the other top storylines to follow as the playoffs begin.
*Seeds listed in parenthesis*
First-round implications
The winners of Saturday’s games will advance to the quarterfinals, where they’ll face Holy Cross, Sacred Heart and Bentley, who were the conference’s top three seeds in that order.
Holy Cross will host the lowest remaining seed, followed by SHU and Bentley in that order. Niagara (4) will host Army (5) in the remaining quarterfinal series.
RIT went 1-0-1 against AIC in their season series, Air Force went 1-0-1 against Robert Morris and Canisius went 2-0-1 against Mercyhurst in their season series.
The quarterfinals are set for March 7-9 and will all be best-of-three series, followed by the semifinals March 14-16. The AHA championship is a winner-take-all on March 22 and will be hosted by the higher seed.
Holy Cross looks to stay hot
Holy Cross finished the regular season on a torrid stretch and won its first regular-season title since 2006, as the Crusaders topped the standings with 56 points. Holy Cross dropped its penultimate regular-season game to Bentley, which snapped a 10-game win streak and 16-game unbeaten streak (15-0-1) in AHA play.
The Crusaders enter the postseason sitting at 27 in the Pairwise and they’ll need a strong playoff performance to grab the auto-bid.
For the first time since 2006, the @Atlantic_Hockey Regular Season Trophy returns to Worcester 💜✝️#GoCrossGo pic.twitter.com/fXplI8r7iX
— Holy Cross M. Hockey (@HCrossMHockey) February 25, 2025
Sacred Heart eyes NCAA tournament
Sacred Heart enters the postseason as the conference’s highest team in the Pairwise at No. 22, and the Pioneers are targeting their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. Still, they'll have to win the AHA postseason crown to earn the auto-bid to the big dance.
SHU finished the regular season strong, going 8-2-2 down the stretch and ended the season just three points behind Holy Cross for the regular-season crown.
Can Niagara’s forwards continue producing?
Three Niagara forwards topped the 30-point mark this season: Trevor Hoskin (12-25-37), Jay Ahearn (16-18-34) and Shane Ott (8-24-32).
Hoskin – a fourth-round pick of the Calgary Flames last summer – has been one of the nation’s top-producing freshmen all year and finished the season on a tear too, racking up eight points (3-5-8) over his final six games. Can he continue producing in the playoffs?
AIC swan song?
AIC hosts RIT Friday night, which could potentially be the AIC’s final game at the Division I level. The school announced in November that AIC’s hockey program will drop to the Division II level in 2025.
The 2025 AHA Men's Postseason Tournament begins tomorrow!
— Atlantic Hockey America (@Atlantic_Hockey) February 27, 2025
Get ready for the action with our AHA Men's First Round Preview ⤵️
📰: https://t.co/fE0dQ3aRaJ pic.twitter.com/4Ceqwzidvi
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