Atlantic Hockey

The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) was an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other college athletic conferences, Atlantic Hockey had no women's division, though it shared some organizational and administrative roles (and three universities) with the women's-only College Hockey America (CHA).

Atlantic Hockey Association

Formerly	MAAC (1997–2003)
Association	NCAA
Founded	1997 (as MAAC Hockey) 2003 (as Atlantic Hockey)
Commissioner	Michelle Morgan (since 2023)
Sports fielded	Men's ice hockey
Division	Division I
No. of teams	11
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts
Region	Northeastern United States and Colorado
Most recent champion(s)	RIT (4th title)
Most titles	Air Force (7)
Official website	http://www.atlantichockeyonline.com/
Locations

It was formed in 1997 and began play in the 1998–1999 season as the hockey division of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Within three years, it was granted an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. However, in 2003, Iona and Fairfield dropped hockey, leaving Canisius as the only full MAAC member that sponsored hockey. This proved somewhat problematic for MAAC Hockey, since conference bylaws only allowed full members to vote. On June 30, 2003, MAAC Hockey broke off from the MAAC and reorganized as Atlantic Hockey.^[1]

On June 6, 2023, it was announced that Atlantic Hockey would be merging all operations with CHA, effective in 2024. Details regarding this merger, including whether the new league would carry the Atlantic or College Hockey name, were to be announced at a later date.^[2] Shortly after the 2024 season, the new conference was announced as Atlantic Hockey America.^[3]

Membership

Final

Institution	Location	Nickname	Founded	Affiliation	Undergraduate Enrollment	Joined	Women's Conference	Primary Conference	Colors
United States Air Force Academy	USAF Academy, Colorado[a]	Falcons	1954	Public/Federal	4,400	2006	N/A	Mountain West
American International College	Springfield, Massachusetts	Yellow Jackets	1885	Private/Non-sectarian	1,700	1998	N/A	Northeast-10 (D-II)
United States Military Academy	West Point, New York	Black Knights	1802	Public/Federal	4,400	2000	N/A	Patriot League
Bentley University	Waltham, Massachusetts	Falcons	1917	Private/Non-sectarian	3,958	1999	N/A	Northeast-10 (D-II)
Canisius University	Buffalo, New York	Golden Griffins	1870	Private/Catholic	3,490	1998	N/A	MAAC
College of the Holy Cross	Worcester, Massachusetts	Crusaders	1843	Private/Catholic	2,897	1998	HEA	Patriot League
Mercyhurst University	Erie, Pennsylvania	Lakers	1926	Private/Catholic	4,055	1999	CHA	NEC
Niagara University[4]	Lewiston, New York[b]	Purple Eagles	1856	Private/Catholic	3,853	2010	N/A[c]	MAAC
Robert Morris University	Moon Township, Pennsylvania	Colonials	1921	Private/Non-sectarian	4,005	2010 2023[d]	CHA[e]	Horizon
Rochester Institute of Technology	Henrietta, New York[f]	Tigers	1829	Private/Non-sectarian	16,842	2006	CHA	Liberty League (D-III)
Sacred Heart University	Fairfield, Connecticut	Pioneers	1963	Private/Catholic	5,428	1998	NEWHA[g]	MAAC

Locations of Atlantic Hockey Conference current member locations.

1. The Academy grounds lie almost entirely outside the Colorado Springs city limits. The U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Postal Service respectively call the grounds "Air Force Academy" and "USAF Academy".
2. The campus mailing address is "Niagara University".
3. Niagara's women's team was in College Hockey America before the university dropped the program in 2012.
4. Robert Morris was a member of Atlantic Hockey from 2010 to 2021 until the program was cut. Subsequent fundraising efforts allowed the program to be reinstated for the 2023–24 season with Robert Morris rejoining Atlantic Hockey.
5. RMU also rejoined its former women's hockey home of College Hockey America in 2023–24.
6. The campus mailing address is Rochester.
7. The NEWHA was founded in 2017 as a scheduling alliance between Division I and Division II women's ice hockey independents, with Sacred Heart as a founding member. It formally organized as a conference in 2018 and received NCAA recognition in 2019.

Previous

• Iona University (dropped hockey), 2003; then known as Iona College
• Fairfield University (dropped hockey), 2003
• Quinnipiac University (ECAC Hockey), 2005
• University of Connecticut (Hockey East), 2014

Timeline

Atlantic Hockey champions

Main article: Riley Trophy

^[5]

Season	Tournament	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion	Notes
2003–04	2004	Holy Cross (1)	Holy Cross (1)	Atlantic Hockey Association founded by American International, Army, Bentley, Canisius, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart
2004–05	2005	Quinnipiac (1)	Mercyhurst (1)	Final AHA season for Quinnipiac, (leaving for the ECAC)
2005–06	2006	Holy Cross (2)	Holy Cross (2)
2006–07	2007	RIT (1)	Air Force (1)	Air Force and RIT join the AHA
2007–08	2008	Army (1)	Air Force (2)
2008–09	2009	RIT(2) / Air Force (1)	Air Force (3)
2009–10	2010	RIT (3)	RIT (1)
2010–11	2011	RIT (4)	Air Force (4)	Niagara and Robert Morris join the AHA
2011–12	2012	Air Force (2)	Air Force (5)
2012–13	2013	Niagara (1)	Canisius (1)
2013–14	2014	Mercyhurst (1)	Robert Morris (1)	Final AHA season for Connecticut, (leaving for Hockey East)
2014–15	2015	Robert Morris (1)	RIT (2)
2015–16	2016	Robert Morris (2)	RIT (3)
2016–17	2017	Canisius (1)	Air Force (6)
2017–18	2018	Mercyhurst (2)	Air Force (7)
2018–19	2019	American International (1)	American International (1)
2019–20	2020	American International (2)	Cancelled	Tournament cancelled after quarterfinals due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21	2021	American International (3)	American International (2)
2021–22	2022	American International (4)	American International (3)	Robert Morris suspended its program prior to the start of the season
2022–23	2023	RIT (5)	Canisius (2)
2023–24	2024	RIT (6)	RIT (4)	Robert Morris reinstated to Atlantic Hockey for this season after restarting its hockey programs
2024–25	2025	Holy Cross (3)	Bentley (1)

Atlantic Hockey tournament champions by school

School	Championship Years
Air Force	2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018
RIT	2010, 2015, 2016, 2024
American International	2019, 2021, 2022
Canisius	2013, 2023
Holy Cross	2004, 2006
Mercyhurst	2005
Robert Morris	2014
Bentley	2025

No tournament was held in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

National tournament history

NCAA tournament

Year	AHA Rep.	Opponent	Result
2004	Holy Cross	North Dakota	L 0–3
2005	Mercyhurst	Boston College	L 4–5
2006	Holy Cross	Minnesota	W 4–3 (OT)
		North Dakota	L 2–5
2007	Air Force	Minnesota	L 3–4
2008	Air Force	Miami (OH)	L 2–3 (OT)
2009	Air Force	Michigan	W 2–0
		Vermont	L 2–3 (2OT)
2010	RIT	Denver	W 2–1
		New Hampshire	W 6–2
		Wisconsin	L 1–8
2011	Air Force	Yale	L 1–2 (OT)
2012	Air Force	Boston College	L 0–2
2013	Niagara *	North Dakota	L 1–2
	Canisius	Quinnipiac	L 3–4
2014	Robert Morris	Minnesota	L 3–7
2015	RIT	Minnesota State	W 2–1
		Omaha	L 0–4
2016	RIT	Quinnipiac	L 0–4
2017	Air Force	Western Michigan	W 5–4
		Harvard	L 2–3
2018	Air Force	St. Cloud State	W 4–1
		Minnesota-Duluth	L 1–2
2019	AIC	St. Cloud State	W 2–1
		Denver	L 0–3
2020	None†	N/A	N/A
2021	AIC	North Dakota	L 1–5
2022	AIC	Michigan	L 3–5
2023	Canisius	Minnesota	L 2–9
2024	RIT	Boston University	L 3–6

* – at-large selection.

† – Tournament canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Conference arenas

School	Hockey Arena	Location	Capacity
Air Force	Cadet Ice Arena	Colorado Springs, CO	2,502
American International	MassMutual Center	Springfield, MA	6,866
Army	Tate Rink	West Point, NY	2,648
Bentley	Bentley Arena	Waltham, MA	1,917
Canisius	LECOM Harborcenter	Buffalo, NY	1,800
Holy Cross	Hart Center	Worcester, MA	1,600
Mercyhurst	Mercyhurst Ice Center Erie Insurance Arena (alternate)	Erie, PA	1,500 6,833
Niagara	Dwyer Arena	Lewiston, NY	1,400
RIT	Gene Polisseni Center Blue Cross Arena (alternate)	Henrietta, NY Rochester, NY	4,300 10,556
Robert Morris	Clearview Arena	Neville Township, PA	1,200
Sacred Heart	Martire Family Arena	Fairfield, CT	3,600

Awards

At the conclusion of each regular season schedule the coaches of each Atlantic Hockey team vote which players they choose to be on the three or four All-Conference teams:^[6] first team, second team and rookie team (third team beginning in 2007). Additionally they vote to award 7 of the 10 individual trophies to an eligible player (or coach) and 1 team award at the same time. Atlantic Hockey also awards a regular season goaltending award and regular season scoring title that are not voted on, as well as a Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, which is voted on at the conclusion of the conference tournament. All individual and team awards except Goaltender of the Year have been awarded since Atlantic Hockey's inaugural season in 2003–04.^[7]

All-Conference teams Award Inaugural year First Team 2003–04 Second Team 2003–04 Third Team 2006–07 Rookie Team 2003–04

Individual awards Award Inaugural year Player of the Year 2003–04 Goaltender of the Year 2023–24 Rookie of the Year 2003–04 Coach of the Year 2003–04 Best Defensive Forward 2003–04 Best Defenseman 2003–04 Individual Sportsmanship 2003–04 Regular Season Goaltending Award 2003–04 Regular Season Scoring Trophy 2003–04 Most Valuable Player in Tournament 2003–04

Team awards Award Inaugural year Team Sportsmanship Award 2003–04

Atlantic Hockey Hall of Honor

In 2023, in honor of its 20th anniversary, the conference selected the top 20 players from its history:

1. Eric Ehn, F, Air Force
2. Jacques Lamoureaux, F, Air Force
3. Brett Gensler, F, Bentley
4. Cory Conacher, F, Canisius
5. Brady Ferguson, F, Robert Morris
6. Dan Ringwald, D, RIT
7. Andrew Volkening, F, Air Force
8. Colin Bilek, F, Army
9. Shane Madolora, G, RIT
10. Cody Wydo, F, Robert Morris
11. Zac Lynch, F, Robert Morris
12. Matt Garbowsky, F, RIT
13. Pierre-Luc O'Brien, F, Sacred Heart
14. Brennan Kapcheck, D, American International
15. Joseph Duszak, D, Mercyhurst
16. James Sixsmith, F, Holy Cross
17. Jared DeMichiel, G, RIT
18. Zach McKelvie, D, Army
19. Jamie Hunt, D, Mercyhurst
20. Justin Danforth, F, Sacred Heart

See also

• MAAC Awards