The Atlantic Hockey regular season is now officially in the books. Mercyhurst finishes the season atop the conference, thanks in part to a four-game winning streak to end the season and a whopping 12 wins since January 1. The Lakers, along with Canisius, Air Force, Army and Holy Cross, all get a bye through the first round of playoffs.

Here are the final regular season Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. Mercyhurst
2. Canisius
3. Air Force
4. Army
5. Holy Cross
6. RIT
7. Robert Morris
8. AIC
9. Niagara
10. Bentley
11. Sacred Heart

First-Round Playoffs Set

The RIT Tigers will face Sacred Heart, while Robert Morris faces Bentley. AIC and Niagara will also meet in the first round of Atlantic Hockey playoffs. RIT, RMU and AIC will host the first-round meetings this coming Friday, Saturday, and (as needed), Sunday. Times for the games are still to be announced.

Although we don’t know what will come of these first-round matchups, we already know that Air Force will travel to Army for the second round.

Lakers Finish Strong

The Lakers haven’t lost since a 6-5 decision to RIT on February 12, completing their regular season with wins against Robert Morris and the Tigers.

This past weekend, the Lakers topped the Tigers by a pair of 4-3 decisions. Brian Sienerth had a pair of goals in Friday’s win, while Jack Riley and Joseph Duszak also added goals. Max Mikowski, Chase Norrish and Erik Brown scored for RIT. Brandon Wildung had 32 saves, while Christian Short had 14 saves for the Tigers.

Brown added two more goals, both on the power-play, in Saturday’s loss. Michael Verboom, James Anderson, Sienerth and Duszak all scored for the Lakers. Matt Abt also added a goal for the Tigers. Wildung put up 24 saves, while Logan Drackett stopped 16 shots in net for RIT.

The Leaders

At the end of the regular season:

• Mercyhurst led in goals-for (113) while Air Force allowed fewest goals-against (74)
• Holy Cross led in shots/game (30.47)
• RMU’s Brady Ferguson and Canisius’ Dylan McLaughlin tied for conference lead in points (44) with identical stat lines (16 goals, 28 assists)
• RIT’s Erik Brown led the conference with 28 goals
• Brown tied with Army’s Michael Wilson for the lead in power-play goals (9)
• Wilson had five game-winning goals
• Canisius’ McLaughlin and captain Ryan Schmelzer both finished the season a plus-10

Monday, February 26th, 2018 - 12:08 pm | Atlantic Hockey, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings