2017 Atlantic Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 2017 Atlantic Hockey Tournament is the 13th Atlantic Hockey Tournament. It was played between March 3 and March 18, 2017 at home campus locations and at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. The tournament champion Air Force was granted Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

2017 Atlantic Hockey Men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 3–18, 2017
Teams	11
Finals site	Blue Cross Arena Rochester, New York
Champions	Air Force (6th title)
Winning coach	Frank Serratore (6th title)
MVP	Shane Starrett (Air Force)
Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2016 2018 →

Format

The tournament features four rounds of play. In the first round the sixth and eleventh, seventh and tenth, and eighth and ninth seeds, as determined by the conference regular season standings, will play a best-of-three series with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. The top five teams from the conference regular season standings receive a bye to the quarterfinals. There, the first seed and lowest-ranked first round winner, the second seed and second-highest-ranked first round winner, the third seed and highest-ranked first round winner, and the fourth seed and the fifth seed will play a best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second-highest and second-lowest remaining seeds will play a single game each, with the winners advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

2016–17 Atlantic Hockey standings
	Conference record								Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Canisius†	28	18	4	6	42	90	53		39	21	11	7	107	85
#12 Air Force*	28	19	6	3	41	91	56		42	27	10	5	133	93
Army	28	15	10	3	33	77	56		37	18	14	5	100	78
Robert Morris	28	15	10	3	33	86	73		38	22	12	4	123	95
Holy Cross	28	11	10	7	29	78	78		36	14	15	7	99	106
RIT	28	13	15	0	26	90	79		37	14	22	1	108	111
Mercyhurst	28	11	13	4	26	82	83		39	15	20	4	106	123
Bentley	28	10	12	6	26	78	82		39	13	19	7	101	120
Sacred Heart	28	10	15	3	23	67	87		37	13	19	5	88	116
American International	28	7	14	7	21	63	91		36	8	20	8	82	122
Niagara	28	3	23	2	8	55	119		39	5	31	3	76	168
Championship: March 18, 2017 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 6, 2017

Bracket

Army and Robert Morris finished tied for third. Army wins the 5th tiebreaker (record against #1 seed). RIT, Mercyhurst and Bentley finished tied for sixth place. RIT was seeded sixth with tie breakers over both (head-to-head wins and conference wins) while Mercyhurst was placed seventh (conference wins).

	First round March 3–5							Quarterfinals March 10–12							Semifinals March 17					Championship March 18
								1	Canisius	3	2	–
	6	RIT	4	5	1			11	Niagara	0	1	–
	11	Niagara	5	0	4										1	Canisius	2
															4	Robert Morris	6
								2	Air Force	4	2	—
								8	Bentley	0	1	—
																				4	Robert Morris	1
																				2	Air Force	2
								3	Army	6	2	4
	7	Mercyhurst	4	5	–			7	Mercyhurst	4	3*	3
	10	American International	3	0	–										2	Air Force	1
															3	Army	0
								4	Robert Morris	6	3	—
	8	Bentley	1	5	3**			5	Holy Cross	3	2	—
	9	Sacred Heart	4	2	2

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

First round

(6) RIT vs. (11) Niagara

March 3	RIT		4 – 5		Niagara	Gene Polisseni Center	Recap
(Logan, Mikowski) Jordan Peacock – 11:15 (Brubacher, Abt) Danny Smith – 14:48 (Abt, Valenzuela) Liam Kerins – 18:10		First period			15:25 – Kris Spriggs (Kovachis, Cakebread)
No scoring		Second period			04:08 – EA – Stephen Pietrobon (Harper, Spriggs)
(Abt, Rotolo) Erik Brown – 10:25		Third period			16:05 – SH – Vinny Muto (Curran) 19:03 – EA – Johnny Curran (Rennaker, Sarcona) 19:49 – GW SH – Sam Rennaker (unassisted)
( 17 saves / 22 shots ) Mike Rotolo		Goalie stats			Jackson Teichroeb ( 35 saves / 39 shots )

March 4	RIT		5 – 0		Niagara	Gene Polisseni Center
(unassisted) Myles Powell – GW SH – 06:15 (Cameron, Abt) Ryan Kruper – 13:25 (Kruper) Darren Brady – 19:42		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Girduckis, Brubacker) Danny Smith – 03:27 (Powell, Brubacher) Matt Abt – PP – 11:44		Third period			No scoring
( 19 saves / 19 shots ) Mike Rotolo		Goalie stats			Jackson Teichroeb ( 27 saves / 31 shots ) / Joe O'Brien ( 7 saves / 8 shots )

March 5	RIT		1 – 4		Niagara	Gene Polisseni Center
No scoring		First period			01:00 – Kris Spriggs (Pietrobon, Muto) 03:49 – GW – Sam Rennaker (Curran, Dzakhov)
(Logan) Jordan Peacock – 05:00		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			05:10 – PP – Stanislav Dzakhov (Delman, Boman) 16:56 – EN – Stanislav Dzakhov (Harper, Teichroeb)
( 15 saves / 18 shots ) Mike Rotolo		Goalie stats			Jackson Teichroeb ( 42 saves / 43 shots )

Niagara won series 2–1

(7) Mercyhurst vs. (10) American International

March 3	Mercyhurst		4 – 3		American International	Mercyhurst Ice Center
(Duszak, Riley) Derek Barach – 03:27 (Dsuzak, Wu) Taylor Best – PP – 12:14 (Baker, Lancaster) Michael Verboom – 17:24		First period			18:20 – PP – Martin Mellberg (Christensen, Mueller)
(Enns, Charbonneau) Derek Barach – GW – 16:32		Second period			05:08 – Kyle Stephan (Christian, Demel) 06:00 – Hugo Reinhardt (Orszulak, Florian)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 29 saves / 32 shots ) Brandon Wildung		Goalie stats			Zackarais Skog ( 31 saves / 35 shots )

March 4	Mercyhurst		5 – 0		American International	Mercyhurst Ice Center
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Enns, Piacentini) Stephen Hrehoriak – GW – 09:00 (Lancaster, Best) Derek Barach – PP – 11:19 (Barach, Lancaster) Jonathan Charbonneau – 13:30 (Drouin, Barach) Jack Riley – PP – 17:41		Second period			No scoring
(Lammon, Whittaker) Joseph Duszak – 01:08		Third period			No scoring
( 24 saves / 24 shots ) Brandon Wildung		Goalie stats			Zackarais Skog ( 29 saves / 34 shots )

Mercyhurst won series 2–0

(8) Bentley vs. (9) Sacred Heart

March 3	Bentley		1 – 4		Sacred Heart	John A. Ryan Arena
(Riggleman, Callin) Alexey Soloyev – 10:46		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			02:13 – Mike Crocock (McIlmurray, De Concilys) 10:15 – GW – Vito Bavaro (Jasper, Tsekos) 17:23 – Justin Danforth (Hladin, Nylen) 19:16 – EN – Stephen Hladin (Minello, Danforth)
( 29 saves / 32 shots ) Aiden Pelino		Goalie stats			Brett Magnus ( 29 saves / 30 shots )

March 4	Bentley		5 – 2		Sacred Heart	John A. Ryan Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			17:01 – Vito Bavaro (Tsekos)
(Desbiens, Gorowsky) Max French – 06:39 (French) Chris Buchanan – 07:48		Second period			No scoring
(McMurphy, McDonald) Kyle Schmidt – GW – 11:28 (Schmidt, Gorowsky) Max French – 18:13 (unassisted) Max French – EN – 19:29		Third period			02:13 – Jeff Caroll (McIlmurray, Doerksen)
( 30 saves / 32 shots ) Jayson Argue		Goalie stats			Brett Magnus ( 27 saves / 31 shots )

March 5	Bentley		3 – 2	2OT	Sacred Heart	John A. Ryan Arena
(Gorowsky) Max French – SH – 19:25		First period			12:42 – Jordan Minello (Doherty, Danforth)
(Berry, DePourcq) Matt Riggleman – 08:55		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			12:53 – Ruslan Rakhmatov (Danforth, Minello)
(French, Desbiens) Ryner Gorowsky – GW – 00:30		Second overtime period			No scoring
( 29 saves / 31 shots ) Jayson Argue		Goalie stats			Brett Magnus ( 30 saves / 33 shots )

Bentley won series 2–1

Quarterfinals

(1) Canisius vs. (11) Niagara

March 10	Canisius		3 – 0		Niagara	HarborCenter
(Chamberland, McLaughlin) Jimmy Mazza – GW PP – 14:57		First period			No scoring
(Parrottino, Heath) Dylan McLaughlin – 03:32		Second period			No scoring
(Chamberland) Nick Hutchison – 01:48		Third period			No scoring
( 24 saves / 24 shots ) Charles Williams		Goalie stats			Jackson Teichroeb ( 36 saves / 39 shots )

March 11	Canisius		2 – 1		Niagara	HarborCenter	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Schmelzer, Parrottino) Felix Chamberland – PP – 03:06 (Mazza, Stief) Ryan Schmelzer – GW PP – 18:45		Third period			03:49 – PP – Vinny Muto (Curran, Rennaker)
( 25 saves / 26 shots ) Charles Williams		Goalie stats			Jackson Teichroeb ( 32 saves / 34 shots )

Canisius won series 2–1

(2) Air Force vs. (8) Bentley

March 10	Air Force		4 – 0		Bentley	Cadet Ice Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Bailry, Serratore) Phil Boje – GW – 03:12 (Stone, Boje) Evan Feno – 08:26 (Feno, Boje) Dan Bailey – 09:01		Second period			No scoring
(Feno) Matt Koch – EN SH – 17:06		Third period			No scoring
( 18 saves / 18 shots ) Shane Starrett		Goalie stats			Jayson Argue ( 10 saves / 13 shots ) / Aidan Pelino ( 12 saves / 12 shots )

March 11	Air Force		2 – 1		Bentley	Cadet Ice Arena
(unassisted) Jordan Himley – 05:59		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			10:10 – Andrew McDonald (Callin, Orr)
(Feno) Ben Kucera – GW – 00:39		Third period			No scoring
( 13 saves / 14 shots ) Shane Starrett		Goalie stats			Aidan Pelino ( 37 saves / 39 shots )

Air Force won series 2–0

(3) Army vs. (7) Mercyhurst

March 10	Army		6 – 4		Mercyhurst	Tate Rink
(Andrle, Pham) Joe Shecter – 03:53		First period			12:57 – PP – Joseph Duszak (Barach, Charbonneau)
(Soucie, Nick) Dominic Franco – PP – 07:42 (Evancho, Andrle) Nick DeCenzo – 15:35		Second period			02:52 – Kyle Dutra (Sienerth, Bucci)
(Nick, Franco) Brendan Soucie – 03:29 (unassisted) Michael Wilson – PP – 05:41 (Fidler, Franco) Brendan Soucie – 10:41		Third period			04:12 – Jonathan Charbonneau (Riley, Todd) 18:01 – EA – Stephen Hrehoriak (Dutra, Drouin)
( 37 saves / 41 shots ) Parker Gahagen		Goalie stats			Brandon Wildung ( 29 saves / 34 shots ) / Colin DeAugustine ( 7 saves / 8 shots )

March 11	Army		2 – 3	OT	Mercyhurst	Tate Rink
(Nick) Conor Andrle – PP – 15:50		First period			08:27 – Matthew Whittaker (Ferriero, Duszak)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Reuschlein, Fidler) Brendan Soucie – 14:18		Third period			09:33 – PP – Josh Lammon (Whittaker, Wu)
No scoring		First overtime period			00:33 – GW PP – Matthew Whittaker (Lancaster, Best)
( 33 saves / 36 shots ) Parker Gahagen		Goalie stats			Brandon Wildung ( 38 saves / 40 shots )

March 12	Army		4 – 3		Mercyhurst	Tate Rink
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Reuschlein, Wilkinson) Matt Riggleman – PP – 08:55 (Andrle, Pham) Zach Evancho – 15:20		Second period			12:53 – Philippe Drouin (Duszak, Todd) 13:03 – Wes baker (Lancaster, Verboom) 13:41 – Josh Lammon (Wu, Whittaker)
(unassisted) Trevor Fidler – 00:57 (Mansfield, Maruya) Mike Preston – GW – 11:02		Third period			No scoring
( 40 saves / 43 shots ) Parker Gahagen / ( 9 saves / 9 shots ) Cole Bruns		Goalie stats			Colin DeAugustine ( 30 saves / 34 shots )

Army won series 2–1

(4) Robert Morris vs. (5) Holy Cross

March 10	Robert Morris		6 – 3		Holy Cross	84 Lumber Arena
No scoring		First period			17:35 – PP – Mike Barrett (Moore, Lopez)
(Leavens, Israel) Alex Tonge – PP – 12:36		Second period			No scoring
(Moore, Ghantous) Spencer Dorowicz – 01:50 (Bontje) Brady Ferguson – SH – 02:32 (Lynch, Mann) Daniel Mantenuto – GW – 06:11 (Mantenuto, Leavens) Alex Tonge – 09:36 (Robillard, Dagnal) Kyle Horsman – 16:14		Third period			13:35 – SH – Ryan Ferrill (unassisted) 17:54 – Mitch Collett (Robinson, Mackie)
( 16 saves / 19 shots ) Francis Marotte		Goalie stats			Paul Berrafato ( 21 saves / 27 shots )

March 11	Robert Morris		3 – 2		Holy Cross	84 Lumber Arena
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Ferguson, Israel) Daniel Leavens – PP – 08:37 (Tonge, Ferguson) Daniel Leavens – 16:34		Second period			No scoring
(Bontje) Brady Ferguson – GW EN – 18:42		Third period			16:09 – Mitch Mollett (Mulcahy, Skelly) 19:36 – EA – Peter Crinella (Pooley, Trapp)
( 22 saves / 24 shots ) Francis Marotte		Goalie stats			Paul Berrafato ( 19 saves / 21 shots )

Robert Morris won series 2–0

Semifinals

(1) Canisius vs. (4) Robert Morris

March 17	Canisius		2 – 6		Robert Morris	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			12:01 – Spencer Dorowicz (Watt, Ghantous) 19:48 – Daniel Mantanuto (unassisted)
No scoring		Second period			12:40 – GW – Brady Ferguson (Leavens, Tonge)
(Hoover, Edmondson) Nick Hutchison – PP – 04:45 (McLaughlin, Jerry) David Parrottino – EA – 18:03		Third period			14:31 – PP – Brady Ferguson (Leavens) 17:20 – EN – Alex Tonge (Ghantous, Marotte) 18:54 – EN SH – Brady Ferguson (Leavens)
( 19 saves / 23 shots ) Charles Williams		Goalie stats			Francis Marotte ( 27 saves / 29 shots )

(2) Air Force vs. (3) Army

March 17	Air Force		1 – 0		Army	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Hrabovsky, Giesler) Ben Kucera – GW – 11:03		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 29 saves / 29 shots ) Shane Starrett		Goalie stats			Parker Gahagan ( 22 saves / 23 shots )

Championship

(2) Air Force vs. (4) Robert Morris

March 18	Air Force		2 – 1		Robert Morris	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
(Himley, Ledford) Erik Baskin – 01:15		First period			No scoring
(Ledford) Jordan Himley – GW – 19:29		Second period			16:02 – Ben Robillard (Israel)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
( 24 saves / 25 shots ) Shane Starrett		Goalie stats			Francis Marotte ( 12 saves / 14 shots )

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• G Shane Starrett* (Air Force)
• D Johnny Hrabovsky (Air Force)
• D
• F Jordan Himley (Air Force)
• F Tyler Ledford (Air Force)
• F Brady Ferguson (Robert Morris)

* Most Valuable Player(s)