The Atlantic Hockey Association, one of the the six NCAA Division I men's hockey conferences, has shifted its postseason tournament fully to on-campus sites beginning with the 2022-23 season.
The first round will be best-of-three series, starting with the top eight teams, followed by best-of-three semifinals with the four remaining schools. The single-game championship contest will then be held in mid-March at the host of the highest-remaining seed, similar to what the revamped WCHA did before its demise last year.
Atlantic Hockey, which began play in 2003 after six seasons as the hockey arm of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), had previously held its championship game at such neutral sites as West Point, Rochester, Buffalo and Utica in New York. It has also been held in Hamden, Conn, along with Worcester and Springfield, Mass.
Atlantic Hockey's current roster consists of Air Force, American International, Army West Point, Bentley, Canisius, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Niagara, RIT, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart. Robert Morris will not resume on-ice play until the 2023-24 campaign, after the program was dropped and then subsequently brought back, along with its women's program, which competes in College Hockey America.
AIC has won the last three AHA postseason titles, earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in the process each time. The 2020 AHA tournament was ultimately canceled due to COVID-19.
No comments:
Post a Comment