# 2024–25 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season

The 2024–25 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season was the 77th season of play for the program, the 27th at the Division I level and 1st in the Atlantic Hockey America conference. The Yellow Jackets represented American International College, played their home games at MassMutual Center and were coached by Eric Lang in his 9th season.

## Season

At the start of the season, seemingly the biggest issue the program had to figuring out who would be the team's starting goaltender. While neither Chase Clark nor Peyton Grainer seemed able to take hold of the reins through the first month of the season, the difficult schedule the team had to content with was at least partly to blame. AIC was able to win just twice in its first nine games but most of their opponents during that stretch would end the season as nationally ranked teams. Despite their poor record, the team had high hopes for their prospects in conference play but the program was able to receive some of the worst news imaginable.
In mid-November, American International College announced that it would be reclassifying its ice hockey team as a Division II program for the following year. The Yellow Jackets were a D-II school for most of their teams; however, the school had taken advantage of an NCAA rule that allowed them to promote one sport to a higher tier, similar to the RIT Tigers and Clarkson Golden Knights. AIC has had some of the lowest attendance numbers in college hockey, routinely drawing fewer than 500 people in a building that could seat more than 6,800. American International's primary conference, Northeast-10, is the only league that sponsors Division II ice hockey, so the immediate expectation is that the Yellow Jackets will join that conference as soon as possible.
The announcement was a gut-punch to the team who had to continue knowing that many players were spending their final months at the school. Unsurprisingly, the team had to fight through inconsistent play as they finished off the first half of its season, however, AIC ended up in a very unfortunate position at the beginning of December. After dropping the first game of the weekend to Holy Cross, the Yellow Jackets were forced to cancel the rematch when all three of the team's goaltenders were unable to compete due to injury. While the initial plan was to just have the game not played, eventually it was rescheduled for the end of the regular season. Fortunately, the team was set to go on the winter break immediately after the match so no other games were impacted.
Not much changed for the club when they began the second half. Both the offense and defense had good and bad moments but only occasionally were they able to align to provide the team with a win. Clark ended up commanding the bulk of the minutes in goal but still gave way to Grainer or Adam Manji from time to time. AIC played poorly to end the campaign but did earn just enough points in the standings to merit a home game in the first round of the conference playoff. However, as if to add insult to injury, the team was unable to use the MassMutual Center and were forced to borrow the Tate Rink from Army. The slight seemed to wake the team up and the Yellow Jackets fought hard in their final D-I postseason run. The team Clark starred in the neutral site match against RIT, making 31 saves and forced overtime. While the Tigers collected the first four shots in the extra session, team captain Casey McDonald extended the program's season with just his second goal of the year.
The reward for the victory was a quarterfinal showdown with Holy Cross, the regular season champion. AIC showed no fear against the Crusaders and built a 3–0 lead in the through the first two periods. Holy Cross managed to get two goals past Clark in the third but the Yellow Jackets were able to carry the day. The rematch began with CHC scoring twice on special teams before American International replied with two markers to tie the match. A goal by the home team late in the third proved to be the game-winner and evened the series at 1-all. In the rubber match, AIC had to come from behind on three separate occasions, using the power-play to their advantage twice. The final time, Lauri Sertti scored his first of the year with just 35 seconds left in regulation. At the time, Clark was on the bench to give the club a 6-on-4 opportunity. Despite the huge boost to the team's morale, the were unable to carry any momentum into overtime and the first shot eluded Clark. The loss ended the team's season as well as their time at the top level of college hockey.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Alexandros Aslanidis | Goaltender | United States | Graduate transfer to Lindenwood |
| Brett Callahan | Defenseman | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Grayson Dietrich | Forward | United States | Left program (retired) |
| Cole Hudson | Goaltender | United States | Left program (retired) |
| Julius Janhonen | Forward | Finland | Graduation (signed with HPK) |
| Logan Jenuwine | Forward | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Brian Kramer | Defenseman | United States | Graduate transfer to Western Michigan |
| Darwin Lakoduk | Forward | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| Tomi Leppänen | Defenseman | Finland | Signed professional contract (Iisalmen Peli-Karhut) |
| Austen Long | Forward | United States | Graduation (signed with Fayetteville Marksmen) |
| Dustin Manz | Forward | United States | Graduation (signed with Wheeling Nailers) |
| Akseli Pennanen | Forward | Finland | Signed professional contract (TUTO Hockey) |
| Matthew Rickard | Defenseman | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Jake Sacratini | Forward | United States | Left program (retired) |
| Casper Söderling | Defenseman | Sweden | Left program (retired) |
| Nico Somerville | Defenseman | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| Nils Wallström | Goaltender | Sweden | Transferred to Merrimack |
| Blake Wells | Forward | Canada | Graduation (signed with Utah Grizzlies) |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Brett Bamber | Defenseman | Canada | 23 | St. Albert, AB; transfer from Alaska Anchorage |
| Chase Clark | Goaltender | United States | 22 | Williamsville, NY; transfer from Sacred Heart; drafted 183rd overall in 2021 |
| Blake Dangos | Defenseman | United States | 22 | St. Louis, MO; transfer from Sacred Heart |
| Wilhelm Forsberg | Forward | Sweden | 20 | Sollentuna, SWE |
| Tobias Bjercke Larsen | Defenseman | Norway | 20 | Oslo, NOR |
| Adam Manji | Goaltender | United States | 21 | New Westminster, BC |
| Justin Mexico | Forward | United States | 20 | Madison Heights, MI |
| David Posma | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Pomona, NY |
| Tyler Procious | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Pittsford, NY |
| Noah Serdachny | Forward | Canada | 21 | Edmonton, AB; transfer from Colorado College |
| Nikolai Tishkevich | Forward | Belarus | 20 | Minsk, BLR |
| Nicky Wallace | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Atlantic Highlands, NJ; transfer from Quinnipiac |
| Danny Weight | Forward | Canada | 23 | Edmonton, AB; graduate transfer from Colorado College |
| Tanner Willick | Defenseman | Canada | 20 | Saskatoon, SK |

## Roster

As of July 29, 2024.

## Standings

2024–25 Atlantic Hockey America Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OW | OL | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Holy Cross † | 26 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 92 | 47 | 37 | 22 | 13 | 2 | 119 | 85 |
| Sacred Heart | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 53 | 80 | 64 | 37 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 116 | 93 |
| Bentley | 26 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 51 | 79 | 57 | 36 | 20 | 14 | 2 | 100 | 75 |
| Niagara | 26 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 48 | 90 | 70 | 37 | 18 | 16 | 3 | 124 | 109 |
| Army | 26 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 84 | 74 | 36 | 16 | 18 | 2 | 102 | 109 |
| Canisius | 26 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 84 | 79 | 37 | 12 | 23 | 2 | 98 | 120 |
| Air Force | 26 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 59 | 58 | 40 | 16 | 21 | 3 | 86 | 112 |
| American International | 26 | 9 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 63 | 77 | 38 | 13 | 23 | 2 | 92 | 117 |
| RIT | 26 | 9 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 65 | 102 | 35 | 10 | 23 | 2 | 82 | 133 |
| Robert Morris | 26 | 7 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 72 | 86 | 35 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 95 | 115 |
| Mercyhurst | 26 | 4 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 59 | 113 | 35 | 4 | 27 | 4 | 77 | 150 |
| Championship: March 22, 2025 † indicates conference regular season champion (DeGregorio Trophy) * indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll Updated: March 10, 2025 |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | TV | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| October 5 | 7:00 pm | at #12 Maine* | Alfond Arena • Orono, Maine | ESPN+ | Clark | L 0–6 | 5,043 | 0–1–0 |
| October 11 | 7:00 pm | at Ohio State* | Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio | | Clark | T 3–3 $^{OT}$ | 2,623 | 0–1–1 |
| October 12 | 5:00 pm | at Ohio State* | Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio | | Grainer | L 2–5 | 2,464 | 0–2–1 |
| October 18 | 7:00 pm | at #2 Boston College* | Conte Forum • Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts | ESPN+ | Grainer | L 0–5 | 7,224 | 0–3–1 |
| October 25 | 1:00 pm | Air Force | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | L 1–2 | 212 | 0–4–1 (0–1–0) |
| October 26 | 1:00 pm | Air Force | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | W 4–2 | 238 | 1–4–1 (1–1–0) |
| November 2 | 1:00 pm | #17 Massachusetts* | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | L 3–4 | 678 | 1–5–1 |
| November 7 | 7:00 pm | at Holy Cross | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 2–5 | 661 | 1–6–1 (1–2–0) |
| November 8 | 7:00 pm | at Holy Cross | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | FloHockey, NESN+ | Manji | W 3–2 | 814 | 2–6–1 (2–2–0) |
| November 15 | 7:00 pm | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 2–5 | 1,050 | 2–7–1 (2–3–0) |
| November 16 | 6:00 pm | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 0–3 | 850 | 2–8–1 (2–4–0) |
| November 19 | 7:00 pm | at Stonehill* | Bridgewater Ice Arena • Bridgewater, Massachusetts | NEC Front Row | Grainer | W 3–0 | 76 | 3–8–1 |
| November 23 | 1:00 pm | Niagara | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 1–2 | — | 3–9–1 (2–5–0) |
| November 24 | 3:00 pm | Niagara | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Manji | W 5–2 | 259 | 4–9–1 (3–5–0) |
| November 29 | 5:00 pm | at Robert Morris | Clearview Arena • Moon Township, Pennsylvania | FloHockey | Clark | L 1–4 | 652 | 4–10–1 (3–6–0) |
| November 30 | 5:00 pm | at Robert Morris | Clearview Arena • Moon Township, Pennsylvania | FloHockey | Clark | W 4–2 | 787 | 5–10–1 (4–6–0) |
| December 6 | 1:00 pm | Holy Cross | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | L 0–1 $^{OT}$ | 362 | 5–11–1 (4–7–0) |
| December 28 | 1:00 pm | Sacred Heart | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | L 1–4 | 187 | 5–12–1 (4–8–0) |
| December 29 | 4:00 pm | at #18 Quinnipiac* | M&T Bank Arena • Hamden, Connecticut | ESPN+ | Clark | L 5–6 | 3,111 | 5–13–1 |
| January 3 | 7:00 pm | at Stonehill* | Bridgewater Ice Arena • Bridgewater, Massachusetts | NEC Front Row | Grainer | W 3–1 | 107 | 6–13–1 |
| January 7 | 7:00 pm | Army | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | W 8–2 | 357 | 7–13–1 (5–8–0) |
| January 17 | 7:00 pm | at Sacred Heart | Martire Family Arena • Fairfield, Connecticut | FloHockey | Clark | L 2–5 | 2,566 | 7–14–1 (5–9–0) |
| January 18 | 7:00 pm | at Sacred Heart | Martire Family Arena • Fairfield, Connecticut | FloHockey | Clark | L 3–6 | 3,112 | 7–15–1 (5–10–0) |
| January 21 | 7:00 pm | Bentley | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 1–6 | 258 | 7–16–1 (5–11–0) |
| January 24 | 1:00 pm | Canisius | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | L 2–4 | 108 | 7–17–1 (5–12–0) |
| January 25 | 5:00 pm | Canisius | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | W 3–2 | 287 | 8–17–1 (6–12–0) |
| February 7 | 7:00 pm | at Mercyhurst | Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania | FloHockey | Clark | W 5–0 | 1,286 | 9–17–1 (7–12–0) |
| February 8 | 4:00 pm | at Mercyhurst | Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania | FloHockey | Clark | W 4–1 | 1,307 | 10–17–1 (8–12–0) |
| February 14 | 7:05 pm | at RIT | Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York | FloHockey | Clark | L 0–3 | 2,517 | 10–18–1 (8–13–0) |
| February 15 | 7:05 pm | at RIT | Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York | FloHockey | Clark | T 3–3 $^{SOL}$ | 2,617 | 10–18–2 (8–13–1) |
| February 18 | 7:00 pm | Sacred Heart | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Grainer | L 2–3 | 151 | 10–19–2 (8–14–1) |
| February 21 | 7:00 pm | Army | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Clark | W 3–2 | 497 | 11–19–2 (9–14–1) |
| February 22 | 4:00 pm | at Army | Tate Rink • West Point, New York | FloHockey | Clark | L 2–3 | 2,604 | 11–20–2 (9–15–1) |
| February 24 | 7:00 pm | at Holy Cross | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Manji | L 1–3 | 826 | 11–21–2 (9–16–1) |
| Atlantic Hockey America Tournament ||||||||||
| February 28 | 6:05 pm | vs. RIT* | Tate Rink • West Point, New York (AHA First Round) | FloHockey | Clark | W 2–1 $^{OT}$ | 171 | 12–21–2 |
| March 7 | 7:00 pm | at #20т Holy Cross* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts (AHA Quarterfinal Game 1) | FloHockey | Clark | W 3–2 | 614 | 13–21–2 |
| March 8 | 7:00 pm | at #20т Holy Cross* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts (AHA Quarterfinal Game 2) | FloHockey | Clark | L 2–3 | 678 | 13–22–2 |
| March 9 | 5:00 pm | at #20т Holy Cross* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts (AHA Quarterfinal Game 3) | FloHockey | Clark | L 3–4 $^{OT}$ | 852 | 13–23–2 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. Source: ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Josh Barnes | C | 38 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 6 |
| Dario Beljo | C | 30 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 10 |
| John Lundy | F | 37 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 |
| Timofei Khokhlachev | LW | 32 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 50 |
| Brett Bamber | D | 35 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 14 |
| Noah Serdachny | F | 37 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 10 |
| Justin Mexico | F | 32 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 12 |
| Brett Rylance | C/W | 35 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 12 |
| Danny Weight | C | 34 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 37 |
| Oscar Geschwind | C | 36 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 4 |
| Jordan Biro | C | 36 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 6 |
| Alfred Lindberg | C | 33 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 4 |
| David Posma | D | 36 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 51 |
| Alexander Malinowski | LW/RW | 25 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| Casey McDonald | F | 27 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 25 |
| Evan Stella | D | 35 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 16 |
| Lauri Sertti | D | 37 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Wilhelm Forsberg | RW | 20 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Tyler Procious | D | 32 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Hunter Longhi | LW | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Blake Dangos | D | 33 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 18 |
| Theo Angesved | D | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Tobias Bjercke Larsen | D | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Adam Manji | G | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Douglas Andersson | LW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chase Clark | G | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Joey LoVullo | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nikolai Tishkevich | F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nicky Wallace | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter McCurdy | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Jones | F | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tanner Willick | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Peyton Grainer | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | | | 92 | 162 | 254 | 348 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals against | Saves | Shutouts | SV % | GAA |
| Joey LoVullo | 1 | 1:41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.00 |
| Adam Manji | 10 | 266:20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 140 | 0 | .921 | 2.70 |
| Chase Clark | 25 | 1459:01 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 68 | 715 | 1 | .913 | 2.80 |
| Alexandros Aslanidis | 14 | 545:01 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 29 | 241 | 1 | .893 | 3.19 |
| Empty Net | - | 29:28 | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 38 | 2301:31 | 13 | 23 | 2 | 116 | 1096 | 2 | .903 | 2.73 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | | | |
| USA Hockey | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | | | |
Note: Neither USCHO nor USA Hockey released a poll in week 12.