# 2016 Atlantic Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

The 2016 Atlantic Hockey Tournament is the 12th Atlantic Hockey Tournament. It will be played between March 4 and March 19, 2016, at campus locations and at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. By winning the tournament, RIT earned Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

## 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 2015 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
2015–16 Atlantic Hockey standingsvte :
| | 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 | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Robert Morris † | 28 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 40 | 116 | 69 | 39 | 24 | 11 | 4 | 158 | 107 |
| Air Force | 28 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 37 | 85 | 60 | 37 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 110 | 86 |
| Holy Cross | 28 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 37 | 89 | 59 | 36 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 109 | 90 |
| Mercyhurst | 28 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 34 | 86 | 82 | 36 | 17 | 15 | 4 | 108 | 115 |
| #20 RIT * | 28 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 33 | 93 | 77 | 39 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 118 | 116 |
| Army | 28 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 25 | 64 | 74 | 38 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 88 | 89 |
| Canisius | 28 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 25 | 72 | 82 | 39 | 12 | 22 | 5 | 92 | 121 |
| Bentley | 28 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 24 | 74 | 85 | 40 | 14 | 20 | 6 | 106 | 124 |
| Sacred Heart | 28 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 23 | 72 | 78 | 37 | 13 | 20 | 4 | 96 | 109 |
| Niagara | 28 | 5 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 58 | 95 | 37 | 6 | 25 | 6 | 71 | 126 |
| American International | 28 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 15 | 57 | 105 | 39 | 7 | 29 | 3 | 80 | 159 |
| Championship: March 19, 2016 † indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||

## Bracket

Air Force and Holy Cross finished tied for second place; Air Force is the second seed based on the third tiebreaker (head-to-head goal differential). Army and Canisius finished tied for sixth place; Army is the sixth seed based on the first tiebreaker (head-to-head results). Niagara and American International finished tied for tenth place; Niagara is the tenth seed based on the first tiebreaker.
| First round March 4–6 | First round March 4–6 | First round March 4–6 | First round March 4–6 | First round March 4–6 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Quarterfinals March 11–13 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 | Championship March 19 |
| | | | | | 1 | Robert Morris | 3 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Army | 5 | 2 | 4 | 8 | Bentley | 4 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | |
| 11 | American International | 0 | 3* | 0 | | | | | | 1 | Robert Morris | 2* | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 6 | Army | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Air Force | 4 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 7 | Canisius | 1 | 1 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Robert Morris | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | RIT | 7 |
| | | | | | 3 | Holy Cross | 0 | 1 | — | | | | | | |
| 7 | Canisius | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | Army | 3 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
| 10 | Niagara | 3 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | 2 | Air Force | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | 5 | RIT | 2* | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Mercyhurst | 1 | 1 | — | | | | | | |
| 8 | Bentley | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | RIT | 2 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 9 | Sacred Heart | 4 | 2* | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Results
### First round
#### (6) Army vs. (11) American International

* Army won series 2–1

#### (7) Canisius vs. (10) Niagara

* Canisius won series 2–1

#### (8) Bentley vs. (9) Sacred Heart

* Bentley won series 2–1

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Robert Morris vs. (8) Bentley

* Robert Morris won series 2–1

#### (2) Air Force vs. (7) Canisius

* Air Force won series 2–0

#### (3) Holy Cross vs. (6) Army

* Army won series 2–0

#### (4) Mercyhurst vs. (5) RIT

* RIT won series 2–0

### Championship
#### (1) Robert Morris vs. (5) RIT
## Tournament awards
### All-Tournament Team

* G Mike Rotolo (RIT)
* D Chase Norrish (RIT)
* D Alexander Kuqali (RIT)
* F Myles Powell* (RIT)
* F Liam Kerins (RIT)
* F David Friedmann (Robert Morris)
* Most Valuable Player(s)