# 2020–21 Atlantic Hockey season

The 2020–21 Atlantic Hockey season was the 18th season of play for Atlantic Hockey and took place during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The start of the regular season was delayed until November 19, 2020 and concluded on February 27, 2021.

## Season
### COVID-19

The entire Atlantic Hockey season was held under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season's start was delayed for more than a month while university and health officials could decide on a safe way to play games. In the end, the conference was divided into two regions, East and West, with the two groups of teams only playing one another. This was done to reduce the amount of travel and exposure that the players and staff members would experience throughout the season. As a result of this arrangement, the conference standings would not be altered, however, tournament seeding would continue with east and west teams until the semifinal round.

### Non-Conference

Unlike other seasons, the 20-21 season would see only a small number of non-conference games being played. This, like many other alterations, was due to COVID-19. This would cause the Pairwise Rankings, which were normally used to determine the at-large bids for the NCAA tournament, to be rendered useless. However, due to the perception of Atlantic Hockey as the weakest of the six Division I conferences, only the eventual tournament champion would go on to make the national tournament.

## Standings

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | 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 | PT% | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #15 American International †* | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | .889 | 47 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 67 | 40 |
| Army | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 | .667 | 42 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 71 | 48 |
| Robert Morris | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | .644 | 58 | 48 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 85 | 69 |
| Canisius | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | .615 | 42 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 59 | 46 |
| RIT | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | .590 | 43 | 40 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 68 | 70 |
| Sacred Heart | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | .513 | 35 | 38 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 43 | 59 |
| Mercyhurst | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | .479 | 54 | 50 | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 64 | 67 |
| Bentley | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16 | .356 | 35 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 42 | 51 |
| Niagara | 15 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 15 | .333 | 39 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 70 |
| Air Force | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | .231 | 32 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 35 | 56 |
| Holy Cross | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .194 | 22 | 38 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 52 |
| Championship: March 20, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Coaches
### Records

| Team | Head coach | Season at school | Record at school | Atlantic Hockey record |
| Air Force | Frank Serratore | 24 | 407–368–92 | 208–120–63 |
| American International | Eric Lang | 5 | 67–69–14 | 57–42–13 |
| Army | Brian Riley | 17 | 189–294–81 | 157–208–75 |
| Bentley | Ryan Soderquist | 19 | 247–325–81 | 187–195–72 |
| Canisius | Trevor Large | 4 | 41–56–13 | 34–39–10 |
| Holy Cross | Bill Riga | 6 | 80–104–34 | 70–68–30 |
| Mercyhurst | Rick Gotkin | 33 | 564–447–95 | 227–178–55 |
| Niagara | Jason Lammers | 4 | 40–59–12 | 33–39–12 |
| RIT Tigers | Wayne Wilson | 22 | 382–265–71 | 209–131–48 |
| Robert Morris | Derek Schooley | 16 | 191–153–42 | 125–99–39 |
| Sacred Heart | C. J. Marottolo | 12 | 136–227–43 | 109–158–37 |

## Statistics
### Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Position | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Nick Prkusic | Senior | Robert Morris | 26 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 14 |
| Randy Hernández | Freshman | Robert Morris | 26 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 2 |
| Grant Herbert | Junior | Robert Morris | 26 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 18 |
| Will Calverley | Junior | RIT | 17 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 4 |
| Keaton Mastrodonato | Sophomore | Canisius | 20 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 6 |
| Carson Brière | Freshman | Mercyhurst | 22 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 10 |
| Jake Hamacher | Senior | RIT | 19 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 4 |
| Elijah Gonsalves | Sophomore | RIT | 19 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 22 |
| Nick Jenny | Senior | Robert Morris | 26 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 4 |
| Brennan Kapcheck | Senior | American International | 15 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 8 |
| Dan Willett | Senior | RIT | 19 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 8 |

### Leading goaltenders

Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | Class | Team | GP | Min | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
| Trevin Kozlowski | Senior | Army | 14 | 773 | 25 | 0 | .922 | 1.94 |
| Stefano Durante | Senior | American International | 9 | 491 | 17 | 0 | .906 | 2.07 |
| Chad Veltri | Sophomore | Niagara | 16 | 976 | 38 | 0 | .924 | 2.33 |
| Zack LaRocque | Senior | Air Force | 10 | 377 | 15 | 0 | .910 | 2.39 |
| Jacob Barczewski | Senior | Canisius | 16 | 718 | 29 | 0 | .923 | 2.42 |

## Conference tournament

Teams are reseeded for the semifinals
| First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | First round March 8–9 | Quarterfinals March 12–14 | Quarterfinals March 12–14 | Quarterfinals March 12–14 | Quarterfinals March 12–14 | Quarterfinals March 12–14 | Semifinals March 19 | Semifinals March 19 | Semifinals March 19 | Championship March 20 | Championship March 20 | Championship March 20 |
| | | | E1 | American International | — | — | — | | | | | | |
| E4 | Bentley | 7 | E4 | Bentley | — | — | — | | | | | | |
| E5 | Air Force | 3 | East Division | East Division | East Division | East Division | East Division | E1 | American International | 2 | | | |
| | | | East Division | East Division | East Division | East Division | East Division | W5 | Niagara | 1 | | | |
| | | | E2 | Army | 4 | 4*** | — | | | | | | |
| | | | E3 | Sacred Heart | 0 | 3 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | E1 | American International | 5 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | W2 | Canisius | 2 |
| | | | W1 | Robert Morris | 3* | 2 | 1 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Mercyhurst | 2 | W5 | Niagara | 2 | 3** | 2 | | | | | | |
| W5 | Niagara | 3 | West Division | West Division | West Division | West Division | West Division | E2 | Army | 3 | | | |
| | | | West Division | West Division | West Division | West Division | West Division | W2 | Canisius | 4* | | | |
| | | | W2 | Canisius | 5 | 6 | — | | | | | | |
| | | | W3 | RIT | 2 | 2 | — | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Ranking
### USCHO

| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Final |
| Air Force | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| American International | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 19 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | N/A | 15 |
| Army | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 19 | NR | N/A | NR |
| Bentley | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Canisius | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Holy Cross | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Mercyhurst | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Niagara | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| RIT | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Robert Morris | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 20 | NR | NR | 20 | 17 | 17 | NR | 19 | 19 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Sacred Heart | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

### USA Today

| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Final |
| Air Force | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| American International | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| Army | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Bentley | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Canisius | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Holy Cross | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Mercyhurst | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Niagara | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| RIT | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Robert Morris | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Sacred Heart | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |

## Awards
### NCAA

AHCA All-American Teams :
| East First Team | Position | Team |
| Brennan Kapcheck | D | American International |
| East Second Team | Team | Position |
| Trevin Kozlowski | G | Army |
| Colin Bilek | F | Army |
| Will Calverley | F | RIT |

### Conference tournament

Tournament MVP :
| Justin Cole | Justin Cole | American International |
| All-Tournament team |||
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Stefano Durante | G | American International |
| Logan Gestro | D | Canisius |
| Brennan Kapcheck | D | American International |
| Elijiah Barriga | F | American International |
| Justin Cole | F | American International |
| J. D. Pogue | F | Canisius |