# 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.

## 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 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 |
| 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 | First round March 3–5 | First round March 3–5 | First round March 3–5 | First round March 3–5 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Quarterfinals March 10–12 | Semifinals March 17 | Semifinals March 17 | Semifinals March 17 | Championship March 18 | Championship March 18 | 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

* Niagara won series 2–1

#### (7) Mercyhurst vs. (10) American International

* Mercyhurst won series 2–0

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

* Bentley won series 2–1

### Quarterfinals
#### (1) Canisius vs. (11) Niagara

* Canisius won series 2–1

#### (2) Air Force vs. (8) Bentley

* Air Force won series 2–0

#### (3) Army vs. (7) Mercyhurst

* Army won series 2–1

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

* Robert Morris won series 2–0

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