2010 Atlantic Hockey Tournament The 2010 Atlantic Hockey Tournament took place between March 5 and March 20 , 2010 . The regular season champions were the RIT Tigers . This is RIT ' s third regular - season championship since entering the league in 2006 – 07 , but this is the first year RIT will be the top seed in the tournament . In 2007 , RIT was ineligible for the tournament due to the mandatory probationary period , and in 2009 , they were co - champions but lost the tie - breaker to the Air Force Falcons for the top seed . RIT finished the regular season with a 22 - 5 - 1 conference record , the most wins ever recorded by an Atlantic Hockey team in conference play , and the most wins by RIT since moving to Division I . The seeds for the tournament were : Play - in Round . The play - in round is used to reduce the field of 10 to a standard bracket of 8 teams . The # 7 and # 8 teams hosted the # 10 and # 9 teams on Friday , March 5 , or Saturday , March 6 . American International at Holy Cross . This is a rematch of last year ' s # 7 vs . # 10 game , which Holy Cross won 1 - 0 in overtime . AIC had gone 2 - 0 - 2 against the Crusaders this season , with the wins coming in two low - scoring games , so a slow start to this play - in game seemed to favor AIC . After AIC notched the first goal of the game in the second period , Holy Cross jumped out to a 3 - 1 lead with three goals in a span of 3 : 02 . Starting goalie Ben Meisner was chased in favor of Dan Ramirez , and although Ramirez allowed only one more goal , the damage was done , and AIC once again ends its season after just one playoff game . Holy Cross will travel to Milford to face Sacred Heart . Connecticut at Bentley . Connecticut won the last game of their season , against Mercyhurst , to avoid finishing last in the conference , sending AIC to the bottom slot once again . All of the scoring in this game was in the first period , and the Huskies came out on the right side of a close match to produce the first play - in round upset since 2007 . The Falcons were coming off a season in which they reached the AHA tournament semifinals , but after a decent start to the 2009 - 10 season , the Falcons ended up going just 4 - 12 - 1 in 2010 , and their season ends early . UConn will visit RIT . Quarterfinals . The teams would have been reseeded for this round , if necessary . The quarterfinals were a best - of - three round played at the home rinks of the top four seeds . The games took place on March 12 and 13 , with third games scheduled for March 14 had they been necessary . Unlike last year , when three of the four semifinal games went three games , this year none did , including # 5 Canisius sweeping # 4 Mercyhurst in Erie . Connecticut at RIT . RIT , by finishing first , guaranteed that they won ' t meet Holy Cross in the quarterfinals , which they had the previous two years . The first game was dominated offensively by RIT , who ended up pouring 55 shots on Connecticut freshman goalie Garrett Bartus , 46 of them in regulation time . RIT seemed to be cruising to an easy win when they went up 3 - 0 on a 5 - on - 3 power play goal 7 : 36 into the second period , but Connecticut tied it up with a flurry of second - period goals of their own , including a shorthanded goal that went in when RIT senior goalie Jared DeMichiel misplayed the puck . The third period was scoreless , as was the overtime period until Chris Haltigin ' s rocket of a shot from the point evaded Bartus at the 9 : 54 mark . This game was the first time RIT allowed fewer than four goals against in AHA postseason play ( 4 - 3 - 0 record in seven games ) . In the second game , RIT cruised to the easy victory fans were expecting the previous night . Connecticut was tenacious but RIT ' s greater skill carried the day . This game was the first time RIT allowed fewer than three goals against in AHA postseason play . RIT moves on to face Thruway rival Canisius in the first semifinal . RIT earlier swept Canisius on the last weekend of the regular season to send the Golden Griffins to a fifth - place seeding . Holy Cross at Sacred Heart . Only four penalties were called in the first game , and only one of those was on Sacred Heart . Of Holy Cross ' s three penalties , two were overlapping , leading to Sacred Heart ' s first goal . Matt Gingera scored the second - game winner at 4 : 53 of overtime , as a shot from a gassed Pat Knowlton bounced off of Gingera ' s leg into the net . Sacred Heart will face Air Force in the second semifinal , a rematch of the # 1 / # 4 semifinal in Air Force ' s first AHA tournament in 2006 - 07 . Army at Air Force . Air Force moves on to face Sacred Heart in the second semifinal . Canisius at Mercyhurst . Canisius lost a pair of games at RIT on the last weekend of the series , forcing them into a fifth - place seed and a trip to Erie , rather than having the Lakers visit Buffalo if the seedings had been swapped . But that may have worked out in the Griffins ' favor , as both Mercyhurst and Canisius tend to play well when visiting the other team . The Griffins ' Carl Hudson , a candidate for Defenseman of the Year in Atlantic Hockey , received a 5 - minute major and a 10 - minute misconduct penalty for checking from behind at the 4 : 46 mark of the second period . Mercyhurst capitalized big time , scoring three times on a series of 5 - on - 3 power plays that resulted from a rash of additional Canisius penalties on top of Hudson ' s 5 - minute major . This included an unbelievable sequence . Shortly after the Lakers had tied the score at one , Mercyhurst ' s Mike Gurtler opened the infractions with a high - sticking penalty at 1 : 17 of the second . This was followed by a tripping penalty on Laker Cullen Eddy at 2 : 41 , but Canisius couldn ' t capitalize on the 5 - on - 3 . At 3 : 35 , 18 seconds after Gurtler ' s penalty expired , Golden Griffin Scott Moser went in the box for roughing . 4 - on - 4 play continued until Dave Kostuch ' s hooking penalty at 4 : 29 , giving the Lakers a 4 - on - 3 advantage for 12 seconds . With Eddy coming out of the box at 4 : 41 , the Lakers already had a 5 - on - 3 advantage before Hudson ' s infraction five seconds later at 4 : 46 . With a two - man disadvantage already , Hudson ' s major couldn ' t start counting immediately . When Grant Blakey finally scored for Mercyhurst at 5 : 28 , with seven seconds left in Moser ' s penalty , Hudson ' s 5 - minute major finally started counting down , which meant the Lakers were still 5 - on - 3 when Matt Fennell found the back of the net at 5 : 45 . The Griffins would go on to commit three more penalties , and give up one more goal , before Hudson ' s major expired . Unfortunately for Mercyhurst , that was it for their scoring ; Canisius came back and Ben Parker scored the game - winner seven minutes into the second overtime . Canisius peppered Mercyhurst goalie Ryan Zapolski with 50 shots , and that was just in the first three periods ; their total for the game was 68 shots , with Zapolski stopping 63 . Canisius makes it to the AHA semifinals for the first time since 2004 ; they will face Thruway rival RIT . Semi - finals . The teams would have been reseeded for this round , if necessary . Championship weekend is again being held at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester , New York . The semifinal games took place on Friday , March 19 , with the winners meeting on Saturday , March 20 . There is no consolation game . Canisius vs . RIT . Canisius here got another shot at RIT , who swept them on the last weekend of the season to eliminate the Griffins ' chance of hosting a quarterfinal series . In two previous AHA tournaments , RIT had lost in the semifinals both times , despite the game being played in their backyard , in downtown Rochester . This was the first time the Tigers were in the early semifinal , however . RIT survived an early scare from Canisius . In the Tigers ' two previous games at the Blue Cross Arena ( in the 2009 tournament semifinal against Mercyhurst , and in the October 2009 homecoming game against Colgate ) , RIT had allowed a very early goal and gone on to lose the game . History appeared to be on the verge of repeating itself as Golden Griffin Scott Moser got behind the normally stalwart RIT defense and came in on RIT netminder Jared DeMichiel . This time , though , DeMichiel was ready and held his ground , allowing no goal . After that brief scare , RIT found its game and dominated Canisius the rest of the way , outshooting the Griffins 18 - 6 in the first period ( 30 - 20 for the game ) . DeMichiel pitched the shutout for RIT , their eighth of the season ( the most shutouts in RIT history , including their D - II and D - III days ) . RIT went 3 - for - 8 on the power play , while Canisius , whose in - conference power play percentage was 24 % heading into the contest , went 0 - 7 . RIT advances to the conference final for the first time . Air Force vs . Sacred Heart . The last time Air Force and Sacred Heart met in the semifinals was in 2007 , when # 4 Air Force upset # 1 - seeded Sacred Heart en route to the Falcons ' first of three consecutive AHA trophies and NCAA tournament berths . A very low - scoring match for these two powerhouse teams . Play was very even , and both goaltenders played well throughout the game . Sacred Heart scored the game ' s first goal in the second period , but no other goals were tallied until late in the third . Air Force took a timeout at 18 : 23 of the third , to get an extra attacker out on the ice . Once the puck dropped , it only took Air Force eight seconds and the puck was in the back of the net . The score was tied , and it looked like overtime was on the way . Just 49 seconds later , though , Sacred Heart dashed the Falcons ' newly renewed hopes with a goal of their own . Air Force pulled goalie Andrew Volkening again but couldn ' t get another equalizer . This was Air Force ' s first loss at the Blue Cross Arena ( 6 - 1 record ) . Sacred Heart advances to the final for the first time since 2004 , when they lost 4 - 0 to Holy Cross . Final . Sacred Heart vs . RIT . RIT again started off a bit slow in this match , and again Jared DeMichiel had to make a critical save early . He gave up a rebound that went straight to Sacred Heart ' s Dave Jarman , but made the save on Jarman ' s attempt to keep the game scoreless . Seconds later , Pioneer Dave Berube checked Tiger Tyler Mazzei from behind and into the boards , earning a 5 - minute major and a game misconduct . 28 seconds after Berube went to the locker room , Cameron Burt scored RIT ' s first goal , and the rout was on . RIT scored goals in the first three minutes of the first and second periods , and in the last three minutes of each of the three periods , meaning Sacred Heart never had an opportunity to gain significant momentum . Their best chance was perhaps on a power play in the final minute of the first stanza , but RIT ' s penalty - killing forwards broke out 3 - on - 1 and crashed the net , finally banging the puck home on the third rebound ( Mark Cornacchia ' s third short - handed goal of the season ) . Going up 2 - 0 instead of tied 1 - 1 changed the tenor of the game significantly . DeMichiel ' s shutout bid was broken up by Eric Delong early in the third period , but RIT still had a 5 - 1 lead at that point , so the outcome was never in doubt . RIT takes the Atlantic Hockey autobid and moves on to its first Division I tournament appearance . They were named the # 4 seed in the 2010 East Regional in Albany , New York , where they will face the # 1 seeded ( # 2 overall ) Denver Pioneers . All - Tournament Team . Cameron Burt is the Tournament MVP .