2009 Atlantic Hockey Tournament The 2009 Atlantic Hockey Tournament took place between March 7 and March 21 , 2009 . The regular season co - champions were the Air Force Falcons and the RIT Tigers . The teams split a two - game series at RIT on the last weekend of the regular season to finish with identical 20 - 6 - 2 conference records . Air Force was named the top tournament seed based on the second tie - breaker , head - to - head goal differential . The Falcons extended their AHA records for consecutive appearances in the championship game ( 3 ) , tournament titles ( 3 ) , and consecutive tournament titles ( 3 ) . In three seasons in the AHA , Air Force has lost only one postseason game ( cumulative record 12 - 1 - 0 ) , winning the championship each year . The seeds for the tournament were : Play - in Round . The play - in round was 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 Saturday , March 7 . American International at Holy Cross . Only two penalties were called the entire game , both on AIC . Holy Cross will travel to Rochester to play a quarterfinal series at RIT for the second year in a row . Connecticut at Sacred Heart . UConn plays at Sacred Heart for the second year in a row , although in 2008 it was a three - game series that Sacred Heart won two games to one . Sacred Heart will make the trip to Colorado to face Air Force . 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 13 and 14 , with the third game on March 15 where necessary . In a reversal from 2008 , when 4 of 5 quarterfinal series ended in two games , this year only Mercyhurst was able to muster a sweep . Nonetheless , the top seed prevailed in all four series , just like last year . Sacred Heart at Air Force . Air Force broke a 3 - 3 tie late in the third to win a close game on home ice . The second game was just bizarre . Air Force lost despite out - shooting the Pioneers 43 - 13 for the game . Andrew Volkening made only nine saves for the Falcons , while Stefan Drew made 42 for the visiting Pioneers . Air Force went 0 - for - 12 on the power play . Even more bizarre , Sacred Heart was held without a shot on goal for the entire second period , " yet they still scored " in that period . Sacred Heart ' s Eric Giosa lost a faceoff deep in the Air Force zone , and Air Force ' s Greg Flynn misplayed the pass , backhanding the puck through Volkening ' s five - hole for the rare own - goal . Giosa was credited with a shot and the goal despite losing the faceoff . Air Force shook off the previous night ' s everything - went - wrong loss , coming out with a huge chip on their collective shoulder to thoroughly demolish the Pioneers in the third game . Air Force moves on and will face Bentley in the first semifinal . Holy Cross at RIT . This was the second year in a row these two teams met in the quarterfinals . In 2008 , RIT won two 5 - 4 overtime decisions , on the strength of consecutive hat tricks by senior Matt Smith . RIT was the only home team in the quarterfinals to drop the first game of their series . RIT jumped out to an early lead , despite being outshot by the visiting Crusaders in the first period . The second period reversed the fortunes , as the Tigers poured on the shots but Holy Cross tied the score at 2 . In the third , Holy Cross pulled away with two more goals . RIT pulled within one midway through the third , but Holy Cross got the empty - net goal in the final minute to ice the game . Holy Cross finished 3 - for - 6 on the power play ; this was significant because of their previously weak record with the man advantage and RIT ' s strong record on the penalty kill . This was the first win for Holy Cross against RIT since November 4 , 1983 in the then - annual RIT Tournament . That was RIT ' s first year as a Division III program , after the NCAA discontinued Division II play . RIT had been 14 - 0 - 0 against the Crusaders in that span , including 10 - 0 - 0 since moving to Division I . In the second game , RIT was looking for revenge . RIT scored the only goal in the first period . In a wild second period , though , RIT would score only to be answered almost immediately by Holy Cross . The Crusaders pulled within one goal three times in the second , then once more in the third . Finally , the Tigers made their two - goal lead stick with a power play goal late in the third , pulling the series even at 1 . Special teams were again important in this game , as each team had a short - handed goal . Both teams came out desperate to win the third game . The game started almost identically to the first game , with RIT jumping to a 2 - 0 lead after one , despite getting badly outshot by the Crusaders . ( Although unlike in the first game , the first of those goals was scored shorthanded . ) The second period started out very similar to the second game ' s second period , with Holy Cross pulling within one goal three times . They first did so in just the second minute of the period . Twice RIT re - established their two - goal lead , and twice Holy Cross scored less than a minute later to pull back within one . After a violent hit on RIT senior netminder Louis Menard , the Tigers roared back for good , scoring on the ensuing power play , then twice more for a five - goal stanza and a four - goal lead . The eight total goals for that period are an Atlantic Hockey playoff record for scoring in a period . To start the third , Holy Cross replaced goaltender Ian Dams with Adam Roy . RIT had a brief scare as Holy Cross pulled within 2 , but RIT answered less than a minute later to re - establish their 3 - goal lead . The Tigers iced the game with an empty - netter with one minute remaining . The final score , with 14 goals scored between the two teams , is an Atlantic Hockey playoff record . The nine goals for RIT is the most they ' ve ever scored at the Division I level , two more than their previous mark . The last time RIT scored at least nine goals was February 18 , 2005 , a 12 - 2 Division III win over the Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen . RIT advances to play Mercyhurst in the second semifinal . Army at Mercyhurst . In 2008 , Mercyhurst beat # 1 seed Army during the Lakers ' grueling championship weekend , which started with a win against Sacred Heart and finished with a double - overtime loss to Air Force in the championship game . Army was looking for revenge this year , but Mercyhurst was considered the clear favorite . Indeed , the Lakers prevailed in two games , the only team to do so in this round of the tournament . Mercyhurst advances to face RIT in the second semifinal . Canisius at Bentley . In the deciding third game , Bentley scored just 14 seconds into the game . Canisius goaltender Andrew Loewen was chased midway through the second , but the score was already 4 - 1 . Although his replacement Dan Morrison allowed no further goals , and Canisius poured on the shots in the third period , only one evaded Bentley netminder Joe Calvi , and Bentley won the series 2 - 1 . Bentley advances to face Air Force in the first semifinal . Semi - finals . The teams would have been reseeded for this round , if necessary . Championship weekend was again held at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester , New York . The semifinal games took place on Friday , March 20 , with the winners meeting on Saturday , March 21 . There was no consolation game . Bentley vs . Air Force . This matchup guaranteed that the Falcons would play in the final — it was just a question of " which " Falcons . Bentley played a good game but the Air Force team that went 13 - 0 to start the season was on full display here , making the previous week ' s embarrassing loss to Sacred Heart seem all the more like a fluke . Air Force moves on to face Mercyhurst in the final for the second year in a row . Mercyhurst vs . RIT . RIT had earlier swept Mercyhurst at Ritter Arena in December . After that , plus a tie at Canisius and getting swept at Army , Mercyhurst looked to be in bad shape , but they came back to go 12 - 2 - 1 to finish the regular season . They then swept Army to prove that the earlier losses to the Black Knights meant nothing . They were out to prove the same thing about the RIT sweep , and then to avenge their loss to Air Force in last year ' s championship game . After last year ' s 5 - 0 drubbing at the hands of Air Force , RIT was out to prove they can advance past the semifinal round , and then to get revenge against the Falcons . It was not to be , however , as Mercyhurst took advantage of nearly every miscue the Tigers made . Mercyhurst opened the scoring with a fluky goal just 37 seconds in . An RIT player misplayed the puck behind his own net , and the puck squirted out in front to Laker Neil Graham , who banged it home past an unsuspecting Jared DeMichiel ( who was making his first postseason start ) . RIT appeared to take control with three unanswered goals extending into the second period ( including two power play goals , one of them 5 - on - 3 ) , but Mercyhurst took advantage of an unusually error - prone RIT penalty kill to even the score with a pair of man - advantage tallies . In the third , both teams fought hard . Mercyhurst got another power play goal just 31 seconds in to take their first lead of the night . RIT tried for more than eighteen minutes to tie it up to no avail . Finally , just as DeMichiel reached the bench and the extra attacker arrived , freshman Cameron Burt got the equalizer with exactly one minute left to force overtime . In overtime , DeMichiel made several acrobatic saves to withstand an early Laker flurry , only to be answered by Mercyhurst goalie Ryan Zapolski as RIT couldn ' t net the winner . Play then swung back into the RIT end and Chris Risi lifted the final goal just past DeMichiel ' s shoulder . In seven postseason games since moving to Division I , RIT has never allowed fewer than four goals ( although they have a 4 - 3 record in those games , including 2 - 1 in overtime ) . All four wins have come against Holy Cross . Final . Mercyhurst vs . Air Force . This year ' s final was a rematch of the previous year ' s championship game , in which Air Force netted the winner shortly after the start of the second overtime . This year would not be as close ; despite Mercyhurst ' s very high - powered offence , Air Force and Andrew Volkening extended their shutout streak to seven periods . Air Force captures its second straight Atlantic Hockey championship and the conference ' s autobid to the NCAA tournament . All - Tournament Team . Matt Fairchild is the Tournament MVP .