2020–21 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season

The 2020-21 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season was the 73rd season of play for the program, the 25th at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Yellow Jackets represented American International College and were coached by Eric Lang, in his 5th season.
The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, American International's first scheduled game was in late-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of American International's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
American International entered the season needing to replace a great deal of experience on its roster. The Yellow Jackets had more than a third of the previous team's players leave, mostly through graduation, and the remaining upperclassmen would need to remain steady while the coaching staff brought the new players along. The large influx of players included the program's first ever NHL draft pick in Jake Kucharski, a transfer from Providence, which demonstrated how much the program had risen in Eric Lang's short time as head coach. The team got off to a good start, winning their first five matches, but AIC faced its first big test in late December when they played Quinnipiac. The Yellow Jackets were embarrassed in the first game but recovered in the second; though they lost the team did show that it could compete with other ranked teams. As a result the team's national ranking fell just one spot despite losing both games.
AIC played well over the next month, going 8–1 and placing themselves as the team to beat in Atlantic Hockey. Unfortunately, COVID cancellations torpedoed the team's schedule and the Yellow Jackets didn't play a single game over the succeeding 7 weeks. Even the team's quarterfinal match in the conference tournament was scratched due to COVID. When the Jackets finally played a game the team looked a bit out of sorts. They were finally able to knock some of the rust off in the third period of their semifinal game to escape with a 2–1 win. They had to come from behind to win the championship as well but the title gave AIC every league crown for a three-year period, making them the first program to achieve that feat.
Despite a stellar 15–3 record and both conference championships (regular- and post-season) AIC was given the 16th-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and had to face top-seeded North Dakota in the opening round. The Yellow Jackets still appeared rusty at the start of the game, surrendering 4 goals and being outshot 7–13. The huge lead allowed UND to hang back and play defense for the remainder of the match, giving the Jackets few opportunities to cut into the lead. AIC eventually lost 1–5 but the question remains; just how badly was the team affected by their neatly 2-month layoff?
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Austin Albrecht 	Forward 	 	Signed professional contract (Wichita Thunder)
Calvon Boots 	Defenseman	 	Transferred to RIT
Blake Christensen	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Bakersfield Condors)
Patrik Demel 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (Signed with HC Litvínov)
Nate Hooper 	Forward 	 	Transferred to Lakehead
Jānis Jaks 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (Signed with Bakersfield Condors)
Joel Kocur 	Goaltender	 	Graduation
Niko Luka 	Defenseman	 	Graduation
Martin Mellberg 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Almtuna IS)
Jared Pike 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Utah Grizzlies)
Hugo Reinhardt 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Timrå IK)
Zackarias Skog 	Goaltender	 	Graduation (Signed with Västerviks IK)
Jan Štefka 	Forward 	 	Signed professional contract (HC ZUBR Přerov)
Kyle Stephan 	Forward 	 	Graduation
Justin Wilson 	Forward 	 	Left program
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Verners Egle 	Forward 	 	21 	Liepāja, LAT; left program after 1 game (Signed with HK Liepāja)
Zak Galambos 	Defenseman	 	23 	Walnut Creek, CA; transfer from Minnesota State
Aaron Grounds 	Forward 	 	20 	Jamestown, ND
Kyle Jeffers 	Forward 	 	21 	Oviedo, FL
Julius Janhonen	Forward 	 	21 	Espoo, FIN
Jan Kern 	Forward 	 	21 	Praha, CZE
Jake Kucharski 	Goaltender	 	21 	Erie, PA; Selected 197th overall in 2018; transfer from Providence
Darwin Lakoduk 	Forward 	 	20 	Edmonton, AB
Ryan McInchak 	Goaltender	 	21 	Trenton, MI
Sam Miller 	Defenseman	 	21 	Pewaukee, WI
Matthew Rickard	Defenseman	 	21 	Coventry, RI
Nico Somerville	Defenseman	 	21 	Port Alberni, BC
Adam Stacho 	Forward 	 	21 	Trencin, SVK
Michal Stinil 	Forward 	 	21 	Decin, SVK
Justin Young 	Forward 	 	22 	Leduc, AB; transfer from Alaska
==Roster==
As of September 27, 2020.
|}† Egle left the program after playing one game.
==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
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!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	LW 	19 	4 	15 	19 	2
 	LW/RW 	16 	10 	8 	18 	0
 	C/LW 	19 	7 	11 	18 	16
 	D 	19 	0 	18 	18 	10
 	F 	18 	9 	7 	16 	0
 	LW 	16 	7 	6 	13 	6
 	D 	16 	4 	6 	10 	16
 	F 	18 	5 	3 	8 	10
 	C 	16 	3 	5 	8 	4
 	F 	15 	2 	5 	7 	8
 	LW 	17 	2 	5 	7 	31
 	D 	19 	0 	7 	7 	14
 	D 	15 	1 	5 	6 	2
 	D 	16 	2 	3 	5 	6
 	C 	6 	2 	2 	4 	6
 	D/F 	16 	0 	4 	4 	6
 	LW 	17 	0 	4 	4 	2
 	F 	5 	2 	1 	3 	2
 	C 	14 	2 	1 	3 	17
 	LW 	16 	1 	2 	3 	10
 	F 	8 	0 	3 	3 	6
 	F 	1 	1 	0 	1 	0
 	D 	4 	1 	0 	1 	2
 	F 	6 	1 	0 	1 	2
 	RW 	15 	1 	0 	1 	4
 	F 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	W 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	7 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	9 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	G 	13 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	12
Total	 	 	67 	121 	188 	198
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	2 	99 	1 	0 	0 	0 	37 	1 	1.000	0.00
 	7 	319 	5 	0 	0 	9 	98 	1 	.916 	1.69
 	13 	710 	9 	4 	0 	29 	252 	0 	.897 	2.45
 	1 	5:07 	0 	0 	0 	2 	5 	0 	.714 	23.45
Empty Net	- 	8 	- 	- 	- 	0 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	19 	1142 	15 	4 	0 	40 	392 	3 † 	.907 	2.10
† Kucharski and McInchak split a shutout on January 29.
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	19 	20 	19 	20 	20 	19 	17 	15 	16 	16 	16 	16 	15 	15 	- 	- 	 	 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	14 	15 	15 	15 	15 	15 	14 	15 	- 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Player 	Award 	Ref
Brennan Kapcheck	AHCA East First Team All-American 	
Brennan Kapcheck	Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year 	
Chris Dodero 	Atlantic Hockey Best Defensive Forward 	
Brennan Kapcheck	Atlantic Hockey Best Defenseman 	
Justin Cole 	Atlantic Hockey Individual Sportsmanship Award 	
Justin Cole 	Atlantic Hockey Most Valuable Player in Tournament	
Brennan Kapcheck	Atlantic Hockey First Team 	
Tobias Fladeby 	Atlantic Hockey First Team 	
Stefano Durante 	Atlantic Hockey Second Team 	
Elijah Barriga 	Atlantic Hockey Second Team 	
Chris Dodero 	Atlantic Hockey Second Team 	
Nico Somerville 	Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team 	
Aaron Grounds 	Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team 	
Eric Otto 	Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team 	
Stefano Durante 	Atlantic Hockey All-Tournament Team 	
Brennan Kapcheck	Atlantic Hockey All-Tournament Team 	
Elijah Barriga 	Atlantic Hockey All-Tournament Team 	
Justin Cole 	Atlantic Hockey All-Tournament Team 	
==References==
2020–21
Category:2020–21 Atlantic Hockey men's ice hockey season
Category:2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by team
Category:2020–21 in American ice hockey by team