2022–23 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season

The 2022–23 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season was the 75th season of play for the program and 20th in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Yellow Jackets represented American International College, played their home games at MassMutual Center and were coached by Eric Lang, in his 7th season.
==Season==
Coming into the season as the three-time reigning Atlantic Hockey champion, AIC's biggest hurdle for a title was the monumental turnover with the roster. With more than half of the team leaving, coach Lang brought in a mix of freshman and transfers to try and plug the holes in the lineup. While the brain trust in goal had left, the Yellow Jackets managed to retain Blake Bennett, the team's leading scorer from the previous year. Even with the reshuffling on the defensive side, AIC posted nearly identical number, allowing 2.45 goals per game. Senior Jarrett Fiske ended up with the lion's share of minutes while transfer Alexandros Aslanidis proved to be a capable backup. The retooled offense was nearly as strong, scoring slightly fewer goals per game. Unfortunately, AIC's overall performance wasn't quite up to the championship standards.
The team got off to a decent start, posting winning records both in and outside their conference. November, however, was not kind to the Yellow Jackets and the team lost four conference matches. From that point on, the Yellow Jackets were playing catchup with RIT. AIC played well for the rest of the regular season, not losing consecutive games for the remainder of the regular season, but they could never match the Tigers and ended up 2nd in the league standings.
Because of the team's poor non-conference results, AIC finished well below the cutoff line for an at-large bid and would have to win the conference tournament to return to the NCAA tournament. The Yellow Jackets opened against Holy Cross and won the first game comfortably. After that the team appear to lose all of its momentum and were outplayed by the Crusaders. AIC was outshot 44–91 in the following two games but the disparity in talent allowed the matches to remain close. After a narrow defeat in the second game, AIC got into a dogfight with Holy Cross in the deciding game. The Yellow Jackets fell behind on three separate occasions but were able to tie the game each time and force the game into overtime. While the play was a little more even in the extra session, the team was unable to stop the Crusaders from netting the winning goal and ending the season for the Yellow Jackets.
==Departures==
Elijiah Barriga 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Dundee Stars)
Alec Calvaruso 	Goaltender		Signed professional contract (Greenville Swamp Rabbits)
Justin Cole 	Forward 		Graduation (retired)
Chris Dodero 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with HK Olimpija)
Zak Galambos 	Defenseman		Transferred to Western Michigan
Santeri Hartikainen	Forward 		Transferred to Long Island
Hunter Johannes 	Forward 		Transferred to Lindenwood
Jake Kucharski 	Goaltender		Transferred to Omaha
Luka Maver 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Pioneers Vorarlberg)
Ryan McInchak 	Goaltender		Transferred to Cornell
Parker Revering 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Brian Rigali 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers)
Jake Stella 	Forward 		Transferred to Massachusetts Lowell
Michal Stinil 	Forward 		Signed professional contract (Wichita Thunder)
Chris Theodore 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Union
Chris Van Os-Shaw 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Indy Fuel)
Justin Young 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Allen Americans)
==Recruiting==
Andrew Amousse 	Forward 		21	Laval, QC
Alexandros Aslanadis	Goaltender		21	Morristown, NJ; transfer from Western Michigan
Joshua Barnes 	Forward 		20	Cornwall, ON
Jordan Biro 	Forward 		22	Sherwood Park, AB; transfer from Colorado College
Brennan Boynton 	Goaltender		22	Champlin, MN; transfer from Minnesota
Grayson Dietrich 	Forward 		20	Calgary, AB
Oscar Geschwind 	Forward 		21	Karlstad, SWE; transfer from Northern Michigan
Timofei Khokhlachev 	Forward 		20	Moscow, RUS
Troy Kobryn 	Goaltender		23	Hillsborough, NJ; transfer from Merrimack
Alexander Malinowski	Forward 		21	Linköping, SWE
Dustin Manz 	Forward 		22	Vanderbilt, MI; transfer from Lake Superior State
Hunter McCurdy 	Defenseman		21	Mokena, IL
Casey McDonald 	Forward 		21	Kindersley, SK
Jake Rosenbaum 	Defenseman		25	Laguna Niguel, CA; graduate transfer from Minnesota Duluth
Brett Rylance 	Forward 		21	Edmonton, AB
Jake Sacratini 	Forward 		21	Pincourt, QC
Casper Söderling 	Defenseman		21	Stockholm, SWE
==Roster==
As of September 15, 2022.
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==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	F	38	22 	13 	35 	35
 	F	38	11 	20 	31 	2
 	F	39	10 	14 	24 	17
 	D	35	6 	17 	23 	38
 	F	31	11 	11 	22 	12
 	F	38	8 	14 	22 	24
 	F	34	7 	13 	20 	8
 	F	33	8 	11 	19 	8
 	D	35	2 	16 	18 	10
 	D	33	2 	15 	17 	10
 	F	35	8 	8 	16 	6
 	D	39	2 	13 	15 	35
 	F	35	7 	5 	12 	22
 	F	21	5 	4 	9 	6
 	F	31	4 	5 	9 	19
 	F	18	5 	3 	8 	10
 	F	35	3 	5 	8 	43
 	D	35	0 	7 	7 	10
 	F	18	2 	2 	4 	4
 	F	30	0 	3 	3 	18
 	G	26	0 	2 	2 	0
 	F	6 	1 	0 	1 	0
 	F	9 	0 	1 	1 	2
 	F	13	0 	1 	1 	10
 	F	3 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G	3 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F	4 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	D	4 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G	16	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F	25	0 	0 	0 	2
 	D	26	0 	0 	0 	2
Total	 	 	124	203	327	369
==Goaltending statistics==
 	16	728:03 	8 	3 	1	26	311 	2	.923	2.14
 	26	1435:04	10	8 	6	57	682 	2	.923	2.38
 	9 	193:39 	0 	3 	0	9 	78 	0	.897	2.79
 	3 	20:00 	0 	0 	0	1 	8 	0	.889	3.00
Empty Net	- 	22:38 	- 	- 	-	5 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	39	2399:24	18	14	7	98	1079	4	.917	2.45
==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	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 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 	27 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR 	- 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	- 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	- 	NR
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.
==References==
2022–23
Category:2022–23 Atlantic Hockey men's ice hockey season
Category:2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by team
Category:2023 in sports in Massachusetts
Category:2022 in sports in Massachusetts