2015 Atlantic Hockey Tournament

The 2015 Atlantic Hockey Tournament was the 11th Atlantic Hockey Tournament. It was played between March 6 and March 21, 2015, at campus locations and at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. The tournament was won by the RIT Tigers. By winning the tournament, RIT earned Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The tournament format changed this year because the Connecticut Huskies left the league for Hockey East, leaving 11 teams. Under the new format, the top five (instead of four) seeds all receive a bye into the quarterfinals, but the fifth seed doesn't host a quarterfinal series.

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 2015 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

2014–15 Atlantic Hockey standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Robert Morris 281954421066637248513390
Canisius28157636786037181279582
#16 RIT *281495339062402015512196
Bentley281495337667371715510092
Mercyhurst28141133190873919164116122
Holy Cross281211529686137141858487
Air Force28131232982824116214109130
Sacred Heart2810126267782381319696113
Army28816420608434822468108
American International284177156910736425787155
Niagara285194146510339728485157
Championship: March 21, 2015
indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 23, 2015

Bracket

RIT and Bentley finished tied for third place; RIT is the third seed based on the third tiebreaker (head-to-head goal differential). Air Force and Holy Cross finished tied for sixth place; Holy Cross is the sixth seed based on the first tiebreaker (head-to-head results).

  First round
March 6–8
Quarterfinals
March 13–15
Semifinals
March 20
Championship
March 21
                                             
  1 Robert Morris 4 6 1 Robert Morris 3  
6 Holy Cross 1 2*** 3 11 Niagara 2 3 5 Mercyhurst 4*  
11 Niagara 2 1 5
  2 Canisius 2 2
7 Air Force 6 10 8 Sacred Heart 0 1     3 RIT 5
10 American International 1 3   5 Mercyhurst 1
  3 RIT 2 7
8 Sacred Heart 2 5 7 Air Force 1 3
9 Army 0 2
  4 Bentley 0 5 2 2 Canisius 1
  5 Mercyhurst 1* 3 3 3 RIT 2  

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

(6) Holy Cross vs. (11) Niagara

Niagara won series 2–1

(7) Air Force vs. (10) American International

Air Force won series 2–0

(8) Sacred Heart vs. (9) Army

Sacred Heart won series 2–0

(1) Robert Morris vs. (11) Niagara

Robert Morris won series 2–0

(2) Canisius vs. (8) Sacred Heart

Canisius won series 2–0

(3) RIT vs. (7) Air Force

RIT won series 2–0

(4) Bentley vs. (5) Mercyhurst

Mercyhurst won series 2–1

(1) Robert Morris vs. (5) Mercyhurst

(2) Canisius vs. (3) RIT

(3) RIT vs. (5) Mercyhurst

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

  • G Brandon Wildung (Mercyhurst)
  • D Brady Norrish (RIT)
  • D Matt Abt (RIT)
  • F Matt Garbowsky* (RIT)
  • F Brad McGowan (RIT)
  • F Andrew Miller (RIT)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[1]

References

  1. "RIT defeats Mercyhurst to claim second Atlantic Hockey Championship". Atlantic Hockey Association. 2015-03-21. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-03-22.
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