The 2024–25 Atlantic Hockey America men's season was the inaugural season of play for Atlantic Hockey America and took place during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The season began on October 4, 2024, and concluded on March 28, 2024, with Bentley losing in the Manchester Regional Semifinal of the NCAA tournament.
This is the only Atlantic Hockey America season, and last Division I season, for American International, which had been a member of AHA's men's predecessor of the Atlantic Hockey Association for that league's entire existence. On November 11, 2024, American International College announced that its men's hockey team would join the bulk of AIC's other sports in the Northeast-10 Conference, which plays the sport under NCAA Division II regulations and does not participate in the Division I championship.
Offseason After the conclusion of the previous season, the men's Atlantic Hockey Association and women's College Hockey America merged to form Atlantic Hockey America. The amalgamation did not change the new league's arrangement as the same number of teams were on the men's side. The standings, conference schedules, and tournament all continued without alteration.
Coaches Army head coach Brian Riley announced prior to the season that he would retire after this campaign.
Records Team Head coach Season at school Record at school Atlantic Hockey record *Air Force 28 456–436–99 245–168–69American International 9 142–115–28 111–68–23Army 22 242–359–92 199–251–83Bentley 2 16–17–2 12–12–2Canisius 7 100–119–23 78–78–16Holy Cross 4 50–58–9 35–36–7Mercyhurst 37 607–523–107 260–227–67Niagara 8 95–129–24 69–84–24RIT 26 464–314–80 264–160–55Robert Morris 19 286–300–71 142–121–41Sacred Heart 16 188–291–55 154–195–46 * Record in the previous conference.
Standings
Regular season record For its first season as Atlantic Hockey America, the conference had dreadful results in their non-conference play. None of the conference members had a winning record outside of league play while almost half of the programs had one or fewer wins. Unsurprisingly, this left the conference lagging behind in the PairWise with most teams sitting in the bottom quarter of the rankings. Individually, AHA did not fare well against any of the other conferences with the league only able to earn a winning record versus independent programs.
Team TotalAir Force 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–1–1 0–1–0 2–0–0 1–3–0 3–6–1American International 0–1–1 0–0–0 0–1–0 0–3–0 2–0–0 0–0–0 2–5–1Army 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–2–0 0–3–0 0–1–0 0–0–0 0–7–0Bentley 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–2–0 1–3–0 1–0–1 0–0–0 2–5–1Canisius 0–4–0 0–0–0 0–4–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–8–0Holy Cross 0–0–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 1–3–0 0–1–0 0–1–0 1–7–0Mercyhurst 0–2–0 0–2–0 0–3–1 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–7–1Niagara 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–4–1 0–0–0 1–1–0 0–0–0 2–5–1RIT 0–0–0 0–2–0 1–3–0 0–2–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 1–7–0Robert Morris 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–1–0 1–1–0 2–3–0 3–5–0Sacred Heart 0–0–0 0–0–0 2–1–2 1–2–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 3–3–2Overall 0–9–1 0–5–0 4–22–5 3–18–0 7–4–1 3–7–0 17–65–7
Statistics Leading scorers GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes Player Class Team GP G A Pts PIM Senior 26 19 20 39 12 Sophomore 26 11 22 33 4 Sophomore 23 17 14 31 22 Sophomore 26 8 23 31 16 Graduate 25 12 18 30 21 Sophomore 26 8 21 29 10 Freshman 25 9 20 29 10 Junior 26 11 17 28 48 Senior 26 6 18 24 8 Junior 22 7 16 23 4 Senior 25 10 13 23 0
Leading goaltenders Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games. GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average Player Class Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA Senior 26 1547:14 19 5 2 44 2 .940 1.71 Sophomore 14 612:59 7 2 0 19 1 .932 1.86 Junior 24 1425:41 15 8 1 47 8 .921 1.98 Freshman 21 1118:09 14 4 3 37 3 .929 1.99 Senior 25 1495:02 10 13 2 52 3 .919 2.09
Conference tournament
NCAA tournament
Regional semifinals
Game summaryThe game started with BC being able to get the puck in deep while the Falcons could barely get over the blueline. While neither team was able to establish any real zone time, the Eagles were able to get several shots on Connor Hasley in the first few minutes. On one such exchange around the 4-minute mark, Hasley was unable to freeze the puck but got a lucky break when the ref lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle erroneously. Around the same time, Ryan Leonard ran into Hasley after being knocked down and the two forced the net off its moorings. On a later play, Hasley was able to push the net out of place with his leg, continuing an issue that the ice crew had been dealing with since before the start of the match. The game was paused for several minutes to give the maintenance team time to try and reset the pegs. On the ensuing play, Bentley appeared to commit two separate infractions, at least according to the BC faithful, but the referees disagreed. With the Eagles unable to buy a questionable call, Boston College started trying to push Bentley around after the whistle to see if they could goad one of the Falcons into making a mistake. While BC attempted to plant that seed, they persisted with the offensive pressure. The Eagles were able to tilt the ice towards the Falcons' end and set up in the offensive zone and besieged Hasley for several minutes in the middle of the period. A further potential Bentley penalty went uncalled by the referees who appeared to have decided to just let the two teams play. In spite of the lack of power plays, BC led in shots 10–0 halfway through the period. Bentley got a break when BC committed an icing call, giving the Falcons their first offensive zone draw of the game with 9 minutes to play. BC won the faceoff but then immediately iced the puck a second time. The second draw was a little closer but BC still managed to clear the zone. Moments later, the first penalty of the game was on Aidan Hreschuk for crosschecking. Many in the crowd were in disbelief with the borderline call after the earlier plays that had been let go. BC went on the attack during the disadvantage and was able to get a disjointed break on the Benley goal. After the Falcons regain possession they were able to set up their power play and get their first two shots of the match. While he had not seen any action to that point, Jacob Fowler was equal to the task. Once even strength play resumed, BC tried to get right back to their dominant play. Bentley, however, was able to built off their failed power play and finally break through the Boston College defense. Play evened out in the later part of the period but a bad turnover at the far blueline led to a rush up the ice by BC. Leonard found Gabe Perreault open down low and the winger moved around Hasley and slipped the puck into the net. Undaunted, Bentley went on the attack to try and get the goal back but they were unable to get a good shot on goal. With about a minute to play, the BC goal had trouble staying in position so the game was paused for a second time to fix the problem. When play resumed for a second time, BC's upped their offensive pressure. Hasley was forced to scramble but managed to keep the puck out until the horn sounded.
The second began with the two teams exchanging chances off the rush and, after a minute, the net behind Hasley was knocked from its mooring. On the ensuing play, BC was able to halt a Bentley rush but Lukas Gustafsson took a tripping minor in doing so. The Falcons had trouble setting up in the offensive zone but when they were finally able to do so, Ethan Leyh got two solid shots on goal, the second of which beat Fowler. After the ensuing faceoff, BC was able to finally draw it first power play with Jake Black grabbed James Hagens twice. The BC man-advantage was able to get several good looks at the goal but Bentley was able to block several shots while the rest either went wide or were stopped by Hasley. After Bentley iced the puck, the Falcon net was knocked out of place for the third time and the game paused once again to try and resolve the issue. After what was essentially an extra TV timeout, Bentley was able to clear the puck and relieve the pressure. Boston College remained in control for long stretches with occasional counters by Bentley. Near the middle of the period, Hasley bobbled a glove save but with no Eagle nearby the goaltender was able to smother the puck for a faceoff. By the midway point of the game it was apparent that Boston College was the better of the two and Bentley was only in the match thanks to a herculean defensive effort. Even, so, the game was tied and Nik Armstrong-Kingkade nearly gave the Falcons the lead when he hit the post on a solo rush. Just seconds later, the Falcons made a bad line change and were called for too many men. Boston College's second power play appeared to work to perfection and Perreault had a half-open cage but the puck was on edge and his shot went high and wide. Afterwards, the teams took matching minors that didn't change the makeup of the game but did take two of the top players off of the ice. When play resumed, the net behind Hasley was knocked off for the fourth time on the night and the problem was becoming as much of a story in the game as the players. The stoppage helped to kill off the rest of the BC power play as well as slow down the pace of play. The two teams carried the puck up and down the ice but neither was able to generate a good scoring chance for several minutes. With under 3 minutes to play, Bentley got on the attack but hit the post with another shot. The waning moments saw both team trying and failing to break through the defenses and the period ended with the two squads knotted at one.