The Atlantic Hockey tournament was the conference tournament for the Atlantic Hockey Association. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament. The Atlantic Hockey tournament was discontinued after the 2024 edition, following the merger of the CHA and AHA. The tournament is succeeded by the Atlantic Hockey America men's tournament.
History The tournament was first held in 2004—the first year of conference play—following the MAAC ending their hockey sponsorship. The Atlantic Hockey tournament was preceded by the MAAC ice hockey tournament. The final four games were held at Tate Rink in West Point, New York in 2004. The tournament championship moved to the Northford Ice Pavilion in Northford, Connecticut for 2005, then to the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts for 2006. Starting with the 2007 tournament, the final four was moved to a neutral site, the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, the home of the AHL's Rochester Americans. From 2023–24, all tournament games were moved to campus sites, hosted by the higher seeds of each matchup.
Beginning in the 2024–25 season, the Atlantic Hockey Association officially merged with College Hockey America to form Atlantic Hockey America. While the Atlantic Hockey tournament is no longer held, it is succeeded by the Atlantic Hockey America men's tournament.
Tournament results YearWinning teamCoachLosing teamCoachScoreLocationFinals venue2004Holy CrossSacred Heart4–0West Point, New YorkTate Rink2005MercyhurstQuinnipiac3–2 (OT)North Branford, ConnecticutNorthford Ice Pavilion2006Holy Cross (2)Bentley5–2Worcester, MassachusettsHart Center2007Air ForceArmy6–1Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2008Air Force (2)Mercyhurst5–4 (2OT)Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2009Air Force (3)Mercyhurst2–0Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2010RITSacred HeartC.J. Marottolo6–1Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2011Air Force (4)Frank SerratoreRIT1–0Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2012Air Force (5)Frank SerratoreRIT4–0Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2013CanisiusMercyhurst7–2Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2014Robert MorrisCanisius7–4Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2015RIT (2)Mercyhurst5–1Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2016RIT (3)Robert Morris7–4Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2017Air Force (6)Robert Morris2–1Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross Arena2018 Air Force (7) Robert Morris 5–1 Rochester, New York Blue Cross Arena2019 American International Niagara 3–2 (OT) Buffalo, New York Harborcenter2020 Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic Buffalo, New York Harborcenter2021 American International (2) Canisius 5–2 Springfield, Massachusetts MassMutual Center2022 American International (3) Air Force 7–0 Utica, New York Adirondack Bank Center2023 Canisius (2) Holy Cross 3–0 Buffalo, New York LECOM Harborcenter2024 RIT (4) American International 5–2 Henrietta, New York Gene Polisseni Center2025BentleyAndy JonesHoly Cross6-3Worcester, MassachusettsHart Center2026BentleyAndy JonesSacred HeartC.J. Marottolo3-2Waltham, MassBentley Arena
Championship round performance
By school School Championships Appearances Pct. Air Force 7 8 RIT 4 6 Mercyhurst 1 5 American International 3 4 Canisius 2 4 Holy Cross 2 3 Robert Morris 1 4 Sacred Heart 0 2 Army 0 1 Bentley 0 1 Niagara 0 1 Quinnipiac 0 1
By coach Coach Championships Appearances Pct. Frank Serratore 7 8 Wayne Wilson 4 6 Eric Lang 3 4 Paul Pearl 2 2 Rick Gotkin 1 5 Derek Schooley 1 4 Trevor Large 1 2 Dave Smith 1 2 C. J. Marottolo 0 1 Shaun Hannah 0 1 Jason Lammers 0 1 Rand Pecknold 0 1 Ryan Soderquist 0 1 Brian Riley 0 1
Location of tournaments
2004: Tate Rink, West Point, New York 2005: Northford Ice Pavilion, North Branford, Connecticut 2006: Hart Center at the Luth Athletics Complex, Worcester, Massachusetts 2007–18: Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, New York 2019–20: LECOM Harborcenter, Buffalo, New York 2021: MassMutual Center, Springfield, Massachusetts 2022: Adirondack Bank Center, Utica, New York 2023–24: Campus Sites
Formats
2004-2005 The AHA Tournament format begins as a single-game elimination three-round format, with an additional play-in game for the teams the finished eighth and ninth.
2006 After Quinnipiac leaves to join the ECAC, the 8-team conference drops the play-in game from the tournament.
2007 With Air Force and RIT joining the conference, but with RIT's ineligibility for the conference tournament, a play-in game was added for one year.
2008 The opening round becomes a best-of-three with 5 separate series played between all ten of the conference teams with the two remaining lowest-seeded teams playing in a final-five game to determine the last semifinalist. All series after the opening round are single-elimination.
2009-2010 The four lowest-seeded teams play two play-in games to determine the final two qualifiers for the quarterfinals.
2011 With Niagara and Robert Morris joining the conference, the tournament was expanded to have four rounds. The tournament competitors were split into two groups: 'East' and 'West', and each group was arranged to play so that the top two finishers for each group received a bye into the quarterfinals while the remaining four teams in each group played single-elimination games to advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals remained a best-of-three format while the final four stayed as single-elimination games.
2012-2013 The 'East' and 'West' groupings were dropped and the opening round became a best-of-three series with the top four finishers receiving byes into the quarterfinals.
2023 The tournament was shortened to three rounds, with the top eight finishers all appearing in the quarterfinal round. Two best-of-three semifinal series and the AHA championship game were all moved to campus sites and hosted by the higher seed in each matchup.
2024 With Robert Morris rejoining the conference, the tournament was once again expanded to four rounds to include all eleven teams. The top five finishers all received a first round bye while play-in games were held among the remaining six teams to determine the final three quarterfinals participants. Following the merger of the CHA and AHA, 2024 would mark the tournament's final year.
References