American International College
2018-19 Record: 23-17-1 (18-9-1, 1st in Atlantic Hockey)
Head Coach: Eric Lang, 4th Year
Top returning scorer: Blake Christensen (16G-31A)
Top returning goaltender: Zackarias Skog (Sr.)
While this series distills where all 60 D1 men's hockey programs currently are in approximately 600 words, here's one tweet summing up the change in American International College.
I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. Seeing my AIC Hockey backpack a 10 year old from Arizona starts up a conversation about @AIC_Hockey No way that was happening 5 years ago.— Chris Porter (@Ports_Financial) June 26, 2019
My work here is done. That was easy.
Hold on...I'm being told it's not. Onward...
Before last season, AIC never finished above .500 at the Division 1 level. Now the team has both Atlantic Hockey regular-season and conference tournament titles.
Before, the Yellow Jackets were that kid in the corner of the class who never spoke to anyone, leaving us wondering how one was both American and International, or if there's any relation to that school who once played in the Great West Conference. Now, AIC has made noise, upsetting the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and exploding on the scene in 2019 like they're the White Claw of college hockey.
It makes for a story people want to discuss, which speaks well for both the program and college hockey. With the vast majority of a team that scored the most goals in Atlantic Hockey returning, along with its goaltender, AIC has the talent for an encore.
What's New: Expectations and Eric Lang coaching. Okay, the second one is not new, but Lang remaining at AIC was not a given. St. Lawrence made an unsuccessful bid to get the College Hockey News Coach of the Year, who signed an extension with the Yellow Jackets.
Lang sticking around is big for a team now facing expectations for the first time in its D1 era. The best season before 2018-19 saw AIC winning 15 games...in 2017-18. The team was picked to finish fifth in Atlantic Hockey last year. That's not going to happen this time around. Teams will be aiming to avoid the Yellow Jackets' sting.
After going 0-6 in non-conference, American International face three NCAA Tournament teams in Quinnipiac, Massachusetts, and Providence. Both the Bobcats and Friars visit MassMutual Center while the Minutemen and Yellow Jackets play for the rights to Western Massachusetts' best college hockey story.
Closing Thoughts: Before further discussing AIC's follow-up, it should be pointed out the team was 9-11-1 in mid-January.
Even there, without titles and wins, there was growth. Lang is building a program that can/will recruit from anywhere. 15 Europeans dot the roster. (Sorry UConn trendsetters.) That out-of-the-box thinking has other programs wanting to be the next AIC.
For the current version, no team loses fewer goals than the Yellow Jackets. Blake Christensen comes back off a 47 point season, as does his line with 18-goal scorer Tobias Fladeby and Hugo Reinhardt, who scored the OT winner to send AIC to the NCAAs. (Both players scoring against SCSU also return.) Goaltender Zackarias Skog improved to a .915 save percentage over his final 20 games.
College hockey is discussing AIC. As much as it is for winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament and an NCAA game, there is substance behind the Yellow Jacket lifestyle being in the zeitgeist. No AHA team since Air Force in 2011-12 won both the regular season and conference tournament.
Now the discussion turns to how the team responds; whether it's a one-year fad or the start of a long success story.
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