60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): RIT

Rochester Institute of Technology

2018-19 Record: 17-17-4 (13-11-4, 5th in Atlantic Hockey)
Head Coach: Wayne Wilson, 21st Year
Top returning scorers: Adam Brubacher (7G-24A) and Jake Hamacher (14G-16A)
Top returning goaltender: Logan Drackett (Jr.)

Credit to RIT. The goaltending and defense improved last season. Up until the point where the Tigers lost in OT to end the year, RIT found itself in a scoreless goalie duel with Niagara. Doing so didn't seem too far away from being normal.

It helped RIT gave up on average half a goal less per game. Logan Drackett, who a season ago had the lowest save percentage nationally of any goalie playing more than 50%, ended 2018-19 with a .911% save percentage. In response, the Tigers enter 2019-20 coming off its best season since back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2015 and 2016.

However, that is not to say RIT's offense stopped being an old standby. The team nearly averaged 3 goals per game and found itself in a fair share of shootouts. (See: Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal with Sacred Heart or a 5-4 win over UMass Lowell.) Erik Brown followed up a 29 goal season with 18 more in his final season. Four players ended up with double-digit goals.

What's New: The Tigers remain under Wayne Wilson for the extended future. RIT extended the longtime head coach through the 2024-25 season.

To start, RIT has an action-packed beginning to the season. The Tigers go to Toledo to represent Atlantic Hockey in the 2019 Ice Breaker tournament, facing Bowling Green (WCHA) and either Ohio State (Big Ten) or Western Michigan (NCHC). Afterward, RIT hosts Merrimack in its annual homecoming game at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. It's a game that draws Atlantic Hockey's largest crowd each year.

Wilson's newest class is made up of forwards who can score and help replace Brown and Abbot Girduckus. Of the team's seven first-year players, five of them play up front. All five scored at least 20 goals in their last season of juniors, led by Colton Trumbla leading the Ontario Junior Hockey League in goals with 34 in 34 games.

Closing Thoughts: With RIT's special day today happening, this marks the end of Atlantic Hockey for a while. Ten teams have been previewed. Only one team in the conference remains. Throughout writing these, several themes arose. The unexpected has become the status quo in the conference.

Then there is RIT, who showed getting solid goaltending and defense is the difference between sixth and fifth. It's not pretty or surprising. If anything, that's a normal response outside of a conference where the team picked to finish first ends up last and two historically downtrodden programs finish first and second overall. (Okay, one bit of AHA weirdness: RIT went 4-0-0 against Atlantic Hockey champion AIC, who of course upsets the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.)

Overall, continuing down that road, getting contributions on both sides of the ice and improving on both sides, is the way RIT improves from a .500 finish. Of course, it helps if that defense can contribute offensively and RIT has it in Adam Brubacher. The Tigers No. 1 D, in a year where many of the nation's top offensive blueliners have departed, returns for his senior season as the team's leading scorer. As Niagara already knows, he should be one to watch down to the game's final second...


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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Dartmouth

Dartmouth

2018-19 Record: 13-17-4 (10-9-3, T-5th in ECAC)
Head Coach: Bob Gaudet, 23rd Year
Top returning scorers: Quin Foreman (13G-15A) and Drew O'Connor (17G-9A)
Top returning goaltender: Adrian Clark (Sr.)

Sometimes Dartmouth hockey can get overlooked. It's weird to say given the Big Green - America's Team - have one of college hockey's best social media presences, but that does not always translate to discussing Dartmouth's on-ice play in Hanover, NH. The team hasn't been the most buzzworthy Ivy for either good or bad reasons. They haven't recently contended for an ECAC title or NCAA Tournament berth yet haven't been in the conference cellar either.

That can also materialize in being overlooked for awards and honors. So let's dig in and discuss Dartmouth hockey itself rather than photos of dogs and nicknames.

Dartmouth enters 2019-20 in a familiar spot. While the record is slightly down thanks to a worse non-conference slate, once again the team finished tied for fifth in ECAC with 23 points. (The postseason repeated as well - beating St. Lawrence in three before losing to Harvard.) Adrian Clark, who became the sole #1 starter after platooning with Devin Buffalo, was nowhere in the middle. On one hand, he was fourth nationally with a Dartmouth-record six shutouts. On the other hand, Clark had seven games where he gave up four or more goals.

The Big Green returned 83% of its goals from 2017-18 and ended up improving upon that total. One big reason for the improvement on offense? Freshman forward Drew O'Connor.

Of returning ECAC players, only Clarkson's Harald Egle had more goals than O'Connor's 17. Still, O'Connor ended up not being named to an All-ECAC team, not even making the ECAC all-rookie team.

What's New: Six freshmen join Gaudet's team. Four of the six play on the blue line, including Tanner Palocsik and journeyman Jack Cameron, who has gone from his native Novia Scotia to New England to the BCHL during his juniors career. Palocsik was named the NCDC MVP for his play with the USPHL's New Jersey Hitman.

Dartmouth hosts St. Lawrence, UConn and Colorado College in the always-prestigious Ledyard Classic. The past two champions each reached the Frozen Four.

Additionally, November 9th marks Darmouth hosting Princeton and the eventual tossing of tennis balls in one of college hockey's weirdest traditions.

Closing Thoughts: For the most part, the Big Green is a good example for a team in the middle of this series. It's easy to discuss what has been going wrong for the bottom 20. It's easy to discuss what has been going right for the top 20. It's not so easy to discuss the highs and lows of mediocrity.

Sure, that's also one of the reasons why Dartmouth's social media presence is so fantastic. It gets us to discuss a team that would get lost among 20 others. However, that doesn't always bring forth the on-ice accomplishments outside of upsetting Denver or routing Quinnipiac.

The challenge for Dartmouth this season is going to be an improvement to where someone like O'Connor, who had goals in six of his final seven games, does not get overlooked by the Ivies and ECAC alongside linemates Will Graber and Quin Foreman. Do the freshmen defensemen step in immediately and help Clark?

Can the team stand out and avoid the same exact finish for a third straight year?

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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Miami

Miami

2018-19 Record: 11-23-4 (5-17-2, T-7th in NCHC)
Head Coach: Chris Bergeron, 1st Year
Top returning scorer: Gordie Green (11G-14A)
Top returning goaltender: Ryan Larkin (Sr.)

I'd be lying if it wasn't sad and difficult to watch the bottom falling out on Miami's season. No team was worse in its final 20 games. The RedHawks went 2-17-1, had a -2.25 goal margin, were outshot by an average of 12.05 shots per game and found ways to lose several games that Miami looked to be on its way to winning.

Enrico Blasi's last chance reached a point only former UW coach Mike Eaves hit in recent years where, as much as it saddened me to see happen, not firing Blasi would speak more to Miami's commitment to hockey than letting him go. Firing both assistants the previous year didn't seem to be the difference. Bringing in top tier recruits didn't either.

Injuries and early departures aside, the RedHawks - a program so highly thought of to begin the decade to where Blasi was linked to every top college job - struggled since realignment and joining the NCHC. Something needed to change.

What's New: Enter Chris Bergeron.

Bergeron, an assistant at Miami under Blasi for 10 seasons, was seen as the top choice before and after Miami officially fired Blasi on March 19th after 20 years. The Bowling Green head coach previously took the Falcons back to the NCAA Tournament after a 29-year absence, turning around a program that appeared to be on death's doorstep. After some an attempt by BGSU to keep him, Bergeron took the job April 4th.

Getting Bergeron aboard is by far the biggest change for the RedHawks. (He brings with him former St. Cloud State women's hockey head coach Eric Rud and Bergeron's longtime BGSU assistant Barry Schutte as associate head coaches.) His first season will happen without John Gruden (no, not that one), who signed a pro contract with Ottawa after his freshman year and will play major junior next season.

However, the RedHawks will get Holy Cross transfer Matt Berry at midseason. Berry, who was leading the Crusaders in scoring at the time of his departure, has to sit out the first

Closing Thoughts: The situation in Oxford shares similarities with the one in Minneapolis last offseason, down to Bergeron being an Ohio Motzko in the eyes of Bowling Green faithful.

Miami closes the book on the Enrico Blasi era - nearly 400 wins, two Frozen Fours and about as close to a national championship as one team can get - by bringing back to Goggin Ice Center a Blasi assistant from those golden years. Bergeron returns with the task of turning around Miami's fortunes just as he did for BGSU.

As strange as it may be to say a decade ago when the team was a regular NCAA Tournament fixture and national championship contender, the RedHawks have dropped below both Ohio's other two teams and the rest of NCHC. Ohio State reached the Frozen Four and won the Big Ten regular season in its past two seasons. Bowling Green came within two minutes of winning the WCHA conference tournament and took the eventual national champion to overtime.

Bergeron returning Miami to that level will take longer than a single season. It will take a commitment, one game at a time, even if it doesn't happen this year.

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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Vermont

Vermont

2018-19 Record: 12-19-3 (5-16-3, 10th in Hockey East)
Head Coach: Kevin Sneddon, 17th Year
Top returning scorers: Max Kaufman (8G-13A) and Joey Cipollone (9G-7G)
Top returning goaltender: Stefanos Lekkas (Sr.)

How much of a bright spot in Vermont's dismal season was goaltender Stefanos Lekkas? The then-Catamounts junior was in a tier of his own. Nine of ten 2019 Mike Richter Award finalists (given to the top goalie in men's D1 hockey) were on winning teams who made the NCAA Tournament.

The tenth? Lekkas.

Unfortunately for Vermont and him, it came in a year where the Catamounts needed stellar goaltending to keep in games rather than steal them. No one nationally played more of their team's minutes in net than Lekkas, the only Vermont goalie to see the ice in 2018-19. No one gave the Catamounts a better chance to win each night. He ended the year with a .930 save percentage on Hockey East's 10th place team.

Vermont's offense, for a second consecutive season, ended among the nation's bottom-ten teams (2.12 goals per game). No player hit the double-digit mark in goals and the team only hit the three-goal mark 11 times.

What's New: Another bright spot for Vermont was success in non-conference play. The team had more wins in 10 non-conference games (7) than 24 Hockey East games, starting the season by defeating Michigan at Yost Arena. Its non-conference success was one reason the Catamounts ended up as high in the final Pairwise rankings as it did.

Vermont's 2019-20 non-conference, on paper, seems to be tougher. Where the Catamounts were able to take advantage of a three-game stretch at home against Alabama Huntsville, RPI and Sacred Heart, the team plays three different 2019 NCAA Tournament teams (Clarkson, Quinnipiac and Arizona State) all on the road. Only one non-conference opponent (St. Lawrence) finished below Vermont in the Pairwise.

Another Stalberg, a last name well known to Vermont hockey fans, is expected to be on campus. Whim Stalberg, cousin of former Catamounts Viktor and Sebastian, verbally committed to Vermont in April.

While Lekkas returns, defenseman Jake Massie departed after his junior season by signing with the Florida Panthers.

Closing Thoughts: Honestly, the upcoming season should be one to tell Vermont's future.

A big reason has to do with head coach Kevin Sneddon entering 2019-20 in the final season of a three-year contract. Not often does a school allows a bench boss to coach out their contract, but it makes sense with Vermont and Sneddon. No one is getting an extension after a combined 22 wins in two seasons. He's been with Catamounts long enough and had success - taking UVM to the 2009 Frozen Four - to be given a last chance to right the ship.

It's fair to say Vermont has gone adrift in the five seasons without an NCAA appearance. Several Hockey East schools have surpassed the Catamounts. Several elite forwards who committed to Vermont young have not developed into elite college hockey forwards. That development, going hand-in-hand with Lekkas' season, would be a different story.

Getting back Lekkas is massive. If there is another bright spot, it's that a team who had 18 underclassmen is another year older. There will need to be an improvement because the brightness of a Frozen Four appearance ten years ago can, as tomorrow's preview knows all too well, eventually dim out of sight.

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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Bentley

Bentley

2018-19 Record: 17-15-5 (15-9-4, 2nd in Atlantic Hockey)
Head Coach: Ryan Soderquist, 18th Year
Top returning scorers: Luke Santero (11G-25A) and Jonathan Desbiens (15G-16A)
Top returning goaltender: Aidan Pelino (Sr.)

Let's kick off the middle third of the "60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less)" series with Bentley and working our way through a bunch of firsts for Ryan Soderquist's program.

The team rolled into the year with the program's first-ever NHL draft pick, Jakov Novak (Ottawa Senators), suiting up for Soderquist in its first full season in a new arena. Bentley started slow and only won a single non-conference game, but it was a program-changer. The Falcons went on the road nine miles east to Boston College and defeated BC for the first time in school history.

And Bentley had a season where the Falcons went from second-to-last in Atlantic Hockey to second-to-first. Okay, there's no real first in that previous sentence. However, it does lead to another one. Since the Falcons joined MAAC/Atlantic Hockey in 1999-2000, Bentley's second-place finish stands as the highest regular-season finish for the program.

What's New: Besides a series of firsts? One thing new for Bentley and the rest of Atlantic Hockey is the addition of 3-on-3 OT and shootout. AHA is the first Eastern conference (and the fourth of six NCAA D1 men's hockey conferences) to adopt the OT method for deciding conference points.

Joel Beal, previously at Sacred Heart and Miami, joins Bentley as an assistant coach.

The Falcons also welcome New Hampshire, St. Lawrence (former team of Sam Kauppila), Brown, and Arizona State to Bentley Arena, continuing a trend of brand name non-conference visitors.

All four opponents are for one game apiece. (Bentley also travels to Dartmouth for a two-game non-conference series, returning the favor after the Big Green played at Bentley Arena last season.) Single-game or not, it speaks to how the new rink has raised the bar for talent and more since opening in February 2018.

Closing Thoughts: Along with the caliber of non-conference visitors to an Atlantic Hockey rink on the outskirts of Boston, the expectations for Bentley have gone up since the Falcons broke free of the JAR. The program is getting the train moving out of the station (although since this is Bentley, maybe it's more the car is getting out of the garage) towards the next tier.

Whether it's a 12-game unbeaten streak to kick off 2019 or developing players such as Novak and Luke Santero, there are reasons for Bentley to look up. This season marks a point where more players were recruited with the new arena. On the blue line, the Falcons played well when Luke Orysiuk was in the lineup. It's something to continue for a team that gets back the majority of its core yet needs to replace the graduated Tanner Jago. Aidan Pelino made the most of his first season not in a goalie platoon.

Despite the optimism, Bentley's run of firsts does come with a couple caveats. No team in Atlantic Hockey had a higher PDO last season. It's just as possible for the Falcons to regress to the mean than keep a conference-leading goal margin while being outshot.

There's also the deal of losing again in the conference quarterfinals leaving another first unchecked: making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

2018-19 Record: 16-17-4 (14-11-3, 4th in Atlantic Hockey)
Head Coach: CJ Marottolo, 11th Year
Top returning scorer: Austin Magera (14G-13A)
Top returning goaltender: Josh Benson (So.)

While the record might not jump off the page at first glance, Sacred Heart is coming off its best season in a decade.

To be fair, this time around that might not last another decade. The Pioneers return the vast majority of a team that went 11-5-2 over its final 18 games and will be another year older. Only four teams got more offensive production from its underclassmen (1.89 goals per game) and two of those faced off for the national title. Two of the team's first-year players - forward Austin Magera and goaltender Josh Benson - were named to the Atlantic Hockey all-rookie team. It comes a year after now-junior forward Marc Johnstone earned the same honor.

So there are reasons to believe Sacred Heart, a season removed from the cellar and a team not finishing above seventh since 2009-10, has the capabilities to top last season's fourth-place finish in Atlantic Hockey.

What's New: The Pioneers unofficially host college hockey's newest attempt at an in-season tournament for in-state bragging rights (and in this case what I assume would be a pizza on a rectangular sheet pan).

The first version of the Connecticut Ice Festival (AKA the Nutmeg State's Beanpot) will be January 25-26 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, where Sacred Heart plays. Besides the Pioneers, the college hockey tournament features Connecticut, Quinnipiac, and Yale. Beyond the event will be a larger weekend celebration of Connecticut hockey from youth to the college level throughout the state.

Marottolo will have eight first-year players - four forwards, three defenders and a goalie - on his team this fall. That includes defender Jeppe Urup, forward Tim Clifton (no, not that one although both are from Monmouth County, NJ and went to CT colleges) and Alberta Junior Hockey League Goaltender of the Year Luke Lush, the first player in Sacred Heart history to come from the AJHL.

Closing Thoughts: It speaks to where Sacred Heart has been when the best season in a decade is a .500 record before the postseason. (At the same time, it speaks to Atlantic Hockey where SHU's finish is not the biggest surprise by any means.) The Pioneers built upon a strong finish in 2017-18 and now get the opportunity to do the same in 2019-20 following another strong closing stretch.

While it'll be interesting to see how Sacred Heart's underclassmen play now that the team is no longer under Atlantic Hockey's radar, it goes beyond the first-year and now-sophomores. Johnstone showed why he captained the Chicago Steel to a Clark Cup title. Senior forward Jason Cotton was rewarded for his play last season with an invite to the New York Islanders' development camp. The Pioneers, as a team, outshot every other Atlantic Hockey school.

Still, I'd be remiss to not mention Sacred Heart's defense being a catalyst. Compared to most contending teams, the Pioneers' stats (Benson's .899 save percentage, the 20th-best PK, the 35th-best goals against per game) don't stand out. From Sacred Heart's perspective, there's a big difference cutting down over half a goal (2.86 to 3.46) from one season to the next. A full season from Benson after stepping up down the stretch could tell a lot more.

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60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Michigan Tech

Michigan Tech

2018-19 Record: 14-20-4 (13-12-3, 6th in WCHA)
Head Coach: Joe Shawhan, 3rd Year
Top returning scorers: Seamus Donohue (1G-21A) and Brian Halonen (12G-9A)
Top returning goaltender: Matt Jurusik (R-Sr.)

Greetings from the Great Lake State (Upper Peninsula Edition)! Today's preview comes on a day on the calendar where the weather would be nowhere near the  Winter Carnival. (Speaking of, how did Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival not end up as a Sufjan Stevens song? There was one for Romulus.) Michigan Tech had a pair of overtime games without a win in the most recent Winter Carnival, which might be a good place to start with this year's Huskies team.

Michigan Tech, following an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018, went 1-2-4 in OT and 1-6-1 in non-conference play to snap a four-season streak of 20+ wins. The Huskies won only twice after Winter Carnival with both games being against the worst team in the Pairwise. Things were not as beautiful as scenic Houghton during the fall, however, Michigan Tech does return several key players and a sophomore class with a year of experience under its belt for 2019-20.

What's New: Remember how Michigan Tech had several Pietilas? They're back...in twins form!

Logan and Blake Pietila (no, not that one - he plays goalie) are among a seven-person Huskies freshman class. These Pietilas, who are tangentially related to the three other ones (Chad, Aaron and first Blake), come from downstate Michigan and committed to Michigan Tech on the same day. They will be reuniting with one another after playing separate Iowa-based USHL teams (Logan on defense in Dubuque, Blake in Cedar Rapids).

And if that's not enough, the Huskies also have two freshmen who will be on their seventh season of teammates in forwards Logan Ganie and Parker Saretsky.

Basically, 2019-20 is not as far out as the season where the Huskies had three Pietilas, a Hietala and two Johnstones, but getting in the conversation. If another Blake Hietala is on the horizon, it'll happen in Houghton. (Sadly, the family ties get broken in one place as the third Watson brother is going to Mercyhurst rather than Tech.)

What else is new? Michigan Tech hosts travel to old WCHA foe North Dakota for the US Hall of Fame Game, to Arizona in early January after the GLI to get out of the cold, and is one of seven teams to leave the WCHA.

Closing Thoughts: The Pairwise seems to have a wicked sense of humor for being a math formula that coldly decides the NCAA Tournament at-large bids. Three straight days of similar teams, all of whom made the 2018 NCAA Tournament and missed 2019. All three went on hot second-half runs, winning conference tournaments and getting in despite not being in the top 16 of the Pairwise.

Of the three, Michigan Tech has the least to replace this season. The Huskies already went through it with 20 underclassmen and are already building up. Van Wilder Award nominee Matt Jurusik provides stability in goal. 2018-19's freshman class had four forwards who scored six or more goals. Getting more from them (i.e. Alec Broetzman, who had 25 goals in his last year of juniors, had six as a freshman) would go a long way to separating the Huskies from the other two.

11 more words? Screw Flanders Tech's sweaters are also worth writing a song about.

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