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** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

L

LtPowers

Lt. J. Isaac Powers, Starfleet
Well, now that the regular season is in the bag, let's take a look at how all the preseason predictions fared.

First, the final standings:
  1. RIT
  2. Sacred Heart
  3. Air Force
  4. Mercyhurst
  5. Canisius
  6. Army
  7. Holy Cross
  8. Bentley
  9. Connecticut
  10. American Int'l

The preseason coaches' poll predicted the following result:
  1. Air Force
  2. Mercyhurst
  3. RIT
  4. Holy Cross
  5. Canisius
  6. Army
  7. Bentley
  8. Sacred Heart
  9. Connecticut
  10. American Int'l

The lists on USCHO.com and INCH were identical to each other and were largely in agreement with the coaches, with the only difference being a swap in order between Canisius and Holy Cross.


Obviously, Sacred Heart is the big surprise of the season. When a team loses its coach just weeks before the start of the season, it's definitely hard to predict big things for them, but Sacred Heart really pulled it together very quickly and earned their second-place finish.

Air Force, while still a very good team, was clearly not the dominant power they were predicted to be. RIT, on the other hand, started out slow but eventually proved to be better than anyone expected, racking up the best conference record ever tallied by an AHA team, including seven shutouts.

The other major prediction anomaly is Holy Cross, which, if they "underachieved" last season (as Chris Lerch wrote at the beginning of the season), also underachieved this season, as their roster was largely intact. And in fact, they finished #7 for the third year in a row.

I also note that INCH and USCHO predicted a fourth-place finish for Canisius, giving them home ice for the quarterfinals, but the Griffs fell just short.




INCH also provided five "Mark It Down" points which they said were "Five things you can take to the bank in Atlantic Hockey this season:"

"1. Air Force will continue its domination."

As I said above, Air Force was good but not their usual dominating selves.


"2. Andrew Volkening will start every contest again."

It looks like that has indeed been the case, based on Air Force's goalie stats, although unlike last year, he did not play every minute.


"3. Owen Meyer will make a run at the AHA/MAAC career scoring mark."

Sadly, it looks as if Meyer will fall short; he has scored only 12 of the 19 goals he needed to reach Tyler McGregor's mark of 70.


4. Sacred Heart’s Quebec pipeline could take a major hit.

No way to know at this point.


5. A televised championship is coming, but not this year.

No word yet, but hey, you never know.




Thoughts?


Powers &8^]
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Time Warner Rochester is broadcasting the championship game, which can be picked up by various regional TW affiliates.

RIT Sportzone Live is doing the RIT quarterfinal series but that's it. The Time Warner championship game broadcast will have the RIT TV announcers but is not an RIT Sportszone production. The AHA is producing it using the Time Warner Amerks crew.

WITR is of course doing all RIT games.
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Were the picks in before Hannah announced he was leaving Sacred Heart? It's always interesting to see how a team responds in that situation. It can be deflating, but, after a while, I think the team becomes even more determined and uses being "abandoned" as motivation. That said, the team that came to Air Force this weekend was not the same one that hosted Air Force in January, (granted, they had already clinched their seed) so maybe they are "running out of gas." If so, that would make for a VERY interesting Final Four if the seeds hold, as the two best scoring teams (RIT and Mercyhurst) would meet in one semifinal, and the two "question marks" in the other.
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

AFHockeyFan said:
Were the picks in before Hannah announced he was leaving Sacred Heart?
Click to expand...

No, which is why the fourth "Mark It Down" involved SHU's recruiting pipeline from Quebec.


Powers &8^]
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Some predictions on the postseason awards:

Coach of the Year: CJ Marottolo (Sacred Heart). Took over a team shortly before the season started and got them to 2nd place. I believe this was Coach Wilson's best coaching job at RIT, but clearly Marottolo should get the nod.

Goaltender of the Year: Jared DeMichiel (RIT). Most wins, best GAA, best save percentage, and most shutouts. As much of a slam dunk as Marottolo for thier awards. Andrew Volkening for an impressive career should get a mention.

Player of the Year: Nick Johnson (Sacred Heart). Part of one of the best lines in Atlantic Hockey. Lead league in goals. Cory Conacher (Canisius) will be in the running.

Defensemen of the Year: Dan Ringwald (RIT). Tied for most points by a defensemen with Carl Hudson (Canisius). Ringwald was also a +22 rating in confernece play and does not take nearly as many penalties and that does it for me.

Rookie of the Year: Chris Tanev (RIT). One of RIT's top scorers as a defensemen. Played on the top defensive pairing with Dan Ringwald. He lead RIT in plus/minus. Eric DeLong from Sacred Heart will also get some votes.

First team All Conference:
F - Nick Johnson (SH)
F - Jacque Lamoureux (AFA)
F - Cory Conacher (Can)
D - Dan Ringwald (RIT)
D - Carl Hudson (Can)
G - Jared DeMichiel (RIT)

2nd team
F - Andrew Favot (RIT)
F - Cory Omilusik (Army)
F - Mike Gurtler (Mercyhurst)
D - Tim Kirby (AFA)
D - Chris Tanev (RIT)
G - Andrew Volkening (AHA)

3rd team
F - Jordan Cyr (HC)
F - Joe Campenelli (Bentley)
F - Cameron Burt (RIT)
D - Bobby Preece (Bent)
D - Al Mazur (RIT)
G - Ryan Zabolski (Mercyhurst)

All Rookie:
F - Eric DeLong (SH)
F - Joe Campenelli (Bentley)
F - Grant Blakely (Mercyhurst)
D - Chris Tanev (RIT)
D - Alen Gerke (UConn)
G - Thomas Tysowski (HC)
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Tough second half for Bentley after upset win over UMass. I really thought the Bentley would grab home ice again with the fourth spot, but the injury bug hit them hard. I like Komey1's three team selections except I would sub Menzione for Campanelli on the third team. Senior Marc Menzioni was due for a huge season, but unfortunately was without one or the other of his junior sidekicks Erik Peterson and Dustin Cloiutier for just about every game. Campanelli definitely should be on the all-rookie team.
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Can't really argue with the teams, either. Would liked to have seen Kyle DeLaurell gets some attention for all-freshman, but his stats don't really justify it. Good picks.

Of course, there's really only one postseason award that matters. After the OT loss against DU, we'd love to have another shot!
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Glad you guys approve. I know that TPTB ideally want every team represented, but it was really hard to find UConn and AIC players that deserved to be All-Conference.

My own personal bias against Carl Hudson would have not put him first team All Conference, but I had a hard time ignoring his offensive prowress that makes up for his lack of discipline and defensive (at least against RIT) skill. I do think that was enough to prevent him from being Defensement of the Year when Ringwald had that same goals and assists with a strong +/-.
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

komey1 said:
Glad you guys approve. I know that TPTB ideally want every team represented, but it was really hard to find UConn and AIC players that deserved to be All-Conference.

My own personal bias against Carl Hudson would have not put him first team All Conference, but I had a hard time ignoring his offensive prowress that makes up for his lack of discipline and defensive (at least against RIT) skill. I do think that was enough to prevent him from being Defensement of the Year when Ringwald had that same goals and assists with a strong +/-.
Click to expand...

Come on Mark, put Hudson and Favot on the same team! ;)
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

LtPowers said:
5. A televised championship is coming, but not this year.

No word yet, but hey, you never know.
Click to expand...

CSTV has the CHA Championship game. You would think that next year when the CHA breaks up that they would look for a deal with the AHA. They did do two AHA games this year, but off course nust the ones involving Air Force and Army. The Air Force game was agaisnt UCONN, Army game was better match up with them facing Mercyhurst...
 
Re: ** Atlantic Hockey Preseason Predictions Review **

Tom Naeger said:
CSTV has the CHA Championship game. You would think that next year when the CHA breaks up that they would look for a deal with the AHA. They did do two AHA games this year, but off course nust the ones involving Air Force and Army. The Air Force game was agaisnt UCONN, Army game was better match up with them facing Mercyhurst...
Click to expand...

Agree. If you can show a mid-January game against UConn, you can show the Conference Championship game. There have been some good ones (especially the OT win over Mercyhurst 2 years ago!). Should be a great story line every year (Cinderella's going dancing!). Lots of competition the weekend before the tournament, though.
 
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