2008 Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

2008 Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Dates	March 7–16, 2008
Teams	10
Finals site	Blue Cross Arena Rochester, New York
Champions	Air Force[1] (2nd title)
Winning coach	Frank Serratore[2] (2nd title)
MVP	[3] (Air Force)
Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 Atlantic Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 5th conference tournament in league history. It was played between March 7 and March 16, 2008. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while all 'Final Five' games were played at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. By winning the tournament, Air Force received Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format[]

The tournament featured four rounds of play. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 10 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top five seeded teams each earned home ice and hosted one of the lower seeded teams. All quarterfinal matchups were best-of-three series with the top three remaining seeds receiving byes into the semifinal round and the lowest two remaining seeds playing in a four-vs-five match. All rounds after the quarterfinals were conducted as single-elimination games. The winner of the four-vs-five game would advance to the semifinals to play the highest remaining seed while the other two remaining seeds faced off in the other semifinal game. The winners of the semifinal games advanced to play each other in a championship game with the tournament champion receiving an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference Standings[]

Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

2007–08 Atlantic Hockey standings v t
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Army†	28	17	8	3	37	84	51		37	19	14	4	101	73
RIT	28	15	8	5	35	87	72		37	19	12	6	116	109
Air Force*	28	14	9	5	33	89	65		39	21	12	6	130	91
Sacred Heart	28	14	11	3	31	91	79		38	16	19	3	111	116
Mercyhurst	28	11	10	7	29	83	89		41	15	19	7	112	133
Canisius	28	10	13	5	25	80	79		37	11	20	6	93	121
Connecticut	28	11	14	3	25	62	84		37	13	21	3	79	126
Bentley	28	9	13	6	24	81	88		36	9	21	6	89	124
Holy Cross	28	9	15	4	22	66	85		36	10	19	7	88	114
American International	28	8	17	3	19	67	98		36	8	23	5	83	135
Championship: Air Force † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll

^[4]

Bracket[]

^[5] Teams are reseeded after the Quarterfinals

	Quarterfinals[6] March 7-9							Four vs. Five[7] March 14					Semifinals March 15					Championship March 16
	1	Army	4	5	—								1	Army	2
	10	American International	0	2	—			4	Sacred Heart	1			5	Mercyhurst	4
								5	Mercyhurst	4
	2	RIT	5*	5*	—
	9	Holy Cross	4	4	—
	3	Air Force	9	3	—													3	Air Force	5**
	8	Bentley	2	1	—													5	Mercyhurst	4
	4	Sacred Heart	6	2	4
	7	Connecticut	5	3*	1
	5	Mercyhurst	4	2*	—								2	RIT	0
	6	Canisius	1	1	—								3	Air Force	5

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals[]

(1) Army vs. (10) American International[]

March 7[8]	Army		4 – 0		American International	Tate Rink	Recap
(Flicek, Meyer) - GW - 03:11		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Pierson, Sefchik) - 08:56 (Anderson) - 12:25 (unassisted) - 13:10		Third period			No scoring
( 24 saves / 24 shots ) Josh Kassel		Goalie stats			( 27 saves / 31 shots )

March 8[9]	Army		5 – 2		American International	Tate Rink	Recap
(Ryan, Colvin) - 13:15		First period			09:12 - PP - (Bolognino, McMillan) 17:23 - (Little, Campanale)
(Fearing, Colvin) - 04:11 (unassisted) - GW PS - 19:19 (Omilusik) - 19:39		Second period			No scoring
(Sefchik, Meyer) - 01:59		Third period			No scoring
( 28 saves / 30 shots ) Josh Kassel		Goalie stats			( 29 saves / 34 shots )

Army won series 2–0

(2) RIT vs. (9) Holy Cross[]

March 7[10]	RIT		5 – 4	OT	Holy Cross	Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena	Recap
(Lambert, Ringwald) - PP - 08:25		First period			19:32 - (Dams, Reinhardt)
No scoring		Second period			19:59 - (unassisted)
(Sarazin, Burns) - 02:33 (Ringwald, Lambert) - PP - 08:54 (Burns) - 16:01		Third period			06:21 - PP - (Forshner) 09:06 - (Forshner, Gabriel)
(Lambert, Ringwald) - GW - 15:19		First overtime period			No scoring
( 21 saves / 25 shots )		Goalie stats			( 36 saves / 41 shots )

March 8[11]	RIT		5 – 4	OT	Holy Cross	Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena	Recap
(Lambert, Murphy) - PP - 03:12 (Favot, Lambert) - 15:43		First period			08:19 - (Dams)
(Lambert, Murphy) - PP - 01:07		Second period			05:16 - (Franklin, Jelinek) 05:54 - (Sheen, Werry) 12:34 - (Burke, Brock)
(Draper, Kharin) - 08:32		Third period			No scoring
(Patry, Walton) - GW - 04:17		First overtime period			No scoring
( 17 saves / 21 shots )		Goalie stats			( 33 saves / 38 shots )

RIT won series 2–0

(3) Air Force vs. (8) Bentley[]

March 7[12]	Air Force		9 – 2		Bentley	Cadet Ice Arena
(Fairchild, Flynn) - 09:01		First period			11:07 - (Preece)
(Nylander, Hajner) - PP - 02:50 (Olson, Frider) - GW - 04:18 (Nylander, Mayra) - 04:54 (Charbonneau, Frider) - PP - 07:22 (Hajner, Burnett) - 09:33 (Kelly, Sellers) - 13:05 (Hajner) - PP - 16:37		Second period			No scoring
(Bertsch, Phillipich) - 07:26		Third period			12:49 - (Canzoneri, Prewitt)
( 16 saves / 18 shots )		Goalie stats			( 13 saves / 17 shots ) / ( 14 saves / 19 shots )

March 8[13]	Air Force		3 – 1		Bentley	Cadet Ice Arena	Recap
(Fairchild, Flynn) - PP - 09:27 (Hajner, Burnett) - GW PP - 10:03		First period			No scoring
(Burnett, Charbonneau) - PP - 03:59		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			15:12 - (Cloutier, Canzoneri)
( 21 saves / 22 shots )		Goalie stats			( 43 saves / 46 shots )

Air Force won series 2–0

(4) Sacred Heart vs. (7) Connecticut[]

March 7[14]	Sacred Heart		6 – 5		Connecticut	Milford Ice Pavilion
(Tyll, Drew) - 17:47		First period			No scoring
(Knowlton, Johnson) - PP - 05:06 (Tyll) - SH - 10:30		Second period			13:09 - PP - (Ochoa, Hernandez) 17:28 - PP - (Schneider, Behler) 18:12 - (Krispel, Olson)
(Jarman) - SH - 06:10 (Parent, Grimson) - PP - 08:41 (Parent, Boisvert) - GW - 15:38		Third period			07:04 - (Olinyk, Miller) 19:45 - (Olson, Schneider)
( 30 saves / 35 shots )		Goalie stats			Beau Erickson ( 19 saves / 25 shots )

March 8[15]	Sacred Heart		2 – 3	OT	Connecticut	Milford Ice Pavilion
(Trapp, Giosa) Nick Johnson - 07:09		First period			09:46 - (Olson, Spicer)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Gordon) - 18:02		Third period			06:08 - (Spicer, Krispel)
No scoring		First overtime period			05:28 - GW - (Solberg, Bergin)
( 33 saves / 36 shots )		Goalie stats			Beau Erickson ( 31 saves / 33 shots )

March 9[16]	Sacred Heart		4 – 1		Connecticut	Milford Ice Pavilion
(Rodriguez, Berube) - 04:22		First period			No scoring
(Knowlton, Berube) - GW - 07:12		Second period			No scoring
(Tyll) - 11:45 (Trapp) - EN - 18:48		Third period			05:03 - (Miller)
( 32 saves / 33 shots )		Goalie stats			Beau Erickson ( 44 saves / 47 shots )

Sacred Heart won series 2–1

(5) Mercyhurst vs. (6) Canisius[]

March 7[17]	Mercyhurst		4 – 1		Canisius	Mercyhurst Ice Center
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(Pierce, Eddy) - 04:32 (Echtermach, Eddy) - GW - 10:07 (Robinson, Cottreau) Matt Pierce - PP - 11:41		Second period			No scoring
(Bremner, Graham) - 16:15		Third period			06:16 - (Kasch, Heidinger)
( 41 saves / 42 shots )		Goalie stats			( 31 saves / 35 shots )

March 8[18]	Mercyhurst		2 – 1	OT	Canisius	Mercyhurst Ice Center
(Terminesi, Fennell) Matt Pierce - PP - 10:24		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			18:21 - (Jenks)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
(Vansenbeld, Cottreau) - GW - 01:45		First overtime period			No scoring
( 28 saves / 29 shots )		Goalie stats			( 32 saves / 34 shots )

Mercyhurst won series 2–0

Four vs. Five[]

(4) Sacred Heart vs. (5) Mercyhurst[]

March 14[19]	Sacred Heart		1 – 4		Mercyhurst	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
(Grimson, Trapp) - PP - 09:13		First period			06:16 - PP - Matt Pierce (Terminesi, Robinson)
No scoring		Second period			00:41 - GW - Cullen Eddy (unassisted)
No scoring		Third period			10:14 - Ben Cottreau (Fennell) 17:30 - (Medernach, Lundin)
( 18 saves / 22 shots )		Goalie stats			( 38 saves / 39 shots )

Semifinals[]

(1) Army vs. (5) Mercyhurst[]

March 15[20]	Army		2 – 4		Mercyhurst	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
(Ryan, Ammon) - 14:23		First period			07:29 - PP - Matt Pierce (Fennell, Robinson) 15:24 - (Graham, Phillips)
(Omilusik, Flicek) - PP - 01:39		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			00:25 - GW SH - (Vandenbeld) 05:41 - EA - Neil Graham (Bremner, Gurtler)
( 23 saves / 27 shots ) Josh Kassel		Goalie stats			( 36 saves / 38 shots )

(2) RIT vs. (3) Air Force[]

March 15[21]	RIT		0 – 5		Air Force	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			06:32 - GW PP - (Frider, Charbonneau)
No scoring		Second period			05:49 - (Charbonneau, Schaffer) 10:04 - SH - (Nylander) 17:18 - PP - (Charbonneau, Hajner)
No scoring		Third period			10:34 - (Hajner, Mayra)
( 22 saves / 27 shots ) / ( 2 saves / 2 shots ) Jared DeMichiel		Goalie stats			( 24 saves / 24 shots )

Championship[]

(3) Air Force vs. (5) Mercyhurst[]

March 16[22]	Air Force		5 – 4	2OT	Mercyhurst	Blue Cross Arena	Recap
(Phillipich, Flynn) - PP - 19:58		First period			No scoring
(Kozlak, Frider) - 13:23		Second period			17:11 - PP - Matt Pierce (Cottreau, Terminesi) 07:53 - PP - (Pitt, Coccimiglio)
(Phillipich, Bertsch) - 09:50 (Olson, Kozlak) - 11:30		Third period			03:50 - (Risi) 11:09 - (Pierce)
(Olson) - 00:56		Second overtime period			No scoring
( 49 saves / 53 shots )		Goalie stats			( 42 saves / 47 shots )

Tournament awards[]

All-Tournament Team[]

• G (Air Force)
• D (Air Force)
• D (Mercyhurst)
• F * (Air Force)
• F Matt Pierce (Mercyhurst)
• F (Mercyhurst)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

^[23]

References[]