American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey

American International Yellow Jackets
Current season
University	American International College
Conference	AHC
First season	1948–49
Head coach	Eric Lang 6th season, 82–73–14 (.527)
Captain	Brennan Kapcheck Parker Revering
Arena	MassMutual Center Capacity: 6,866 Surface: 200' x 85'
Location	Springfield, Massachusetts
Colors	Black, white, and gold[1]
NCAA Tournament appearances
2019, 2021
Conference Tournament championships
2019, 2021
Conference regular season championships
2019, 2020, 2021
Current uniform

The American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the American International College. The Yellow Jackets are a member of Atlantic Hockey. They play at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.^[2]

History[]

AIC began its varsity program in 1948, playing a modest schedule for the first dozen years of its existence, building the program under William Turner before he handed it off to Joe Bucholz. In 1961 the Yellow Jackets joined with 27 other eastern schools (mostly in New England) to form ECAC Hockey.^[3] AIC finished near the bottom for three seasons and in 1964 it was decided that the conference was too unwieldy to continue and was split into two divisions. The Yellow Jackets joined the lower division, becoming a founding member of ECAC 2.^[4]

American International had some success when Turner returned to take over, winning the conference tournament in 1969,^[5] but dipped slightly after his retirement in 1970. When Paul Thornton took over in 1974 AIC saw a resurgence and by the late 1970s had returned to the ECAC 2 Tournament but after his departure in 1978 the program slumped once more.

In 1984 the Division II ice hockey level collapsed and sent almost all teams at that level down to Division III. AIC followed along and when ECAC 2 split the Yellow Jackets stayed with the eastern side, joining the new ECAC East. In all that upheaval it was not lost that the American International had gotten its sixth head coach since 1970 but they were finally able to find someone willing to stick around in Gary Wright.^[6]

Wright's time with AIC began fairly successfully with the team earning its first 20-win season in his fourth year. The next season, 1989, saw the Yellow Jackets pace the ECAC East with 20 wins and set a program record with 24 wins overall but they faltered in the conference tournament and failed to make the D-III National championship. The next year the team was able to regain some of their success by winning the ECAC East title, their first conference championship in 21 years, but they were left out of the National Tournament due to a relatively poor overall record (only eight teams made the tournament and league champions did not receive an automatic berth). AIC continued to play well in the mid-90s but in 1995 the program declined sharply, dropping from 14 to 4 wins and remained in the ECAC East cellar for the rest of its time there.

In 1998 the MAAC began sponsoring an ice hockey conference and AIC joined as an affiliate member, returning to the top tier of college hockey.^[7] In their first year back the Yellow Jackets posted a decent record, finishing 5th in the 8-team field but bowed out in the first round of the conference playoffs. After that brief glimpse of success, however, AIC fell to the bottom of the conference and remained there for almost the next 20 years. Even with several new teams joining the conference and the division's reworking into Atlantic Hockey AIC could finish no better than 9th from 2000 through 2017 with the lone exception coming in 2006 when Atlantic Hockey had only 8 league members.

AIC made the conference tournament every years because Atlantic Hockey structured its conference tournament to include every team, but even then the Yellow Jackets could only twice win the 9 vs 8 play-in game and lost every other round it participated in. AIC lost 20 games for 13 consecutive seasons and 18 out of 19 years after 1999 but through it all Gary Wright stayed on to hold the program together. He eventually retired in 2016, being the longest-tenured coach at the time of his retirement and held the record for the most career losses with a single program, but his legacy with AIC went beyond wins and losses.^[8]

A new era at AIC began in 2016 with Eric Lang as the new head coach. After a poor but familiar first season AIC posted its best record since 1993 with 15 wins, finishing 8th in Atlantic Hockey and winning its first conference tournament round in over a decade. The following year AIC won its first ever conference championship and, after winning its first conference tournament at the Division I level, made its first appearance in an NCAA Championship. As the lowest-seeded team, AIC played against #1 St. Cloud State and, despite being outshot 34-13 in the game, won the match. The Yellow Jackets season ended after losing the next game but they had already produced the best season in the history of program by a mile.

AIC again won the Atlantic Hockey championship in 2020, however, before the team played its first postseason game the NCAA cancelled all remaining contests and tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[9][10]

Season-by-season results[]

^[11]

Roster[]

As of August 23, 2021.^[12]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Jake Kucharski	Sophomore (RS)	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1999-09-25	Erie, Pennsylvania	Providence (HEA)	CAR, 197th overall 2018
2		Nico Somerville	Sophomore	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-04-08	Nanaimo, British Columbia	Penticton (BCHL)	—
4		Brett Callahan	Junior	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1998-10-16	Westmont, Illinois	Jersey (NCDC)	—
5		Alex Tertyshny	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-01-03	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Northeast (NAHL)	—
6		Matt Rickard	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1999-07-28	Coventry, Rhode Island	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
7		Brian Kramer	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	2000-07-20	Wexford, Pennsylvania	Robert Morris (AHA)	—
8		Luis Lindner	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2001-05-16	Spittal an der Drau, Austria	Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC)	—
9		Blake Bennett	Junior	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-07-01	Grand Island, New York	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	—
10		Brian Rigali	Graduate	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1997-03-08	Green Oaks, Illinois	UConn (HEA)	—
11		Julius Janhonen	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-03-05	Espoo, Finland	HIFK U20 (Nuorten SM-liiga)	—
12		Eric Otto	Junior (RS)	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-07-19	Burnsville, Minnesota	Chicago (USHL)	—
13		Santeri Hartikainen	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-01-05	Helsinki, Finland	Robert Morris (AHA)	—
16		Reggie Millette	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2000-04-10	Jacksonville, Florida	Austin (NAHL)	—
17		Zak Galambos	Junior (RS)	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1997-04-04	Walnut Creek, California	Minnesota State (WCHA)	—
18		Michal Stinil	Sophomore	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1999-03-21	East Burke, Vermont	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
19		Elijiah Barriga (A)	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	193 lb (88 kg)	1996-05-16	West Covina, California	UNLV (ACHA)	—
20		Chris Van Os-Shaw	Senior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1997-05-20	Regina, Saskatchewan	Minnesota State (WCHA)	—
21		Justin Cole	Graduate	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1996-05-01	Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	—
22		Parker Revering (C)	Senior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1997-01-11	Alexandria, Minnesota	Brookings (NAHL)	—
23		Aaron Grounds	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-12-24	Jamestown, North Dakota	Fargo (USHL)	—
25		Luka Maver (A)	Graduate	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1997-10-25	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Lincoln (USHL)	—
26		Chris Theodore	Senior	F	5' 7" (1.7 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1997-10-15	Beaconsfield, Quebec	Cornwall (CCHL)	—
27		Hunter Johannes	Junior	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1998-07-24	Eden Prairie, Minnesota	Jamestown (NAHL)	—
28		Jake Stella (A)	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1998-11-14	Karlstad, Sweden	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	—
29		Darwin Lakoduk	Sophomore	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	157 lb (71 kg)	2000-01-28	Edmonton, Alberta	Penticton (BCHL)	—
33		Jarrett Fiske	Junior	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-05-28	Erie, Pennsylvania	Kemptville (CCHL)	—
34		Ryan McInchak	Sophomore	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-02-28	Trenton, Michigan	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
37		Evan Stella	Freshman	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2001-05-11	Karlstad, Sweden	Dubuque (USHL)	—
39		Justin Young	Graduate	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	1997-12-23	Leduc, Alberta	Alaska (WCHA)	—
44		Austen Long	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1998-02-15	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Omaha (USHL)	—
55		Chris Dodero (A)	Graduate	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	1996-06-08	West Chicago, Illinois	Janesville (NAHL)	—

All-time coaching records[]

As of April 1, 2021

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
2016–present	Eric Lang	5	82–73–14	.527
1984–2016	Gary Wright	32	313–605–76	.353
1982–1984		2	18–32–0	.360
1978–1982		4	46–57–0	.447
1974–1978		4	63–33–1	.655
1972–1974	Peter Esdale	2	18–32–3	.368
1970–1972		2	17–23–1	.427
1957–1964		7	39–86–0	.312
1948–1957, 1964–1970		15	128–118–4	.520
Totals	9 coaches	73 seasons	724–1059–99	.411

Awards and honors[]

NCAA[]

Individual Awards[]

All-Americans[]

AHCA First Team All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

MAAC[]

Individual Awards[]

Coach of the Year

• Gary Wright: 1999

All–Conference[]

First Team ^[13]

Second Team

Rookie Team

Atlantic Hockey[]

Individual Awards[]

All–Conference[]

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

Rookie Team

Statistical leaders[]

Source:^[14]

Career points leaders[]

Player	Years	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Tom Mullen	1974–1978	86	134	114	248
Jeff Arnold	1983–1987	106	83	119	202
Edgar Alejandro	1972–1976	101	64	136	200
Doug Crawford	1985–1988	84	84	103	187
Darryl Frenette	1986–1990	119	57	125	182
Ken Maffia	1987–1991	103	73	108	181
Bill Condon	1973–1977	102	62	114	176
Martin Labonte	1987–1991	112	75	89	164
Vezio Sacratini	1987–1990	70	49	114	163
Steve Hunter	1981–1985	104	66	97	163

Career goaltending leaders[]

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Minimum 30 games played

Player	Years	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
	2017–2021	66	3651	35	23	3	147	3	.906	2.42
	2016–2020	87	4975	37	38	9	219	9	.904	2.64
	2009–2013	114	6406	30	67	12	361	12	.911	3.38
	2001–2005	81	4644	16	53	7	284		.911	3.67
	2004–2008	84	4619	15	52	9	289	1	.885	3.75

Statistics current through the start of the 2021–22 season.

See also[]

• American International Yellow Jackets

References[]

External links[]

• Official website