The 2022–23 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season was the 75th season of play for the program and 20th in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Yellow Jackets represented American International College, played their home games at MassMutual Center and were coached by Eric Lang, in his 7th season.

Season Coming into the season as the three-time reigning Atlantic Hockey champion, AIC's biggest hurdle for a title was the monumental turnover with the roster. With more than half of the team leaving, coach Lang brought in a mix of freshman and transfers to try and plug the holes in the lineup. While the brain trust in goal had left, the Yellow Jackets managed to retain Blake Bennett, the team's leading scorer from the previous year. Even with the reshuffling on the defensive side, AIC posted nearly identical number, allowing 2.45 goals per game. Senior Jarrett Fiske ended up with the lion's share of minutes while transfer Alexandros Aslanidis proved to be a capable backup. The retooled offense was nearly as strong, scoring slightly fewer goals per game. Unfortunately, AIC's overall performance wasn't quite up to the championship standards.

The team got off to a decent start, posting winning records both in and outside their conference. November, however, was not kind to the Yellow Jackets and the team lost four conference matches. From that point on, the Yellow Jackets were playing catchup with RIT. AIC played well for the rest of the regular season, not losing consecutive games for the remainder of the regular season, but they could never match the Tigers and ended up 2nd in the league standings.

Because of the team's poor non-conference results, AIC finished well below the cutoff line for an at-large bid and would have to win the conference tournament to return to the NCAA tournament. The Yellow Jackets opened against Holy Cross and won the first game comfortably. After that the team appear to lose all of its momentum and were outplayed by the Crusaders. AIC was outshot 44–91 in the following two games but the disparity in talent allowed the matches to remain close. After a narrow defeat in the second game, AIC got into a dogfight with Holy Cross in the deciding game. The Yellow Jackets fell behind on three separate occasions but were able to tie the game each time and force the game into overtime. While the play was a little more even in the extra session, the team was unable to stop the Crusaders from netting the winning goal and ending the season for the Yellow Jackets.

Departures Elijiah Barriga Forward Graduation (signed with Dundee Stars) Alec Calvaruso Goaltender Signed professional contract (Greenville Swamp Rabbits) Justin Cole Forward Graduation (retired) Chris Dodero Forward Graduation (signed with HK Olimpija) Zak Galambos Defenseman Transferred to Western Michigan Santeri Hartikainen Forward Transferred to Long Island Hunter Johannes Forward Transferred to Lindenwood Jake Kucharski Goaltender Transferred to Omaha Luka Maver Forward Graduation (signed with Pioneers Vorarlberg) Ryan McInchak Goaltender Transferred to Cornell Parker Revering Defenseman Graduation (retired) Brian Rigali Forward Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers) Jake Stella Forward Transferred to Massachusetts Lowell Michal Stinil Forward Signed professional contract (Wichita Thunder) Chris Theodore Forward Graduate transfer to Union Chris Van Os-Shaw Forward Graduation (signed with Indy Fuel) Justin Young Forward Graduation (signed with Allen Americans)

Recruiting Andrew Amousse Forward 21 Laval, QC Alexandros Aslanidis Goaltender 21 Morristown, NJ; transfer from Western Michigan Joshua Barnes Forward 20 Cornwall, ON Jordan Biro Forward 22 Sherwood Park, AB; transfer from Colorado College Brennan Boynton Goaltender 22 Champlin, MN; transfer from Minnesota Grayson Dietrich Forward 20 Calgary, AB Oscar Geschwind Forward 21 Karlstad, SWE; transfer from Northern Michigan Timofei Khokhlachev Forward 20 Moscow, RUS Troy Kobryn Goaltender 23 Hillsborough, NJ; transfer from Merrimack John Lundy Forward 21 Brooklyn, NY; joined mid-season Alexander Malinowski Forward 21 Linköping, SWE Dustin Manz Forward 22 Vanderbilt, MI; transfer from Lake Superior State Hunter McCurdy Defenseman 21 Mokena, IL Casey McDonald Forward 21 Kindersley, SK Jake Rosenbaum Defenseman 25 Laguna Niguel, CA; graduate transfer from Minnesota Duluth Brett Rylance Forward 21 Edmonton, AB Jake Sacratini Forward 21 Pincourt, QC Casper Söderling Defenseman 21 Stockholm, SWE

Roster As of September 15, 2022.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics F 38 22 13 35 35 F 38 11 20 31 2 F 39 10 14 24 17 D 35 6 17 23 38 F 31 11 11 22 12 F 38 8 14 22 24 F 34 7 13 20 8 F 33 8 11 19 8 D 35 2 16 18 10 D 33 2 15 17 10 F 35 8 8 16 6 D 39 2 13 15 35 F 35 7 5 12 22 F 21 5 4 9 6 F 31 4 5 9 19 F 18 5 3 8 10 F 35 3 5 8 43 D 35 0 7 7 10 F 18 2 2 4 4 F 30 0 3 3 18 G 26 0 2 2 0 F 6 1 0 1 0 F 9 0 1 1 2 F 13 0 1 1 10 F 3 0 0 0 2 G 3 0 0 0 0 F 4 0 0 0 2 D 4 0 0 0 2 G 9 0 0 0 0 G 16 0 0 0 0 F 25 0 0 0 2 D 26 0 0 0 2 Total 124 203 327 369

Goaltending statistics 16 728:03 8 3 1 26 311 2 .923 2.14 26 1435:04 10 8 6 57 682 2 .923 2.38 9 193:39 0 3 0 9 78 0 .897 2.79 3 20:00 0 0 0 1 8 0 .889 3.00 Empty Net - 22:38 - - - 5 - - - - Total 39 2399:24 18 14 7 98 1079 4 .917 2.45

Rankings

PollWeekPre12345678910111213141516171819202122232425 26 27 (Final) USCHO.comNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NR USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

Awards and honors Jarrett Fiske Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Goaltending Award Blake Bennett Atlantic Hockey First Team Jarrett Fiske Atlantic Hockey Second Team Brian Kramer Jordan Biro Atlantic Hockey Third Team

References