JCProdigy
Registered User
Just a note: AIC has made it to the NCAA tourney three times in the past six years (Tourney was cancelled during covid so really 3 in 5) and they haven't had a losing season since 2017-2018.
Prospect Info: 2024-2025 Rangers Prospects Thread (Prospect Stats in Post #1; Updated 11/10/2024)
- Thread starter nyr2k2
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eco's bones
Registered User
AIC is in the Atlantic Hockey Conference which is easily the weakest Division 1 hockey conference. Every hockey conference though is guaranteed at least one spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Army and Air Force never get top notch players---firstly because the players just by going to those schools are asked to make a 4/6 year commitment after graduation to that branch of the military.....and anyway those two schools are selective in other ways apart from sports.
Canisius, RIT, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, Bentley and Mercyhurst were all long time Division 3 hockey schools before they decided to go Division 1....which is pretty much a wand waving experience. I believe Niagara and Robert Morris were as well. Recruiting to these schools has always lagged on top talent and never really caught up to the competition level of other college hockey conferences. Yes they play against teams in the other conferences but much of their schedules are played in conference.
Currently there are 3 players playing in the conference who have been drafted by NHL teams. Two of them by Niagara U. They are Trevor Hoskin a Calgary Flames 4th rounder in 2024 and Braden Doyle an LA Kings 6th rounder in 2019.
AIC has the other Chase Clark a goaltender--a 6th rounder by Washington in 2021.
The Rangers by the way have never ever had a draft pick play for any of the above teams nor have they ever signed an undrafted free agent from any of them.
The conference is not deep in talent at all. It is the weakest but it will get one team into the NCAA's.
Fitzy
Very Stable Genius
- Jan 29, 2009
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Yes. Conferences ebb and wane but everyone knows Atlantic is basically hockey's version of what they used to call 1AA in college football.
RIT, which was in the ECAC when I was around, is usually their most competent roster.
RIT, which was in the ECAC when I was around, is usually their most competent roster.
JCProdigy
Registered User
and still they are at the top of the conference with a winning record. Objective. Your stating the subjective which I don't totally disagree but I wouldn't call them a bottom feeder. Sorry but I'm not going to take away what Gabe does against them like you because it has no value to me.
Here's another subjective from me: There are plenty of other teams on BCs schedule that are "bottom feeders" with little to no future NHL defensemen that would pose a threat to a player like Gabe.
So I guess we should call that out every time he makes a play against one of them? St. Cloud State has one D-man drafted in the 2nd round and only one other drafted in the 6th round. Good enough comp for Perreault or should I skip watching the game?
Amazing Kreiderman
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For anyone interested in the numbers historically of the schools in the current Atlantic:
*Ranked by total NHL games played
RIT
Todd Krygier: 543 games
Chris Tanev: 797 games
Steve Pinizotto: 36 games
Army
Dan Hinote: 503 games
AIC
Dave Forbes: 363 games
Kevin Wortman: 4 games
Tom Fenton: 0 games (Signed ATO to be an emergency call-up)
Holy Cross
Patrick rissmiller: 192 games
Jim Steward: 1 game (.444 sv%)
Mark Young: 2 games as a backup only
Canisius
Cory Conacher: 193 games
Sacred Heart
Justin Danforth: 124 games
Marc Johnstone: 1 game
Niagara
Matt Ryan: 12 games
Sean Bentivoglio: 1 game
Joe O'Brien: 0 games (Signed ATO to be an emergency call-up)
Mercyhurst
Jamie Hunt: 1 game
Air Force
Zachary Sikich: 0 games (Signed ATO to be an emergency call-up)
Robert Morris Univ.
Reid Cooper: 0 games (Signed ATO to be an emergency call-up)
Bentley: No players at all
Robert Morris axed its program a few years ago and it took boosters and fans doing a fundraiser to bring it back.
Atlantic Hockey is a bit of a joke in most college hockey circles.
It's fine, though. It's not like it's beer league or anything, the teams can still be competitive with more established programs on any given night.
Atlantic Hockey is a bit of a joke in most college hockey circles.
It's fine, though. It's not like it's beer league or anything, the teams can still be competitive with more established programs on any given night.
Fitzy
Very Stable Genius
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Yeah it’s like the token team NCAA basketball lets into the march madness tournament each year
eco's bones
Registered User
Living in Elmira NY....there has long been an Elmira College division 3 team since like 1974. It's the first live pay to go to hockey I ever saw and I use to see them a lot. For years and years they annually played teams like RIT and Mercyhurst. When some of those teams decided they wanted to be a division 1 team they got together and formed their own conference but that didn't mean necessarily that they started recruiting better or much better players and before all that they weren't necessarily always a better team than the Elmira College team which remains a division 3 to this day.
Teams like BC, BU, Michigan, Minnesota U, Wisconsin, Denver, North Dakota, Notre Dame, Minnesota Duluth, Providence College, UMass, Harvard etc etc. season after season regularly get the best recruits, regularly have anywhere from 6, 7 NHL into the teens of NHL drafted players and even then those are teams where the best undrafted NHL players play. The best college recruits want to play for teams that are good, that win, that have history, and turn out pro/NHL players. For players in the Atlantic Conference it still can be done but it's a very long way to the top.
Teams like BC, BU, Michigan, Minnesota U, Wisconsin, Denver, North Dakota, Notre Dame, Minnesota Duluth, Providence College, UMass, Harvard etc etc. season after season regularly get the best recruits, regularly have anywhere from 6, 7 NHL into the teens of NHL drafted players and even then those are teams where the best undrafted NHL players play. The best college recruits want to play for teams that are good, that win, that have history, and turn out pro/NHL players. For players in the Atlantic Conference it still can be done but it's a very long way to the top.
egelband
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- Sep 6, 2008
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I hear ya but also I for one appreciate the context provided by @eco's bones I am not familiar at all with college hockey.
Nathan Aspinall is off to a decent start with 3-4-7 in 9.
I mentioned Raoul Boilard was off to a slow start the other night and then he recorded 2 assists minutes later, and now has 2-7-9 in 10 games. That's still basically replicating what he did last year though so hopefully he steps it up.
Ty Henricks has 1-1-2 in 3 games as a freshman for WMU. That's like 2 more points that I'd have guessed for him, LOL. He had 32 points in 60 games last year in the USHL.
Didn't see anyone mention Brody Lamb, who has 1-3-4 in 4 games to start the season. Minnesota has a ton of forward depth so it will be interesting to see how his season unfolds.
Rasmus Larsson has 1 assist in 4 games for NMU. Unfortunately, their coach left in a somewhat surprising fashion (Grant Potulny, to go coach the Pack, LOL) and a bunch of guys transferred, so it's going to be rough going for that team this year.
Rico Gredig is scoreless in 11 games with HC Davos, and has just 7 shots while playing less than 10 minutes per night. He's 19 playing in a decent top-flight European league so it's not a total disaster, but you'd still like to see more (I am just stat surfing, however).
Kalle Vaisanen is at 1-1-2 in 7 games in Finland, playing about 12:30. He does have 15 shots in those minutes though so that's promising.
I know Karl Henriksson is basically persona non grata, but if anyone is interested he has yet to play this year as he sustained an injury before the season started.
I mentioned Raoul Boilard was off to a slow start the other night and then he recorded 2 assists minutes later, and now has 2-7-9 in 10 games. That's still basically replicating what he did last year though so hopefully he steps it up.
Ty Henricks has 1-1-2 in 3 games as a freshman for WMU. That's like 2 more points that I'd have guessed for him, LOL. He had 32 points in 60 games last year in the USHL.
Didn't see anyone mention Brody Lamb, who has 1-3-4 in 4 games to start the season. Minnesota has a ton of forward depth so it will be interesting to see how his season unfolds.
Rasmus Larsson has 1 assist in 4 games for NMU. Unfortunately, their coach left in a somewhat surprising fashion (Grant Potulny, to go coach the Pack, LOL) and a bunch of guys transferred, so it's going to be rough going for that team this year.
Rico Gredig is scoreless in 11 games with HC Davos, and has just 7 shots while playing less than 10 minutes per night. He's 19 playing in a decent top-flight European league so it's not a total disaster, but you'd still like to see more (I am just stat surfing, however).
Kalle Vaisanen is at 1-1-2 in 7 games in Finland, playing about 12:30. He does have 15 shots in those minutes though so that's promising.
I know Karl Henriksson is basically persona non grata, but if anyone is interested he has yet to play this year as he sustained an injury before the season started.
An addendum, a few guys we let walk:
Olof Lindbom is 4-5-1 with a 2.69 and .902 for Pelicans in Finland.
Bobby Trivigno has 3-5-8 in 11 games for Brynas in the SHL.
Oliver Tarnstrom is up to 1-3-4 in 10 games for AIK in Allsvenskan.
Lauri Pajuniemi has, shockingly, just 1-1-2 in 10 games for Lausanne in Switzerland (I know we technically own his rights but whatever).
Olof Lindbom is 4-5-1 with a 2.69 and .902 for Pelicans in Finland.
Bobby Trivigno has 3-5-8 in 11 games for Brynas in the SHL.
Oliver Tarnstrom is up to 1-3-4 in 10 games for AIK in Allsvenskan.
Lauri Pajuniemi has, shockingly, just 1-1-2 in 10 games for Lausanne in Switzerland (I know we technically own his rights but whatever).
I only saw the one game, but he looked as advertised: strong, silky skater, good defensive awareness, used his stick well, and showed a developing transition game. IDK how the other two games have gone but what I saw, you can see why the Rangers liked him and could also see the signs of latent offensive potential as well.
Amazing Kreiderman
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What stands out to me is that, although the focus is on his defensive game, his abilities with the puck are promising.
This isn't a Ryan Lindgren-type defenseman that is good without the puck but handles it like a hot potato in possession.
A lot of runway still and developing to do in college. But there's a reason he was projected to go as high as 15.
Yeah watching Emery, it's similar to watching Mancini. Like not the same stylistically, but that in both players you can see there are unrefined offensive tools there that could make them really great players if those tools are sharpened.
Aspinall has 2+2 through 2 periods, which gives him 5+6=11 currently in his 11th game.
Brody Lamb had a goal giving him 2-3-5 in 5.
Rico Gredig scored a goal which was his first goal and point in 12 games this season.
Rico Gredig scored a goal which was his first goal and point in 12 games this season.
GAGLine
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- Sep 17, 2007
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I think something is screwy with that. I'm looking at the schedule on the CC website, go to Live Stats. The page shows Colorado College and Alaska, but the players are all Denver.
As near as I can tell, this game hasn't actually started yet. I clicked on the Watch link on the schedule and it opened youtube:
HKY: Colorado College at Alaska Anchorage
Colorado College invades the Avis Alaska Sports Complex to face host Alaska Anchorage in an NCAA Div. I hockey showdown.
www.youtube.com
I was going by the lineup that CC posted. I shouldn't have said game sheet, that's my error.I think something is screwy with that. I'm looking at the schedule on the CC website, go to Live Stats. The page shows Colorado College and Alaska, but the players are all Denver.
As near as I can tell, this game hasn't actually started yet. I clicked on the Watch link on the schedule and it opened youtube:
HKY: Colorado College at Alaska Anchorage
Colorado College invades the Avis Alaska Sports Complex to face host Alaska Anchorage in an NCAA Div. I hockey showdown.
GAGLine
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- Sep 17, 2007
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The Crypto Guy
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EJ Emery and North Dakota stomped BU yesterday 7-2. EJ has no points but was on the top pair shutting down BU all night.
Did anyone every find out why Laba didn't play?
Did anyone every find out why Laba didn't play?
Last edited:
Amazing Kreiderman
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