BOSTON - Four Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) programs play on opening night as the Division I men's ice hockey returns on Friday, Oct. 3.
All 10 AHA programs will play during the 2025-26 season's first weekend, from Friday, Oct. 3-Sunday, Oct. 5.
Six programs will participate in regular season matchups, while Air Force, Robert Morris, Bentley, and RIT will compete in exhibition games.
All games in AHA venues will stream live on FloHockey.
Oct. 3-4 (Friday/Saturday)
- Mercyhurst at No. 12/12 Michigan
Single Games/Exhibitions (Oct. 3)
- (RV)/No. 20 Clarkson at Canisius - 7 p.m. ET
- LIU at Army - 5 p.m. ET (Exhibition)
- Air Force at Omaha - 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT (Exhibition)
Single Games/Exhibitions (Oct. 4)
- St. Lawrence at Niagara - 6 p.m. ET
- Army at (RV) Union - 5 p.m. ET
- Merrimack at (RV) Sacred Heart - 6 p.m. ET
- (RV) Holy Cross at (RV) Northeastern - 7:30 p.m. ET
- Robert Morris at Bowling Green - 6 p.m. ET (Exhibition)
- Simon Fraser (B.C.) at (RV) Bentley - 7 p.m. ET (Exhibition)
- Western (Ont.) at RIT - 5:05 p.m. ET (Exhibition)
Single Games/Exhibitions (Oct. 5)
Waterloo at Robert Morris - 4 p.m.
- Canisius junior forward Walter Zacher netted a hat trick against Miami on Oct. 19, 2024, one of 13 hat tricks against non-conference opponents last season.
- Sophomore netminder Ajeet Gundarah's .944 save percentage in 2024-25 is the sixth-highest in a single season in AHA history (min. 15 GP).
- Bentley allowed 2.1 goals per game last season, a figure that was tied for fifth nationally and also for the second-least in a single AHA season.
- Holy Cross's 90.5 percent success rate on the penalty kill in 2024-25 is the highest by an AHA team in a single season and led the nation.
Air Force senior defenseman Chris Hedden leads all Division I defensemen in career points with 74 (22G-52A). The Kalamazoo, Mich., native also leads all AHA skaters in points.
The Preseason All-AHA Team blueliner's 25 points (7G-18A) lead AHA skaters for the most against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
Going back to the 2024-25 regular season, (RV) Bentley collected the most non-conference wins with seven and was tied with (RV) Air Force and (RV) Holy Cross for the most games played against opponents outside AHA with 14.
The defending league tournament champions allowed only 1.9 goals per game to non-conference opponents, tied for the fifth least in the nation last season. However, Niagara led in goals per game against non-AHA teams with 3.1 in 11 games.
1.90 - Gundarah's 1.90 goals-against average is tied for the third lowest in the nation (min. 25 GP).
5 - RIT senior forward Tyler Mahan is tied for the Division I lead among active skaters with five shorthanded goals
7 - Sacred Heart senior Mikey Adamson has netted seven goals on the man advantage, tied for the fifth most among all active Division I defensemen.
11 - Robert Morris has 11 juniors on its roster, the most in 2025-26 across Division I men's hockey.
38 - When Mercyhurst takes the ice at No. 12/12 Michigan this week, it will officially begin Rick Gotkin's 38th and final season—the longest tenure at a current school among active head coaches.
118 - Senior forward Matt DeBoer enters the season with 118 games played, tied for the second most in the nation.
Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) embarks on its second season in 2025-26 following the merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields 10 Division I men's teams and seven women's teams. For more information, visit atlantichockeyamerica.com.
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