BOSTON – Last year’s two conference championship game teams earned conference wins, while Niagara and RIT posted dramatic non-conference victories in Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) men’s action Saturday night.

SCOREBOARD
Sacred Heart 4, Holy Cross 3
Bentley 5, Robert Morris 1
RIT 5, RPI 4
Niagara 5, Union 4 OT
Penn State 3, Canisius 2 OT
Colorado College 4, Air Force 0
U.S. National Team Development Program 3, Army West Point 1 (Exhibition)
Recaps available below

SACRED HEART 4, HOLY CROSS 3
Box Score | Game Highlights
Fairfield, Conn. – Sacred Heart scored two power-play goals and a shorthanded goal in the third period to come back from a 3-1 second intermission deficit and earn a split in its home-and-home series with Holy Cross, winning 4-3 on Saturday night.

The game-winning tally, shorthanded by Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.), came while the Pioneers were killing a five-minute major taken by his brother, Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.). Sacred Heart killed the rest of the penalty and held on for the win, its first in AHA play this season.

Holy Cross had two power-play goals of its own in the second period, as well as one at even strength, to take a 3-1 lead. Ben Riche (Highwood Beach, Sask.), Brody Gagno (Langley, B.C.) and Owen Kim (North Vancouver, B.C.) all scored within 4:03 in the middle of the period.

The Buttazzoni brothers assisted on Gavin Bryant (Ingersoll, Ont.) scoring the first goal in SHU’s comeback, then Vitaly Levyy (Old Brookville, N.Y.) tied the score in the first four minutes of the third period. Diego Buttazzoni’s winner came at the 10:46 mark.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Holy Cross	0-3-0–3	23	6/12	2/7	3-5-0 (1-3-0)
Sacred Heart	1-0-3–4	17	10/31	2/4	3-3-0 (1-1-0)

BENTLEY 5, ROBERT MORRIS 1
Box Score | Game Highlights
Waltham, Mass. – Bentley scored four times in the third period to break open a 1-1 game and earn a sweep of its weekend series against Robert Morris, winning 5-1 Saturday night.

Jan Gaspar (Prague, Czech Republic) and Oskar Bakkevig (Oslo, Norway) – two of Friday night’s goal scorers – had tallies to start the scoring in the third for the Falcons, Gaspar just 50 seconds into the period and Bakkevig about seven minutes later. Alec Leonard (Toronto, Ont.), who had the first Bentley goal in the first period, scored his second of the game before Marton Nemes (Székesfehérvár, Hungary) closed out the scoring. Bakkevig and Leonard’s third-period goals both came on the power play.

Nicholas Bevilacqua (Abington, Mass.) made 27 saves for Bentley to earn his first win of the season.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Robert Morris	1-0-0–1	28	8/16	0/6	1-6-0 (0-2-0)
Bentley	1-0-4–5	42	6/12	2/8	3-3-0 (2-0-0)

NIAGARA 5, UNION 4 OT
Box Score | Game Highlights
Niagara University, N.Y. – A tenacious Union team came back from Niagara leads of 2-0 and 4-1 to force overtime, but the Purple Eagles scored the winner just 1:04 into the extra session and earned a split in the weekend series with a 5-4 victory Saturday night.

Even-strength goals from four different players gave Niagara its 4-1 lead a little more than midway through the second period. Hunter Wallace (Oak Lake, Man.) and Dallon Melin (Czar, Alta.) scored within 26 seconds to make the score 4-1.

Union – which had three power-play goals on Friday night – scored three more with the man advantage Saturday to send the game to overtime. Jack Richard (Stoney Creek, Ont.) scored the winner on the first shot of OT.

Richard, Wallace and Jacob Maillet (Dundas, Ont.) had multiple-point games for the Purple Eagles.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Union	0-2-2-0–4	35	3/6	3/4	3-2-0 (0-0-0)
Niagara	2-2-0-1–5	28	4/8	0/3	4-4-0 (1-1-0)

PENN STATE 3, CANISIUS 2 OT
Box Score | Game Highlights
University Park, Pa. – Penn State overcame a 2-1 Canisius lead to tie the score late in the third period and get the game-winner just 15 seconds into overtime thanks to a goal from Jackson Smith. The 3-2 victory gave Penn State a series sweep.

Canisius scored twice in the second to take the lead, with David Elmy (Modesto, Calif.) and Rhys Chiddenton (Campbellville, Ont.) netting the goals.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Canisius	0-2-0-0–2	28	4/8	0/4	3-4-1 (0-0-0)
Penn State	1-0-1-1–3	37	5/10	1/3	2-4-0 (0-0-0)

RIT 5, RPI 4
Box Score | Game Highlights
Rochester, N.Y. – Christian Catalano (Mississauga, Ont.) scored his first two goals of the season – the second one of highlight-reel quality – to lift RIT to a 5-4 victory and a split in its weekend series against RPI.

RIT never trailed in the game, but its only multi-goal lead lasted just 3:39 as RPI seemed to respond to every Tiger push. 

The visiting Engineers scored their second power-play goal of the game at the 12:19 mark of the third period, which set the stage for Catalano. At the 17:07 mark of the third, he skated through all five RPI players and put a perfect backhand into the top corner.

Mason Croucher (Victoria, B.C.) and Lucas Romeo (Burlington, Ont.) also had multiple-point games for RIT, while Collin Mackenzie (Elora, Ont.) stopped 23 shots for his first career win.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
RPI	1-2-1–4	27	6/12	2/6	4-2-0 (0-0-0)
RIT	1-3-1–5	30	6/12	1/6	2-4-1 (1-1-0)

#12/11 COLORADO COLLEGE 4, AIR FORCE 0
Box Score | Game Highlights
USAFA, Colo. – Owen Beckner and Carmelo Crandall each scored twice and Colorado College earned a shutout victory, 4-0, to sweep its weekend series against Air Force. The Tigers retain the Pikes Peak Trophy with the two wins.

Air Force outshot Colorado College, 35-22, including a 13-2 advantage in the first period but could not break through Jackson Unger, who earned the shutout for the Tigers.

Colorado College scored twice in the second and twice in the third – including just before the buzzer – to earn the win.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Colorado College	0-2-2–4	22	6/23	1/3	4-2-0 (0-0-0)
Air Force	0-0-0–0	35	5/10	0/3	2-4-0 (0-0-0)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, October 30
Niagara at Clarkson, 7 p.m. ET
Bentley at Holy Cross, 7 p.m. ET
Sacred Heart at Cornell, 7 p.m. ET
Air Force at Robert Morris, 7 p.m. ET
RIT at Army West Point, 7 p.m. ET

Saturday, October 31
Niagara at Clarkson, 4 p.m. ET
RIT at Army West Point, 4 p.m. ET
Holy Cross at Bentley, 6 p.m. ET
Sacred Heart at Cornell, 7 p.m. ET
Air Force at Robert Morris, 7 p.m. ET

ABOUT ATLANTIC HOCKEY AMERICA
Atlantic Hockey America is in its third season in 2026-27 following the merger of the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields nine Division I men’s teams and seven women’s teams representing 14 institutions. For more information, visit atlantichockeyamerica.com or follow the conference on X (@Atlantic_Hockey), Instagram (@atlantichockeyamerica) and Facebook (Atlantic Hockey America). Watch Atlantic Hockey America home games on FloHockey.