As play gets underway, a compelling group of challengers lurk behind four-time defending conference champion Penn State. While the Nittany Lions saw the best class in program history graduate – including seven PWHL draft picks – teams like Mercyhurst and RIT bring back a bulk of their rosters. New coaches took the helms at Lindenwood and Syracuse, and Robert Morris and Delaware appear poised to make significant strides. Only seven standings points separated third through sixth place last year; it’s quite possible that a similar cluster could be found at the top of the standings this season. 

Below is a brief look at each Atlantic Hockey America team entering 2026-27, listed in order of how the coaches picked them in the conference’s preseason poll:

PENN STATE
2025-26 Record (Conference): 33-6-0 (22-2-0, first place)
Preseason Poll: First
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Atlantic Hockey America’s gold standard the past four years has been in State College, where head coach Jeff Kampersal’s team has a 69-8-3 conference record to go along with four regular-season and four postseason championships in that time. While a slew of elite talent returns, Penn State’s seven 2026 PWHL draft picks were the most of any school, perhaps opening the door for their AHA challengers. Among the departed are three-time Meghan Agosta Player of the Year Tessa Janecke, two-time Molly Byrne Best Defenseman Kendall Butze and two-time Brianne McLaughlin Goaltender of the Year Katie DeSa.

One to Watch: Junior Grace Outwater (Picton, Ont.) scored 19 goals in conference games last season, the fourth-most in conference history and the most by a player in her first two seasons in the league. She led AHA in conference scoring and was the coaches’ choice as the Preseason Player of the Year. Kampersal credits Outwater’s commitment to her development and an aggressive streak that brings out her best. “That helps in the battle,” he said. “When she gets banged around, she gets even more amped up.”

Series to Circle: A week before Penn State begins its Atlantic Hockey America title defense, the Nittany Lions welcome Ohio State to Pegula Ice Arena, less than 200 days after the Buckeyes played in the national championship game at the same site. The series a year ago in Columbus accounted for two of only three regulation losses Penn State suffered all year. Nine players on this year’s teams represented USA Hockey and Hockey Canada this summer, including Outwater, sophomore defenseman Sophie Morrow (Darien, Conn.) and junior forward Abby Stonehouse (Blenheim, Ont.) from the Nittany Lions.

Did You Know?: Only a freshman in 2025-26, defenseman Danica Maynard (Lake Country, B.C.) tied teammate Butze for the AHA record for points by a defenseman with 26 in conference play. Maynard’s +45 rating led the conference and she was the league’s Nicole Hensley Rookie of the Year. She joined Outwater as unanimous selections to the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey America team.

MERCYHURST
2025-26 Record (Conference): 23-11-3 (17-5-2, second place)
Preseason Poll: Second
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Head coach Mike Sisti has been the most successful coach in Atlantic Hockey America history, compiling 15 regular-season championships in his 27 seasons, and enters 2026-27 seeking to return Mercyhurst to the top of the standings for the first time since 2019-20. The Lakers return their top two scorers and seven of their top nine, six regulars on defense, and junior goaltender Magdalena Luggin (Vienna, Austria), the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey America selection in net. Coming off their best win total in 11 years, the Lakers enter 2026-27 as the likeliest challenger to Penn State’s crown.

One to Watch: While two teammates earned Preseason All-Conference honors – sophomore forward Julia Perjus (Stockholm, Sweden) and Luggin – Sisti warns not to overlook senior forward Sofia Nuutinen (Vantaa, Finland). The younger sister of Finnish Olympian and former Laker Emma Nuutinen, Sofia enters 2026-27 as the conference’s top active career scorer, with 65 points in 64 Atlantic Hockey America games. She is just eight points shy of 100 in all games. In August she represented her country at the Women’s Euro Tour.

Series to Circle: The Lakers went 1-4-0 against Penn State in 2025-26, including a 3-2 loss in the Atlantic Hockey America Championship game. Their first chance to unseat the conference favorites comes less than two months into the season, a November 13-14 series at Mercyhurst Ice Arena.

Did You Know?: Mercyhurst went 12-2-1 after January 1 last season, a stretch that included a win and two one-goal losses against Penn State. Two freshmen at the time – Berlin Lolacher (Regina, Sask.; 8 goals) and Perjus (7 goals) – combined to average a goal per game in that stretch, while Nuutinen led the team with 18 points in 15 games.

RIT
2025-26 Record (Conference): 16-18-0 (11-13-0, fourth place)
Preseason Poll: Third
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Led by a balanced, experienced offense and perhaps the top defenseman in the conference in senior Emma Pickering (Fishers, Ind.), RIT enters 2026-27 with hopes of the program’s best regular-season finish ever. Five Tigers rank among the top 15 active career scorers in AHA conference play entering the season; no other school has more than three. That group includes Pickering and four forwards: senior Addie Alvarez (Rochester, N.Y.), junior Brac Kelley (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), senior Linda Rulle (Pale, Latvia) and junior Kailey Favro (Danville, Calif.). Another forward, sophomore Tilli Keranen (Vihti, Finland), was the National Rookie of the Month in February after closing the season on a five-game point streak (2 goals, 7 assists).

One to Watch: Pickering was the only player besides Penn State’s Outwater to earn votes for the Preseason Conference Player of the Year honors. She enters her senior season already a two-time first-team all-conference selection, the first player in RIT history with that distinction. Pickering has scored 11 goals in each of the last two seasons from the blueline and quarterbacks an RIT power play that converted 31.9% of the time in all games last season, the best mark ever by a team in the conference.

“Emma is a pretty special player, and a pretty special human being – and it's the human being part that sets her apart,” head coach Celeste Brown said. “I could go on a list and talk about all of Emma's qualities, but it really is that at her core, she assumes goodness, she brings out goodness in people, and shows up consistently every single day the same way."

Series to Circle: RIT will test itself outside the conference, with its five non-conference series coming against teams that combined to win 102 games last season (60% winning percentage). Defending Hockey East champion Northeastern will pay a visit to the Polisseni Center October 23-24 for the seventh and eighth of those non-conference games, a week ahead of Penn State’s trip to Rochester.

Did You Know?: RIT’s conference or overall win total has improved, year-to-year, in each of Brown’s first six seasons as head coach.

LINDENWOOD
2025-26 Record (Conference): 14-21-2 (11-12-1, third place)
Preseason Poll: Tied for fourth
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Coming off its best conference finish since joining the league in 2012-13, Lindenwood hopes to reach new heights under new head coach Max Gavin, who joins the program after assistant coaching stints at Boston College and Dartmouth. The Lions were 8-5-0 down the stretch a season ago, eventually falling in the Atlantic Hockey America semifinals in two hard-fought one-goal games against Mercyhurst, the second stretching into a second overtime.

One to Watch: Sophomore Tatiana Blichova (Presov, Slovakia) leads the offense after becoming the first freshman to lead Lindenwood in scoring since the program joined the conference in 2012-13. Blichova was an AHA All-Rookie Team selection and was at her best in the second half, totaling 9 goals and 7 assists (16 points) in 15 games after Jan. 1.

Series to Circle: Lindenwood’s home opening series, October 8-9, will be a rematch of its Mercyhurst semifinal series from February. The Lions actually led those games, held in Erie, more than the Lakers (36% of the time to 14%), led in part by a two-goal effort from now-junior Silje Gundersen (Kristainsand, Norway) in game two.

Did You Know?: Lindenwood boasts a United Nations-like roster, one that features players from 12 countries and three continents. Junior defenseman Elina Zilliox (Weyersheim, France) played in the 2026 Winter Olympics and 10 of her Lions teammates have already represented their respective countries on their senior national teams.

SYRACUSE
2025-26 Record (Conference): 15-18-4 (10-11-3, fifth place)
Preseason Poll: Tied for fourth
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Fueled by a 6-1-2 midseason stretch, the Orange finished fifth in conference play a year ago, just two points out of third place. New head coach Brian Idalski arrives from PWHL Vancouver with an impressive collegiate, professional and international resume. He will try to coax some more scoring out of a team that finished sixth out of seven in conference goals last year, while maintaining the stout defense that ranked behind only Penn State and Mercyhurst in goals against.

One to Watch: As a freshman, goaltender Ava Drabyk (Saskatoon, Sask.) grabbed hold of the starting job and kept a firm grip, playing 34 of the Orange’s 37 games including all 24 conference matchups. She recorded five shutouts, highlighted by a stretch of three in a row Jan. 3, 9 and 10 that became the longest shutout streak by any goaltender in conference history (253 minutes, 24 seconds).

Series to Circle: It’s more than one series, admittedly, but Syracuse has a compelling stretch of seven games in November exclusively in Upstate New York, including home-and-homes with Rensselaer (Nov. 13-14), RIT (Nov. 20-21) and Clarkson (Nov. 24 & 28), plus a single visit from Colgate (Nov. 17). January will feature five more games against in-state foes, with home-and-homes against Union (Jan. 1-2) and RIT (Jan. 29-30), plus a trip to Colgate (Jan. 5).

Did You Know?: Syracuse returns each of its top six scorers from 2025-26, a balanced group that all had between 14 and 20 points overall and between 8 and 11 points in conference play.

ROBERT MORRIS
2025-26 Record (Conference): 13-21-2 (8-14-2, sixth place)
Preseason Poll: Sixth
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Head coach Logan Bittle has his deepest roster since the 2020-21 Robert Morris team claimed the league’s postseason championship, a group that backs up bona fide stars at each position in junior forward Jessica MacKinnon (Clarks Harbour, N.S.), senior defenseman Thalia D’Elia (West Chester, Pa.) and senior goaltender Maggie Hatch (Cleveland Heights, Ohio).

One to Watch: MacKinnon is one of six Clarkson transfers on the roster and quickly established herself as a star in her first season with the Colonials. She had a goal and an assist in their first conference game – a 2-1 win vs. RIT – and scored goals in eight of her first 12 Atlantic Hockey America matchups. She went on to earn first-team all-conference honors and was named the league’s Best Defensive Forward. “I've been at this a long time and she is, without a doubt, the hardest worker I've ever coached,” Bittle said. “She has that compete and that drive that is going to allow her to play hockey for a long time if she so chooses."

Series to Circle: Robert Morris will visit Boston University October 23-24 with a chance to hoist a mid-season trophy at the Ice Breaker Tournament. The Colonials will face Minnesota State – which finished 13th nationally last season – in the opening game, with a Saturday matchup against Yale or host BU, depending on Friday’s results.

Did You Know?: Hatch has played at least 24 games in each of her first three seasons, and her 75 career decisions are 63% more than any other goaltender in the conference. Last year her four shutouts in conference games (and six overall) trailed only Penn State’s Katie DeSa.

DELAWARE
2025-26 Record (Conference): 2-31-0 (1-23-0, seventh place)
Preseason Poll: Seventh
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A veteran of the conference as an assistant coach at Niagara and Penn State, Delaware head coach Allison Coomey knew her first-year program faced a daunting task in 2025-26. The Blue Hens – featuring 17 freshmen – earned victories against established programs Holy Cross and Lindenwood and took four more teams to overtime. “They did a tremendous job last year for such a young team,” Coomey said. “As hard as it was sometimes with the results we got, we were in every game, at least we felt that way.” A strong offseason of development and an injection of talent has Delaware excited to return to the ice.

One to Watch: Sophomore goaltender Charlotte Payne (Oakville, Ont.) had a busy freshman season, as her 600 saves in conference play ranked seventh in AHA history, despite playing roughly 60% of the team’s minutes alongside now-senior Mattie Robitzer (Kennett Square, Pa.). Payne had 11 games with at least 40 saves and was between the pipes for both Blue Hen wins. She compiled a .914 save percentage overall.

Series to Circle: Delaware narrowly missed out on what would have been an historic upset in the first round of its first AHA Postseason when Robert Morris escaped with a 3-2 overtime victory on February 19 at Lindenwood. The Blue Hens welcome the Colonials for the first meetings of the teams since then on November 12-13 in what will be their fifth conference series of the season. It will be Homecoming Weekend in Newark and Friday’s game is set as hockey’s throwback game, featuring a refreshed version of the vintage Fightin’ Blue Hen logo.

Did You Know?: Freshmen forwards Morgan Link (Northbrook, Ill.), Lily Myers (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and Kyla Schneider (Lincolnshire, Ill.) were not just teammates on the Chicago Mission last season, but linemates. Coomey isn’t sure yet whether the trio will stick together, but they are among six freshmen and two transfers who will look to inject some offense to a team that only averaged one goal per conference game last season.