Biggest Surprise of the College Hockey Season? That’s Easy, it’s the AHA: Puck Drop

by

True or false, the days of the conference known as the Atlantic Hockey America having just its league champion in the NCAA Tournament are about to end.

It’s false for two reasons. 1) They did it in 2013 when Canisius was the automatic qualifier by winning the league tournament, and Niagara qualified as an at-large team. 2) To land more than one team nowadays the AHA needs to have teams in the top 12 or so of the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index, which is used to determine the field and seedings for the tournament.

The league has one so far this season, which is both an impressive accomplishment and a surprise given the team, Army. The Black Knights were picked to finish seventh in the AHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

Instead, Army is ranked this week in the USCHO.com poll at No. 19, its first national rankings since March 15, 2021 (also No. 19). The 5-1 start (4-0 AHA) was highlighted by the 4-3 overtime win against then-No.8 Quinnipiac.

Last weekend it swept RIT, which stands out even more when you realize that the Black Knights didn’t yield a single goal. Consequently, their NPI ranking is seventh heading into the weekend.   

The Black Knights aren’t fun to face. They’re ninth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 1.67 goals per game, and junior goaltender JJ Cataldo has a .945 save percentage, a 1.49 goals-against average, and the two shutouts.

But they aren’t along in that respect. Niagara’s road sweep of then-No. 18 Bowling Green shocked a lot of fans, especially with the Falcons coming off winning the IceBreaker Tournament. Granted, the scores were 3-2 OT and 2-1, but it’s a big reason when they’re No. 25 in NPI.  

League preseason favorite Sacred Heart is 4-4 overall, but has already knocked off two ranked opponents, splitting its series at No. 15 Cornell last weekend, and shocked then-No. 17 Penn State on Oct. 10. The Pioneers are getting votes in the polls, and in NPI they’re at No. 35, just ahead of two-time reigning AHA champion No. 36 Bentley and No. 37 Holy Cross, which split their series last weekend.

Is it time to break up the AHA? Ah no, not quite. But it has been the surprise of the young 2026-27 season.

Yes, the AHA gets raided by big-name teams, which will continue with NIL, but the other part of the transfer-portal era is that a lot of players from top-end programs who didn’t quite work out for whatever reason are ending up at schools like Canisius. Combined with the influx of players from the Canadian juniors and these teams have a lot more depth, and rosters full of players with something to prove.  

Thursday Night One-Timers

  • Goaltender Luca Di Pasquo made 41 saves as No. 18 held No. 1 Wisconsin to a 1-1 tie at Mariucci Arena. Mason Moe scored on a power-play for the Gophers, and freshman Zach Wooten for the Badgers. UW had a 42-17 edge in shots, and got the extra conference point by winning the shootout. “Obviously, as you can see, they owned a lot of the offensive territory and spent a ton of time on our end. I have to give our guys a ton of credit because, boy, we were eating pucks and blocking shots and collapsing and helping Luca around the net in the blue paint,” Minnesota head coach Brett Larson said in a release. “Unfortunately, that gave us no energy to go on offense. It turned into a game where we just had to defend and flip it out and change. Thankfully, we got the power-play goal and were able to get a tie out of that, but we’re going to have to find a way to defend our neutral zone a lot better.”

  • Connecticut edged Providence 6-5 in overtime despite being outshot 38-25. Jeremy Loranger notched his second power-play goal of the night in overtime, while Joey Muldowney matched his two goals and an assist for the Huskies thanks to converting a penalty shot.

  • Boston College came out sluggish and struggled in a 5-2 loss to Vermont. Check out why Eagles coach Greg Brown said: “We Have to Trust the Process.”

Puck Drop: Friday, November 6, 2026

  • Hilary Knight was named captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team, with Alex Carpenter and Megan Keller the alternates, at the World Championships. The U.S. opens Friday at 1 p.m. ET against Switzerland at Esbjerg Hockey Arena in Denmark (NHL Network). For more.

  • Logan Cooley (Minnesota) notched his fifth career NHL hat trick during Utah’s loss against Montreal, 5-4 in overtime. He’s fourth among former Gophers all-time behind Thomas Vanek (11), Phil Kessel (seven), and Neal Broten (six). … Luke Hughes (Michigan) notched his sixth goal of the season with the New Jersey Devils. … You may have missed this game-winning goal from Matty Beniers (Michigan) for Seattle late Wednesday night:

  • More Gophers news, Wild defenseman Brock Faber participated in his first team practice on Thursday and is getting close to returning from his skull fracture.

  • The U.S. Collegiate Selects added two more names to the roster of players who will participate in next month’s Spengler Cup in Switzerland: Wisconsin defenseman Logan Hensler and Cornell forward Ryan Walsh.

  • Forward Ryan Kaczynski committed to Boston University (out of Soo, OHL) for the 2028-29 season. At 17, he’s listed at 6-3, 194.

  • The CCHA announced that Lake Superior State freshman Raoul Boilard is suspended for four games due to his check from behind against Minnesota State on Saturday. Defenseman Sam Court, who went head-first into the boards from the hit, is still in the hospital.

College Hockey Scores

Big Ten
No. 1 Wisconsin 1, No. 18 Minnesota 1 (SO, Wisconsin wins SO 1-0) 

Hockey East
No. 20 Connecticut 6, No. 9 Providence 5
Vermont 5, Boston College 2

Exhibition
Lake Superior 6, Maryville 0

WOMEN
Hockey East
No. 13 Connecticut 4, No. 15 Boston College 1

Today’s College Hockey Schedule

MEN
AHA
Canisius at Sacred Heart, 7 p.m. ET 
RIT at Bentley, 7 p.m. ET 
No. 19 Army at Air Force, 7p.m. MT 

Big Ten
Notre Dame at Penn State,   

CCHA
Bemidji State at Bowling Green, 7 p.m. ET 
No. 8 Augustana at No. 14 Michigan Tech, 7 p.m. ET 
Minnesota State at Northern Michigan, 7 p.m. ET 

ECAC
Union at Clarkson, 7 p.m. ET  
Princeton at Colgate, 7 p.m. ET  
No. 6 Quinnipiac at No. 16 Cornell, 7 p.m. ET  
Yale at No. 12 Dartmouth, 7 p.m. ET  
Brown at Harvard, 7 p.m. ET  
RPI at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m. ET  

Hockey East
Massachusetts at Maine, 7 p.m. ET  
Vermont at Boston College, 7 p.m. ET  
New Hampshire at UMass Lowell, 7:15 p.m. ET  

NCHC
St. Cloud State at Omaha, 7 p.m. CT  
No. 4 Denver at Arizona State, 7 p.m. MT  
Miami at No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 7 p.m. CT  
No. 5 Western Michigan at No. 10 North Dakota, 7 p.m. CT  

Non-Conference
No. 13 Boston University at No. 3 Michigan State, 7 p.m. ET  
Lindenwood at No. 11 Colorado College, 7 p.m. MT  
Holy Cross at Merrimack, 7 p.m. ET  
Alaska at Stonehill, 7 p.m. ET  
Alaska-Anchorage at St. Thomas, 7 p.m. CT  
Robert Morris at Long Island, 7:15 p.m. ET  

Exhibition
Maryville at Lake Superior, 7 p.m. ET  

WOMEN
AHA
Syracuse at Lindenwood, 4 p.m. CT  
Mercyhurst at Delaware, 6 p.m. ET  
RIT at Robert Morris, 7 p.m. ET  

ECAC
Harvard at Brown, 6 p.m. ET  
No. 8 Colgate at No. 5 Princeton, 6 p.m. ET  
No. 14 Cornell at No. 6 Quinnipiac, 6 p.m. ET  
No. 9 Clarkson at Rensselaer, 6 p.m. ET  
St. Lawrence at Union, 6 p.m. ET  
Dartmouth at No. 11 Yale, 6 p.m. ET  

Hockey East
Maine at Boston University, 6 p.m. ET  
No. 15 Boston College at No. 13 Connecticut, 6 p.m. ET  
Providence at New Hampshire, 6 p.m. ET  
No. 4 Northeastern at Vermont, 6 p.m. ET  
Merrimack at Holy Cross, 7 p.m. ET  

NEWHA
Assumption at Long Island, 3 p.m. ET 
Sacred Heart at Stonehill, 5 p.m. ET 
Post at Franklin Pierce, 7 p.m. ET 
Saint Anselm at Saint Michael’s, 7 p.m. ET 

This Date in Hockey History

November 6, 1976: Maine goaltender Alfie Michaud was born in Selkirk, Manitoba.

November 6, 1978: Norwich University center Keith Aucoin was born in Waltham, Mass.

November 6, 1978: Clarkson left wing Erik Cole was born in Oswego, N.Y.

November 6, 1979: Former UMD Dave Langevin’s first NHL goal was shorthanded and helped the New York Islanders defeat visiting Los Angeles 4-1.

November 6, 1981: Bemidji State center Andrew Murray was born in Selkirk, Manitoba.

November 6, 1987: UMD right wing Justin Fontaine was born in Bonnyville, Alberta.

November 6, 1999: Northeastern left wing Aidan McDonough was born in Milton, Mass.

November 6, 1999: Former Minnesota defenseman Ben Clymer’s first two NHL points as a rookie were assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a 3-0 deficit to win at Pittsburgh 7-4

November 6. 2006: Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman, Reed Larson, Red Berenson and Glen Sonmor were honored with the Lester Patrick Award for service to hockey in the United States.

November 6, 2006: Minnesota State retired No. 99 for all sports in honor of Anthony Ford, a 9-year-old Mankato boy who died of leukemia. 

November 6, 2008: Former Minnesota right wing Blake Wheeler scored a goal in each period for his first NHL hat trick as Boston won at home against Toronto, 5-2.

November 6, 2016: Former Ohio State center Ryan Kesler scored two goals as Anaheim defeated Calgary for the 24th straight time to set an NHL record for the most consecutive regular-season home wins against one team. The streak dated back to Jan. 19, 2004. The Ducks won 4-1.

November 6, 2022: Former Michigan State center Rod Brind’Amour coached his 300th NHL game, but the Hurricanes lost 3-1 to Toronto. His 182 wins were the fifth-most through the first 300 games in NHL history.

November 6, 2023: Former Michigan center John Beecher and former Ohio State defenseman Mason Lohrei scored their first NHL goals as Boston won 3-2 at Dallas. Former Maine goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves. Beecher scored first, but Mason Lohrei became the first Louisiana-born player to score a goal in NHL history.

November 6, 2023: Former Michigan defenseman Quinn Hughes notched his 20th point in only his 12th game, becoming the fourth-fastest defenseman to do so behind Paul Coffey, John Carlson, and Bobby Orr. Vancouver defeated Edmonton 6-2.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“A fast body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet.”

Paul Gallico

We’ll Leave You With This …

If you know, you know …

— The views expressed in Christopher Walsh’s opinion part of Puck Drop are his own and do not necessarily reflect ON SI, Sports Illustrated or digital partner Minute.  

Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads and Blue Sky for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google


#Biggest #Surprise #College #Hockey #Season #Easy #AHA #Puck #Drop

Leave a Comment