Beginning Monday, July 17, AICyellowjackets.com will be counting down the top 10 stories from the 2016-17 school year. Check back each day over the next two weeks as we reveal this year's #YJTop10.
The same narrative repeated itself all year for the American International College men's ice hockey team: Everything was brand new and better than ever. The team had a brand-new coach in alumnus and former assistant coach Eric Lang, who replaced longtime head coach Gary Wright. AIC also moved to a new home rink, the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield.
Additionally, half of the team was made up of brand-new collegiate players: 13 freshmen.
It was evident from the first puck drop on October 14 that things were different than before. AIC played stride-in-stride with one of the top teams in the nation in Union College, even briefly taking the lead in the third period before ultimately falling to the Dutchmen by a score of 5-4.
The next week, on October 21, the team drew with a tough Hockey East opponent in the form of the University of Connecticut. Lang's first win as AIC head coach came at Mercyhurst University a week later.
AIC also recorded the first shutout of a Hockey East opponent in program history on January 3 against the University of Massachusetts, with freshman goaltender Zackarias Skog recording his first collegiate shutout.
The Yellow Jackets then cruised on the road against Niagara University on January 20 and 21, winning by scores of 7-3 and 7-2. AIC had never scored 14 goals in a single weekend series until that weekend, and the only time AIC had previously scored 14 total goals in back-to-back games was in 1999.
Despite playing two fewer regular season games in 2016-17, AIC actually scored two more goals than in 2015-16 and took more shots per game. The biggest source of improvement, though, came defensively - AIC allowed 35 fewer goals this season compared to last season, and allowed nearly 8.5 fewer shots on goal per game compared to last year.
Those 13 freshmen experienced few growing pains on the statistical front. The Yellow Jackets finished second in the nation during the regular season with 124 points by their freshman class, just behind Boston University, which had 127 points recorded by its rookies. Blake Christensen (21 points) and Dominik Florian (20 points) led the way offensively for AIC.
Defenseman Janis Jaks, one of those freshmen, made the Latvian national team, and competed at the 2017 IIHF World Championship. He was not only the first hockey player to make it on any national team from the Yellow Jackets, but also the first in the history of Atlantic Hockey.
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