2020–21 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of American International's players would lose a season of play.[1] However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.[2]

American International entered the season needing to replace a great deal of experience on its roster. The Yellow Jackets had more than a third of the previous team's players leave, mostly through graduation, and the remaining upperclassmen would need to remain steady while the coaching staff brought the new players along. The large influx of players included the program's first ever NHL draft pick in Jake Kucharski, a transfer from Providence, which demonstrated how much the program had risen in Eric Lang's short time as head coach. The team got off to a good start, winning their first five matches, but AIC faced its first big test in late December when they played Quinnipiac. The Yellow Jackets were embarrassed in the first game but recovered in the second; though they lost the team did show that it could compete with other ranked teams. As a result, the team's national ranking fell just one spot despite losing both games.

AIC played well over the next month, going 8–1 and placing themselves as the team to beat in Atlantic Hockey. Unfortunately, COVID cancellations torpedoed the team's schedule and the Yellow Jackets didn't play a single game over the succeeding 7 weeks. Even the team's quarterfinal match in the conference tournament was scratched due to COVID.[3] When the Jackets finally played a game the team looked a bit out of sorts. They were finally able to knock some of the rust off in the third period of their semifinal game to escape with a 2–1 win. They had to come from behind to win the championship as well but the title gave AIC every league crown for a three-year period, making them the first Atlantic Hockey program to achieve that feat.

Despite a stellar 15–3 record and both conference championships (regular- and post-season) AIC was given the 16th-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and had to face top-seeded North Dakota in the opening round. The Yellow Jackets still appeared rusty at the start of the game, surrendering 4 goals and being outshot 7–13. The huge lead allowed UND to hang back and play defense for the remainder of the match, giving the Jackets few opportunities to cut into the lead. AIC eventually lost 1–5 but the question remains; just how badly was the team affected by their neatly 2-month layoff?

As of September 27, 2020.[4]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Jake Kucharski	Freshman (RS)	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1999-09-25	Erie, Pennsylvania	Providence (HEA)	CAR, 197th overall 2018
2		Nico Somerville	Freshman	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-04-08	Nanaimo, British Columbia	Penticton (BCHL)	—
3		Jan Kern	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-07-27	Prague, Czech Republic	Youngstown (USHL)	—
4		Brett Callahan	Sophomore	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1998-10-16	Westmont, Illinois	Jersey (NCDC)	—
5		Matt Rickard	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1999-07-28	Coventry, Rhode Island	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
6		Jeff Baum	Senior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1996-06-17	Colleyville, Texas	Providence (HEA)	—
7		Oskar Strömberg	Senior	D	6' 7" (2.01 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1996-11-26	Sollentuna, Sweden	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
8		Brennan Kapcheck (C)	Senior	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1996-11-17	Mount Prospect, Illinois	Aston (NAHL)	—
9		Blake Bennett	Sophomore	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-07-01	Grand Island, New York	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	—
10		Adam Stacho	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-05-28	Očkov, Slovakia	Bismarck (NAHL)	—
11		Julius Janhonen	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-03-05	Espoo, Finland	HIFK U20 (Nuorten SM-liiga)	—
12		Eric Otto	Freshman (RS)	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-07-19	Burnsville, Minnesota	Chicago (USHL)	—
13		Verners Egle †	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-06-01	Liepāja, Latvia	Madison (USHL)	—
15		Matúš Spodniak	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1997-12-22	Košice, Slovakia	Ogden (WSHL)	—
16		Kyle Jeffers	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1999-01-06	Winter Springs, Florida	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
17		Zak Galambos	Sophomore (RS)	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1997-04-04	Walnut Creek, California	Minnesota State (WCHA)	—
18		Michal Stinil	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1999-03-21	East Burke, Vermont	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
19		Elijiah Barriga	Junior (RS)	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	193 lb (88 kg)	1996-05-16	West Covina, California	UNLV (ACHA)	—
20		Tobias Fladeby	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	191 lb (87 kg)	1996-05-20	Asker, Norway	Bismarck (NAHL)	—
21		Justin Cole	Junior (RS)	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1996-05-01	Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	—
22		Parker Revering (C)	Junior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1997-01-11	Alexandria, Minnesota	Brookings (NAHL)	—
23		Aaron Grounds	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-12-24	Jamestown, North Dakota	Fargo (USHL)	—
25		Luka Maver (A)	Junior (RS)	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1997-10-25	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Lincoln (USHL)	—
26		Chris Theodore	Junior	F	5' 7" (1.7 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1997-10-15	Beaconsfield, Quebec	Cornwall (CCHL)	—
27		Hunter Johannes	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1998-07-24	Eden Prairie, Minnesota	Jamestown (NAHL)	—
28		Jake Stella	Sophomore	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1998-11-14	Karlstad, Sweden	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	—
29		Darwin Lakoduk	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	157 lb (71 kg)	2000-01-28	Edmonton, Alberta	Penticton Vees (BCHL)	—
30		Stefano Durante	Senior	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1996-06-04	Brampton, Ontario	Cobourg (OJHL)	—
33		Jarrett Fiske	Sophomore	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-05-28	Erie, Pennsylvania	Kemptville (CCHL)	—
34		Ryan McInchak	Freshman	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-02-28	Trenton, Michigan	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
39		Justin Young	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	1997-12-23	Leduc, Alberta	Alaska (WCHA)	—
44		Austen Long	Sophomore	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1998-02-15	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Omaha (USHL)	—
55		Chris Dodero (A)	Senior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	1996-06-08	West Chicago, Illinois	Janesville (NAHL)	—
61		Sam Miller	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-08-03	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Shreveport (NAHL)	—

† Egle left the program after playing one game.

[5]

[6]

† Kucharski and McInchak split a shutout on January 29.

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.[7]