It’s officially game week as all 10 Atlantic Hockey teams begin their 2025-26 journey this weekend.

Four teams will be in action on Friday – albeit two of them in exhibition contests – followed by eight games on Saturday and three on Sunday. The full AHA schedule can be found here and Flo is once again proud to be the AHA’s streaming home all season long.

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While those 15 games are on the docket this weekend, it’s just the beginning of what should be another exciting winter of AHA action. Here are some of the top storylines heading into this season.

Sacred Heart Paces Preseason Poll

The conference recently released its annual preseason coaches’ poll and for a second consecutive year, Sacred Heart found itself on top.

The Pioneers finished last season with a 16-7-3 record and 53 points – good for second in the AHA standings. SHU returns three of its top four scorers and its starting goaltender from a year ago, and the Pioneers took home seven of the 10 first-place votes.

Holy Cross came in second and earned a pair of first-place votes while Bentley was third with one vote. Holy Cross (19-5-2) and Bentley (16-9-1) were the AHA's regular-season and tournament champions respectively.

1. Sacred Heart (7)
2. Holy Cross (2)
3. Bentley (1)
4. Niagara
5. Army
6. Air Force
7. Canisius
8. RIT
9. Robert Morris
10. Mercyhurst

Gundarah, Trudeau To Lead SHU

As mentioned above, Sacred Heart welcomes back sophomore goaltender Ajeet Gundarah and three of its top four scorers, which includes senior Felix Trudeau.

Trudeau enjoyed a breakout junior year with 15 goals, 38 points and seven power-play goals, all of which led SHU. The left-shot forward spent his first two seasons at Maine and has a 20-27-47 career stat line over 83 NCAA games. Trudeau was named to the Preseason All-AHA Team earlier this month.

Big haul for the Pioneers in the @Atlantic_Hockey preseason coaches poll!!

SHU was picked first in the league for the second straight season and Mikey, Felix and Ajeet all made Preseason All-AHA Teams 👏👏

📰: https://t.co/d0ZicrScAm#WeAreSHU pic.twitter.com/zGBK7ntykm

— Sacred Heart University Men's Ice Hockey (@sacredheartmih) September 9, 2025

As for Gundarah, he was simply terrific in his freshman season. Gundarah stopped 729 of the 779 total shots he saw, good for a 1.90 GAA and .936 save percentage – which was tied for fourth among NCAA goalies. In AHA play specifically he was 13-4-2 with a 1.99 and .929.

Gundarah was also a Preseason All-AHA Team selection and received eight of the 10 votes between the pipes. SHU defenseman Mikey Adamson was named to the team as well.

Holy Cross Hungry For More

The Crusaders won the AHA regular-season title and were one game away from the program’s third NCAA Tournament berth last March. However, they fell to Bentley in the AHA Championship Game – something head coach Bill Riga feels should only fuel his group.

While the roster has turned over some, Holy Cross brings back 94 of its 130 goals, including Jack Stockfish’s 15 and Timothy Heinke’s 12. Stockfish was voted the AHA Preseason Player of the Year and was joined by Devin Phillips on the Preseason All-AHA Team, who had 31 points (11-20-31) last season.

Replacing Thomas Gale and Liam McLinskey won’t be an easy task, but the hope is some new faces will step up in their place. And while it’s a new group and a new year, expectations are once again high in Worcester.

Army’s Big Shoes To Fill

Army’s roster featured not only one of the AHA’s best players last season, but one of the nation’s best in Mac Gadowsky. The sophomore led all NCAA defensemen in goals (16), points (32) and was one of 10 Hobey Baker Award Finalists. However, Gadowsky transferred to Penn State after the season.

Gadowsky’s departure leaves a massive hole in the Army lineup and frankly, there’s no replacing a player of his caliber. Yet first-year coach Zach McKelvie and his staff are excited about their group, especially with eight of their top 10 scorers coming back.

The Black Knights went 14-10-2 and finished fifth in the AHA standings last season, which included a second-half surge and was followed up by a playoff series win. Junior forward Barron Woodring and sophomore goaltender JJ Cataldo are among Army’s top returners.

The next chapter in the Army Hockey legacy begins this week ✍️#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/Ce2Nrl0G9c

— Army Hockey (@ArmyWP_Hockey) September 29, 2025

Gotkin’s Swan Song

The conference will have another long-time coach retiring at the end of this season, as Rick Gotkin is entering his final year behind the Mercyhurst bench. Army’s Brian Riley coached his final game last spring.

Gotkin, 65, is the longest-tenured coach in the country and has 611 career wins on his resume. The New York native has spent 37 seasons behind the Lakers’ bench and has coached a total of 1,273 games. He’s been named the AHA Coach of the Year twice in 2013-14 and 2017-18.

Gotkin’s final regular-season game will come on Feb. 28 against Robert Morris.

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