AIC hockey as international (and competitive) as ever

BY AL DANIEL

Martin Mellberg (front) was part of a wave of overseas recruits committing to American International hockey within weeks of coach Eric Lang's (back) arrival. (Photo by Bob Blanchard)

The American International College hockey program has always had an ambassador in one of its school’s signature events.

With at least one senior waving the red maple leaf, a Yellow Jacket skater is consistently eligible for the Parade of Nations. The annual march lets every fourth-year international student brandish their banner, of which there are dozens.

But for the eighth consecutive year, hockey will have an unassisted Canadian goal in the parade. Then again, that shall change dramatically with the new decade.

Barring early exits, six student-pucksters from the class of 2020 will be eligible. Czech Patrick Demel, Latvian Jānis Jaks and Swedes Martin Mellberg, Hugo Reinhardt and Zackarias Skog shall join Canadian Kyle Stephan.

Together, when their turn comes, that quintet will constitute the first European AIC pucksters to participate in the parade since Slovak defenseman Tomas Benovic had his chance in 2011.

When that happens, it will fulfill a formality in alumnus and coach Eric Lang’s recruitment revolution. In the meantime, with another season-and-a-half between now and then, the program is savoring other milestones.

With 11 players hailing from seven countries outside the U.S. or Canada, AIC hockey is Division I’s most internationally diverse program. Count the Canadians, and there are 17 international students in Lang’s locker room.

With seven players representing five nations from across a given pond, Lake Superior State has men’s hockey’s second-most flags. Nine Canadians move the Lakers up to 16 student-skaters from outside the U.S.

Connecticut is the next runner-up in terms of European volume, with six players from five countries. Omaha matches UConn’s Canadian-European aggregate of 10, with one player apiece from the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Slovakia.

Among fellow Yellow Jackets, only men’s soccer compares in the nation tally, with 10 players representing eight foreign countries. With four of seven, women’s tennis is the only other roster of two players or more with an international majority.

The superlatives cannot escape the third-year man of the ice house, himself a 1998 AIC graduate.

“It’s a totally different place right now,” Lang told Pucks and Recreation via phone last week.

Three years after Slovak forward Jakub Siminek left early, Patrik Demel of the Czech Republic was AIC hockey's first new European commitment. (Photo by Bob Blanchard)

That goes for his extracurricular specialty, which upgraded from Division III in 1998-99, and the college in general. Under Gary Wright, who manned their bench from 1974 to 2016, the Yellow Jackets had only North Americans for their first six Division I seasons.

As it happened, two key arrivals coincided ahead of the 2005-06 academic year and hockey season. Yugoslav forward Denis Budai joined the Canadians in putting the “International” in American International College hockey. Meanwhile, Dr. Vincent Maniaci rose to AIC’s presidency, where he remains 13 years later.

“He’s a person who knows every single person who attends AIC,” said Lang. “He knows them by name, and that’s his leadership style.

“The people make the place, and that’s something our president has leveraged to our administration and right on down to the coaches.”

Uncannily enough, while the sport took time to take hold, hockey’s homeland was crucial to AIC’s founding philosophy. The Reverand Calvin E. Amaron, a French Protestant minister in Springfield, Mass., established the institution in 1885 with fellow French-Canadians in mind. They were an underserved demographic in the region, and their higher-ed haven would quickly open to more, including women and a greater variety of Europeans.

Minus a hitch via the two World Wars and the global depression they sandwiched, AIC rose to max its mission. But even in this century, the hockey program — one of two Division I Yellow Jacket swarms besides women’s rugby — has had some comparative lulls in reflecting the campus’ diversity.

For each of Wright’s final three seasons, Slovak forward Jakub Siminek’s exit reverted the roster to all North Americans. If anything, Lang suggests, it reflected slim pickings for global talent in the NCAA ranks.

“The population of Europeans in the NHL was not represented by the population of Europeans in college hockey,” Lang said.

Players were either rounding out their amateur days in their homeland, going to Canada’s major-junior system or being plucked by more privileged college programs. For 2018-19, 17 men’s Division I programs, including five of AIC’s Atlantic Hockey rivals, are still exclusively North American. (Two of those, including Lang’s former employer at Army, cannot help that, as they are service academies.)

With that said, when Lang replaced the retiring Wright in 2016, he and his staff “saw a window,” he said.

Besides reflecting AIC’s mission, Lang saw untapped overseas training as a potential perk-up potion for a perennial Atlantic Hockey bottomfeeder. He cited Sweden’s emphasis on learning over scorekeeping at early ages and the continent’s general sustained multi-sport upbringings.

“Our model is getting toward a little bit of that European influence,” he said.

As part of AIC's 2016 recruiting class, Zackarias Skog represented a resurgence of European presence in the program. Now, halfway through his junior year, he has the majority of the credit for the Yellow Jackets' best midseason record in their Division I era. (Photo by Bonnie Kennedy)

Lang wasted negligible time infusing that influence when he was hired on April 13, 2016. Three weeks later, the Czech defenseman Demel and Swedish goaltender Skog both signed on for the 2016-17 season.

Four days after that, Reinhardt was on board. An additional eight days elapsed before Mellberg committed. Jaks rounded out the revolutionary class two months after the coaching torch was passed.

With Tobias Fladeby (Norway), Luka Maver (Slovenia) and Vitaliy Novytskyy (Ukraine), the number of non-North American nations doubled last season. As of this year, Matúš Spodniak puts Slovakia back in the mix.

“First and foremost, for us, it’s created a very diverse locker room,” Lang said. “I’ve learned about a lot of different cultures. Taking the time to learn about one another has been an amazing part of the process for us.”

Past the halfway mark of the icebreaking quintet’s Springfield stay, the long-suffering scoreboard is getting its say as well. At the holiday break, Fladeby and Reinhardt were tied for fifth in team point production. Demel is second among the skaters in plus-minus, and Skog is playing the majority of the minutes.

Moreover, Skog’s 4-4-0 record reflects the team’s own .500 mark (7-7-1), its best at any point in any season since the first weekend of 2013-14. The only time the Jackets have had a winning record in Division I was after their 2002-03 season opener.

Now they are on their first four-game winning streak since February 2013.

“We certainly got a return on investment,” Lang said. “Our recruiting and our strongholds…have been outstanding.”

When Wright retired, AIC was No. 56 out of the NCAA’s 60 programs with 2.05 goals per game. It ranked dead-last on defense with 4.08 setbacks per night.

Under Lang, the Yellow Jackets ascended to 51st and 50th, respectively, on the NCAA’s 2016-17 offensive and defensive leaderboard. They were 33rd on defense by the end of last season.

At the current holiday break, they average 3.13 favorable strikes, ranking No. 19 in the nation. Defensively, they are tied for 40th with 3.07 opposing strikes every 60 minutes.

“The individual skill level is as high as it’s ever been in our program,” Lang said. “It’s a credit to these small countries and the way they develop their players.”

The defense is not the only aspect tightening up under this newfound overseas influence. “Sometimes I’ll come into the locker room, and they’ll tell me my suit is too baggy,” Lang said.

Lang, whose affinity for cultural melting pots dates back to his upbringing in the Bronx, welcomes all various playful and practical feedback. So much so that he tends to mute himself and let incumbent pupils do the touting for prospects.

“Our best salesmen at AIC have been our players,” he said. “I always say this is their program. I’m just kind of guiding the ship a little bit.”

The evolving culture is even appealing to those jumping more majestic, luxurious liners. Three Americans on the 2018-19 American International College hockey roster have transferred from Massachusetts, Providence and St. Cloud State.

The last of those three, Ryan Papa, completed his undergraduate studies early in 2017. With one remaining year of athletic eligibility to coincide with his MBA pursuits, he chose AIC over Northeastern.

“I don’t think we can compete with their resources,” Lang conceded. “But they’ve ended up on our campus.”

Besides chasing AHA banners for the MassMutual Center to match the Flag Room of the campus library, the next unchecked milestone would be a homecoming for at least one recruit. While there are currently no talks of involving AIC in an overseas contest, the ECAC/Hockey East Belpot in Northern Ireland generates a craving.

“It would be an amazing opportunity for our league,” Land said. “With our European background, I think it would be a novel pick to represent our league over here. We would be all for it.”