Head Coach of the American International College Yellow Jackets Hockey Team,\u00a0Eric Lang has had a lot to work through this week as his team prepares to play in the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals this weekend against an upstart Niagara team.\u00a0Lang and his group have not sat back,\u00a0and have focused on honing as much of their game as they can.\u00a0The Yellow Jackets go into this weekend as the number one seed after being the best team in their pod,\u00a0and the best team in their conference for the third straight season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lang\u2019s group is not the underdog this weekend,\u00a0but his group is filled with players who are,\u00a0whether through transferring from club hockey like Elijah Barriga,\u00a0being overlooked like Aaron Grounds,\u00a0or several others that came to Lang\u2019s group because they saw a chance to develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Lang said of last weekend\u2019s work,\u00a0\u00ab I feel good about the weekend we just had\u00bb. With the past in mind,\u00a0Lang knows the reality of the season.\u00a0He said plainly,\u00a0\u00abevery week you\u2019ve got two opponents,\u00a0Covid and the one coming up.\u00bb As for getting ready for the Purple Eagles of Niagara,\u00a0the challenge for Lang and his staff will be,\u00a0as he said \u00abfinding the balance between what\u2019s important in terms of what we need to put in front of our guys in terms of what Niagara\u2019s doing and focusing on what we are doing.\u00bb <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lang singled out some of the stars on the Purple Eagles like Ludwing Stenlund,\u00a0Walker Sommer,\u00a0and several others as players to watch this weekend.\u00a0The Purple Eagles are incredibly opportunistic,\u00a0and Lang knows that dealing with that will be one of his biggest challenges.\u00a0The Purple Eagles scored first in all three of their games against Robert Morris,\u00a0and as Lang said,\u00ab I really appreciate that Niagara team,\u00a0they\u2019ve played the most games short handed.\u00bb The team Lang\u2019s group is facing has a superb goaltender in Chad Veltri,\u00a0and a very physical defense to compliment the rush style they play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lang also commented on the AIC program he has built regarding his ability to recruit and continuously have a big roster with which to compete.\u00a0Given that both teams,\u00a0Army and AIC,\u00a0have not lost very much\u00a0,\u00a0and that Army is unbeaten in regulation in its last 13 games\u00a0,\u00a0he hopes that how teams have played down the stretch.\u00a0As Lang said of this metric \u00abour criteria should be how you play down the stretch and they\u2019ve done it better than any team in the country\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To wrap things up,\u00a0Lang praised the role of freshman fourth line standout Aaron Grounds\u00a0,\u00a0saying \u00abGrounds is one of these guys..\u00a0he\u2019s like a tireless energizer bunny type player.\u00a0He\u2019s a cheerleader on our bench.\u00a0He\u2019s a fresh dose of Vitamin C everyday,\u00a0and he\u2019s a pretty good player too.\u00bb In addition he praised the growth of Jake Stella into one of the more reliable defensive forwards on this deep team and his ability to win faceoffs in key moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n