Bio

AIC Director of Athletics Matt Johnson named Eric Lang the ninth Head Ice Hockey Coach in program history on April 13, 2016. Lang is in his third stint as a Yellow Jacket, after being a four-year member of the hockey team while earning a psychology degree in 1998 and returning to serve as Graduate Assistant from 2006-08 earning his master’s degree in Organizational Behavior.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Years: 2016-present (head coach), 2006-08 (Graduate Assistant)
Career record: 193-132-20 (includes both WIH and MIH records); 135-110-27 (MIH only) and 58-22-3 (WIH only)
AIC record: 122-100-24, 99-58-19-3-4-2 AHA
CCM/AHCA All-Americans: 2 
AHCA All-American Scholars: 86 
AHA Regular Season Titles: 4 (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22)
AHA Tournament Titles: 3 (2019, 2021, 2022)
AHA Coach of the Year Awards: 3 (2019, 2020, 2022)
College Hockey News Awards: 2019 Coach of the Year
AHA All-Conference Team Selections: 22 (10 first/seven second/five third)
AHA All-Tournament Team Selections: 13
AHA Academic All-Academic Team Selections: 128

PRIOR STOPS:
Manhattanville College: Head Coach of Women’s (2008-11) and Men’s Ice Hockey (2011-12)
Army West Point: Volunteer Assistant (2012-13), Lead Assistant (2013-16)

Under Lang's leadership, AIC Hockey has experienced unprecedented success. The team has won four consecutive AHA Regular Season Titles (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22) and three AHA Tournaments (2019, 2021, 2022; 2020 was not held due to the COVID-19 Pandemic) and reached the NCAA Tournament in each of those three seasons. The team has been nationally ranked at the conclusion of each of the most recent four seasons. He coached the program's first two Division I All-American selections in Blake Christensen '20 and Brennan Kapcheck '21 and led AIC in 2019 to an upset of then-No. 1 St. Cloud State University in the NCAA Tournament, the first time a 16-seed making its NCAA 

While at Army, Lang was responsible for handling the power-play unit, which ranked fourth in Atlantic Hockey during the 2015-16 season, as well as coordinating video analysis of games and working with student-athletes in on- and off-ice drills.

Lang also served as a key factor in recruiting efforts during his time with the Cadets which saw Army West Point move from a last place finish in 2013-14 (6-28) to a berth in the Atlantic Hockey Championship Weekend in 2015-16 after a 15-15-9 finish. Led by a strong sophomore class, Lang recruited 2014-15 Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie team member Tyler Pham as well as the leading scorer for the Black Knights in 2015-16, Conor Andrle (13-20-33).

Much of Lang’s success at West Point can be attributed to his time with the Yellow Jackets both as a player and graduate assistant coach. Lang skated in 80 games for AIC over his four years in the mid-90s, serving as a two-year captain while being honored with the ECAC Merit Medal and the College’s Henry Butova Leadership Award. He scored 25 goals and added 34 assists for 59 points from 1994-1998.

Lang graduated from AIC in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology before going on to earn his Master of Arts in Organizational Development in 2008. He has also worked for the National Hockey League as an off-ice official, assisting with in-game scoring and analysis in addition to coaching for four years at Byram Hills High School during his 20 plus years of hockey experience.
 

$ The AHA Tournament was halted after the First Round and the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. The AHA awarded its NCAA AQ to AIC as the highest remaining seed when the AHA Tournament was halted, but did not formally declare AIC (or any team) as Tournament Champion, and the NCAA does not credit any team with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2020.
* The conference was divided into divisions in 2020-21; the ranking is based on points percentage across both divisions
! The conference began a 3-2-1 points system in 2020-21; conference points percentage is calculated based on points earned divided by points available