SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - It’s been a season of overcoming adversity for the American International College ice hockey team.

As the No. 5 seed in the Atlantic Hockey Association tournament, the Yellow Jackets had to win two series on the road and are now just a win away from their fourth tournament championship since 2019.

"We're never out of it right," said AIC ice hockey captain and defenseman Brian Kramer. "We go into two of the hardest environments to play in, on the road and took it to them for the most part first. Playing Holy Cross, playing Air Force at their place."

Head coach Eric Lang said the key to the team’s success over the years has been the character of their players.

Lang said senior co-captain Brian Kramer has played a huge role in shaping the culture.

Kramer was named Atlantic Hockey’s Defenseman of the Year earlier this week.

"It's definitely cool to be recognized for a great award," Kramer said. "I know we have plenty of great defenseman in our league and it's cool to be recognized as one of the best, but definitely couldn't do it without my teammates who I go to battle with every night."

"World class player. I wouldn't be surprised if he signs an NHL contract at the end of this season," Coach Lang said. "He's defenseman of the year in our league. He stakes like an NHL-er and as he goes, our team goes, and he's tough as nails too. He was playing with a broken jaw going two weeks back and now that things fully healed up and he's back to his old form."

AIC is preparing for the championship, and yet another road game, this time against top-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology.

And even though they'll be underdogs again, Lang believes this team is ready for the big stage.

"We've been the No. 1 seed in which sometimes you're carrying the weight of the world, and we've been three for three in those championship games," Coach Lang said. "Right now as a five seed, we kind of feel like we're going into RIT we can play a little bit looser, we don't have to be as uptight but we have a great opportunity in front of us and we don't want to spoil that."

AIC plays RIT Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The winner will advance to the NCAA D1 Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.