The 2016–17 American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey season was the 69th season of play for the program, the 21st at the Division I level, and the 14th in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Yellow Jackets represented American International College and were coached by Eric Lang, in his 1st season.

AIC began the season with a new coach for the first time in 32 years. Eric Lang, an alumnus, replaced Gary Wright behind the bench.^[1] The chance in leadership presaged a tone for the program and led to nice players leaving the team early. While all the roster spots were filled, the sizable roster turnover did no favors for the Yellow Jackets in terms of wins. In the first half of the season, American International won just 3 out of 18 games and were stuck in a familiar position; the bottom of the Atlantic Hockey standings.

While the team failed to win many games, they did fight hard and pushed several opponents into overtime. By the end of November the Yellow Jackets had more ties than losses and a great deal of credit could be attributed to the surprising defensive effort from the squad. The goaltending tandem of Alex Murray and Zackarias Skog combined to keep AIC in many games where they were otherwise outplayed and gave some hope that the team might be able to climb out of the conference cellar.

In the second half of the year the Yellow Jackets saw a moderate increase to their win total but the defense slipped. Murray struggled mightily as the season wore on and won just 1 of his 7 decisions. Since the revamped offense was little help, the bulk of the team's victories came on the shoulders of Skog, who posted a winning record after new year's. AIC finished 10th in the conference and, though their first round opponent was hardly formidable, the Yellow Jackets were unable to overcome Mercyhurst and were swept out of the postseason.

A disappointing finish was hardly a new state of affairs for the program, however, AIC had seen some signs of life during the season. Importantly, many of the new additions had played significant rolls in the team's limitded success. Not only had Skog established himself as the starting goaltender, but the top four scorers on the team were all freshmen.

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More information No., S/P/C ...

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Zackarias Skog	Freshman	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1995-06-27	Gothenburg, Sweden	Omaha Lancers (USHL)	—
2		Nicolas Luka	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1995-08-18	Bartlett, Illinois	Coulee Region Chill (NAHL)	—
3		Patrik Demel	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1995-11-28	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Bismarck Bobcats (NAHL)	—
4		Dominic Racobaldo (A)	Junior (RS)	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1992-06-03	Pennsauken, New Jersey	Omaha Lancers (USHL)	—
5		Ryan Polin	Sophomore	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1994-12-05	Fairbanks, Alaska	Topeka Roadrunners (NAHL)	—
7		Daniel Mele	Sophomore (RS)	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1993-10-12	Buffalo, New York	Connecticut (HEA)	—
9		Billy Vizzo	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1995-11-17	Shelton, Connecticut	P.A.L. Junior Islanders (USPHL)	—
10		Martin Mellberg	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1995-09-17	Stockholm, Sweden	Lone Star Brahmas (NAHL)	—
11		Bryant Christian (A)	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	1993-06-10	Moorhead, Minnesota	Prince George Spruce Kings (BCHL)	—
12		Johno May	Junior	F	6' 5" (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1993-10-16	Mahtomedi, Minnesota	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
13		Hugo Reinhardt	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1996-04-06	Kungsbacka, Sweden	Fargo Force (USHL)	—
14		Jared Pike	Freshman	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1995-12-31	Sandy, Utah	Bismarck Bobcats (NAHL)	—
15		Jackson Dudley	Junior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	161 lb (73 kg)	1993-12-17	Edmonton, Alberta	Bonnyville Pontiacs (AJHL)	—
17		Austin Orszulak (C)	Senior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	1992-05-08	Springfield, Massachusetts	Springfield Jr. Pics (EJHL)	—
18		Blake Christensen	Freshman	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1995-09-15	Coral Springs, Florida	Wenatchee Wild (BCHL)	—
19		Kyle Stephan	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1995-02-20	Banff, Alberta	Wenatchee Wild (BCHL)	—
21		Marc Dubeau	Sophomore	F	6' 5" (1.96 m)	216 lb (98 kg)	1994-06-29	St. Lina, Alberta	Kindersley Klippers (SJHL)	—
22		Dominik Florián	Freshman	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	201 lb (91 kg)	1995-05-12	Vlašim, Czech Republic	Coulee Region Chill (NAHL)	—
23		Andrew DeBrincat	Junior	D	5' 7" (1.7 m)	161 lb (73 kg)	1993-07-21	Farmington Hills, Michigan	New Jersey Hitmen (USPHL)	—
24		Joel Kocur	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	1995-09-18	Edson, Alberta	Flin Flon (SJHL)	—
25		Carson Grolla	Senior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1992-04-15	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)	—
26		Johnny Mueller	Sophomore	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1994-05-13	St. Peters, Missouri	Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL)	—
27		Jānis Jaks	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1995-08-22	Iecava, Latvia	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
29		Shawn McBride	Sophomore	F/D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	201 lb (91 kg)	1995-08-23	Victoria, British Columbia	Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL)	—
30		Justin Ketola	Freshman	G	5' 11" (1.8 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	1995-08-25	Esko, Minnesota	P.A.L. Junior Islanders (USPHL)	—
33		Alex Murray	Junior	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1993-06-29	Burlington, Ontario	Prince George Spruce Kings (BCHL)	—

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USCHO did not release a poll in Week 24.^[5]