Eric Lang (ice hockey)

BornAugust 6, 1975 (age 50)
The Bronx, New York, U.S.

Eric Lang
Current position
Lang while at AIC
Title	Head coach
Team	Rensselaer
Conference	ECAC Hockey
Biographical details
Born	(1975-08-06) August 6, 1975 (age 50) The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	American International
Playing career
1994–1998	American International

Position	Forward
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2006–2008	American International (graduate assistant)
2008–2011	Manhattanville College (women)
2011–2012	Manhattanville College
2012–2016	Army (assistant)
2016–2025	American International
2025–present	Rensselaer

Head coaching record
Overall	168–147–33 (.530)
Tournaments	1–3 (.250)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2019 Atlantic Hockey Champion 2019 Atlantic Hockey Tournament champion 2020 Atlantic Hockey Champion 2021 Atlantic Hockey Champion 2021 Atlantic Hockey tournament champion 2022 Atlantic Hockey Champion 2022 Atlantic Hockey tournament champion
Awards
3× Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year (2019, 2020, 2022)

Eric Lang (born August 6, 1975) is an American former ice hockey forward and current head coach for the RPI Engineers men's ice hockey team. He previously was the head coach at his alma mater American International.^[1]

Lang started his college career at American International, playing for the team while it was still in the Division III ranks. After four seasons with the Yellow Jackets he graduated with a BA in psychology. Lang worked for the NHL as an off-ice official and coached at Byram Hills High School for four years before returning to Springfield, Massachusetts to earn a graduate degree. While working towards a master's in organizational development Lang served as a graduate assistant for the men's ice hockey team at AIC from 2006 until graduating in 2008.^[2]

With his degree in hand Lang was immediately hired as the head coach of the women's program at Manhattanville College, spending three seasons with the team until he took over the duties as bench boss of the men's team in 2011. Lang spent only one season with the program^[3] before joining the staff at Army first as a volunteer assistant and then as a full-time assistant coach for the Black Knights. After four years under the tutelage of Brian Riley Lang accepted the head coaching position with his alma mater, replacing long-time coach Gary Wright.

Taking over a team that in 2016 ranked 60th of 60 Division I teams, Lang recruited Europeans who wanted a good education while playing hockey, and used a European playing style emphasizing puck possession. In his first season as head coach AIC's 8-20-8 record was not unusually bad compared to the team's history. In his second season Lang led the team to 15 wins, the most since 1993. In Lang's third season AIC won both the Atlantic Hockey regular season and tournament titles and led the Yellow Jackets to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.^[4]^[5]

Lang remained in charge at AIC until the program was downgraded to Division II following the 2024–25 season. Shortly after the year, Rensselaer hired Lang as the program's 14th head coach.^[6]

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Manhattanville Valiants (ECAC West) (2011–2012)
2011–12	Manhattanville	13–9–3	6–6–0	2nd	ECAC West Semifinal
Manhattanville:		13–9–3 (.580)	6–6–0 (.500)
American International Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Hockey) (2016–2024)
2016–17	American International	8–20–8	7–14–7	10th	Atlantic Hockey First Round
2017–18	American International	15–20–4	11–13–4	8th	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2018–19	American International	23–17–1	18–9–1	1st	NCAA Regional Finals
2019–20	American International	21–12–1	21–6–1	1st	Tournaments Cancelled
2020–21	American International	15–4–0	11–1–0	1st	NCAA Regional Semifinals
2021–22	American International	22–12–3	17–7–2	1st	NCAA Regional Semifinals
2022–23	American International	18–14–7	14–8–4	2nd	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2023–24	American International	20–16–4	12–10–4	5th	Atlantic Hockey Runner-Up
American International:		142–115–28	111–68–23
American International Yellow Jackets (AHA) (2024–2025)
2024–25	American International	13–23–2	9–16–1	8th	AHA Quarterfinals
American International:		13–23–2	9–16–1
Rensselaer Engineers (ECAC Hockey) (2025–present)
2025–26	Rensselaer
Total:		168–147–33 (.530)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

v t e American International Yellow Jackets men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Olympia Ice Center (1998–2016) MassMutual Center (2016–present)
Head coaches	William Turner (1948–1957, 1965–1970) Joe Bucholz (1957–1964) Wally Barlow (1970–1972) Peter Esdale (1972–1974) Paul Thornton (1974–1978) Wayne LaChance (1978–1982) Lincoln Flagg (1982–1984) Gary Wright (1984–2016) Eric Lang (2016–2025)
Seasons	1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	ECAC Hockey (1961–1964) ECAC 2 (1964–1984) ECAC East (1984–1998) MAAC (1998–2003) Atlantic Hockey Association (2003–2024) Atlantic Hockey America (2024–present)
All-time leaders	Tom Mullen (248 Points) Tom Mullen (134 Goals) Zackarias Skog (37 Wins)
NCAA Tournament appearances	2019 2021 2022
Conference Tournament titles	2019 2021 2022
American International College Springfield, MA

v t e RPI Engineers men's ice hockey
Formerly the RPI Bachelors
Playing venues	Houston Field House (1949–present)
Head coaches	Leroy Clark (1917–1923) W. J. Cook (1924–1925) Marvin Callan (1925–1931, 1936–1937) Ned Harkness (1949–1963) Rube Bjorkman (1963–1964) Garry Kearns (1964–1969) Leon Abbott (1969–1972) Jim Salfi (1972–1979) Mike Addesa (1979–1989) Buddy Powers (1989–1994) Dan Fridgen (1994–2006) Seth Appert (2006–2017) Dave Smith (2017–2025) Eric Lang (2025–present)
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1936–37 1937–38 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League (1950–1972) ECAC Hockey (1961–present)
Rivalries	Union Dutchmen Clarkson Golden Knights
Culture & lore	Rensselaer Holiday Tournament
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Frank Chiarelli (265 Points) Frank Chiarelli (155 Goals) Neil Little (58 Wins)
National championships	1954 1985
Frozen Four appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1985
NCAA Tournament appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1984 1985 1994 1995 2011
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC: 1984 1985 1995
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY

Eric Lang (ice hockey)

Head coaching record

References

External links

Related Articles