Format
The tournament features four rounds of play. In the first round, the seventh and tenth seeds and eighth and ninth seeds play a single game with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals. There, the first seed and lowest ranked first round winner, the second seed and highest ranked first round winner, the third and sixth seeds, and the fourth and fifth seeds play a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play a single-game, with the winner advancing to the championship game and the loser advancing to the third place game. The tournament champion received an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Atlantic Hockey Tournament