American International College will drop its hockey team to Division II at the end of this season, per a report from Collegehockeynews.com’s Mike McMahon on Twitter/X on Tuesday afternoon. McMahon’s report stated its reasoning was “budgetary, and the changing landscape of the NCAA.”

The Yellow Jackets have iced a Division I team for 27 seasons and have starred in the Atlantic Hockey conference since 1998.

AIC head coach Eric Lang seemingly confirmed the report on Twitter/X shortly after McMahon’s report.

“The information shared with my today by our administration is saddening for all who have touched our program,” Lang said. “No longer competing at the highest level, especially considering the incredible success we’ve had as a team over the past six years, is tough to grasp.”

The Yellow Jackets qualified for the NCAA tournament in three of the last five seasons, highlighted by a stunning 2-1 win over No. 1 St. Cloud State in 2019. Before Lang became head coach in 2016, AIC finished higher than ninth place in the AHA just once.

UMass hockey’s last win came against AIC on Nov. 2. As the only other Division I squad in Western Massachusetts, the teams have regularly played each other with 12 meetings in the last decade.

“I feel very badly for the kids and the program, especially the coach, because he is a phenomenal coach,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “But I think you’re going to see this happen. I think you’re going to see a lot of programs go down, go away, not just hockey.

“We’re now in a world where we bend down to football and basketball and the rest of us are secondary, tertiary thoughts and money decides everything,” Carvel said. “AIC, I guess, has decided that it’s too much money to have a hockey program, no matter how successful it’s been. I feel for those guys, but we’re now in the world of haves and have nots. The NCAA, every rule they make continues to distance the top from the bottom, so not too surprised.”

AIC will play in the Northeast-10 Conference beginning in 2025, where it is already a member in other varsity sports.