A new week means a new leader in Atlantic Hockey.

First, it was Mercyhurst. Next, it was Rochester Institute of Technology. Now the top spot belongs to defending playoff champion Air Force following its home sweep of RIT last weekend.

Jason Torf posted 29 saves on Friday in a 3-0 win and made 32 stops on Saturday in a 4-2 victory, earning the league’s goaltender of the week award. The losses were the first for Shane Madolora since January 6. Air Force has beaten RIT in five consecutive games at Cadet Ice Arena.

With three weekends left in the regular season, Air Force has moved into first place with 29 points. RIT pulled into a tie for first with a 3-1 win over Canisius on Thursday night but Air Force holds the first tie-breaker with a 2-1 series edge.

Air Force used goals from Casey Kleisinger, Chad Demers and John Kruse for the opening win against the Tigers. The defense came to the rescue on Saturday – trailing 1-0 headed into the third period, goals from Adam McKenzie, Tim Kirby and Scott Mathis gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead. Greg Noyes pulled RIT within a goal with 63 seconds left and goalie Shane Madolora pulled but Kleisinger popped an insurance goal into the empty net with 13 seconds remaining.

“We build our team with defensemen that can skate. That is by design,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We would not have had the success that we have had without skill on our blue line.”

It is only the second time RIT has been swept in a weekend league series, with Air Force performing the trick back in 2009.

Air Force is gaining some scant notice in the national polls, ranking 20th and 24th. The Falcons play a pair at Niagara this weekend, host Mercyhurst on Feb. 17-18 and close with a two-game set at Robert Morris on Feb. 24-25.

Good bounce back: Chris Haltigin, Taylor McReynolds and Matt Garbowsky scored for RIT in its 3-1 win over Canisius on Thursday night in Buffalo. The teams meet again on Saturday in Rochester.

“I thought we had a pretty good effort tonight, although we left a three or four more goals on the table and didn’t capitalize on lots of chances,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “We got the job done tonight. Canisius has done a good job keeping themselves in a lot of close games and I am sure Saturday will be the same.”

RIT hosts Robert Morris on Feb. 17-18 and plays Niagara in a home-and-home on Feb. 24-25.

If the playoffs were to start today: Air Force (29 points), RIT (29), Mercyhurst (28) and Niagara (27) would earn first-round byes. The best-of-three series in the first round would be No. 12 Sacred Heart (4) at No. 5 Robert Morris (25), No. 11 American International (10) at No. 6 Bentley (24), No. 10 Army (11) at No. 7 Connecticut (23) and No. 9 Canisius (21) at No. 8 Holy Cross (23).

Safe to say, no league race in Atlantic Hockey or Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League history has seen nine teams within eight points with just three weeks remaining.

Player of the week: Niagara sophomore Ryan Murphy posted three goals and two assists in a weekend split with Mercyhurst. His two goals and an assist spearheaded a 6-1 win on Friday. Murphy had a goal and assist in a 3-2 loss on Saturday.

Rookie of the week: Holy Cross goaltender Matt Ginn made 53 stops in a 6-1, 4-0 sweep of American International College. The shutout was his second of the season. Ginn improved his record to 9-6-1.

A rough go: Connecticut played the final non-conference contest of the regular season, losing 4-3 at Princeton. Atlantic Hockey teams finished 17-57-8 against teams from the other four major conferences and independent Alabama-Huntsville. The league membership was 8-25-5 against teams from ECAC Hockey, 2-6-0 against Hockey East members, 2-12-2 against CCHA clubs and 1-13-0 against those from the WCHA.

Broom-worthy: There are only two head-to-head matchups that have resulted in three-game sweeps this season with Bentley topping Sacred Heart and Connecticut topping Holy Cross.

Fly, Falcon, fly: Bentley has points in four of its last five games (2-1-2). The Falcons scored five goals over the final 30 minutes of a 5-2 win over Sacred Heart on Friday – a year ago Bentley rallied from a 4-1 third-period deficit to beat the Pioneers 5-4 in overtime. Brett Gensler scored a goal with 0.2 seconds left on the clock to pull into a 3-3 tie on Saturday. Jamie Nudy and Justin Breton had scored 13 seconds apart in the second period to pull the Falcons within 3-2.

Army showing life: The Black Knights of the Hudson have won three games in a row following a 2-15-7 start. Army posted a 3-1 win at Bentley on Jan. 28. In Saturday’s renewal of its long-standing exhibition series with Royal Military College of Canada, the Black Knights pummeled the Paladins 9-1. Army denied Connecticut a season sweep with a 4-2 win in Storrs on Tuesday.

National leaders: Niagara’s Chris Noonan ranks second in goals against average (1.73) and Shane Madolora of RIT is third (1.86). Noonan ranks first in save percentage (.941), Madolora is third (.933) and Brooks Ostergard of Robert Morris is fourth (.932). Madolora is tied with Minnesota’s Kent Patterson with six shutouts. Marc Zanette of Niagara is tied for third in short-handed goals with three. Cody Wydo of Robert Morris and Adam Mitchell of RIT are tied for seventh with four game-winning goals. Nardo Nagtzaam of Mercyhurst ranks sixth among rookies for points per game (0.89).

Road warriors: Three Atlantic Hockey clubs have earned .500-or-better records on the road. Air Force is 6-5-4 (.533). Mercyhurst is 8-8-3 and Niagara is 6-6-5.

Looking ahead: Air Force travels to Niagara and Army hosts Holy Cross for weekend sets. Home-and-home series pit American International and Bentley, Robert Morris and Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart with Connecticut.