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SETTING THE SCENE: This evening's contest is between the host Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts and the visiting Yellow Jackets of American International College. Tonight is the first time the two teams have met since January 25, 1994.
ABOUT AIC: AIC enters tonight's contest with a record of 4-12-0 this season after losing to the Union College Dutchmen on Tuesday night in Schenectady, N.Y. The Yellow Jackets also have a record of 4-9-0 in Atlantic Hockey play thus far. After playing the first 20-minutes scoreless, the Dutchmen came out firing in the second period and scored four goals. Freshmen Randy Hanagan got the scoring started when he found the back of the net for the second time in his short career. Hanagan's goal came at the 1:37 mark of the period with assists from classmate Kelly Zajac and junior Mike Schreiber. Union went up 2-0 as senior Brendan Milnamow tallied his fifth goal of the season, this time unassisted and shorthanded, just 4:18 after Hanagan. Milnamow found the back of the net for the second time in the period at the 12:05 with assists from classmate Matt Cook and sophomore Adam Presizniuk to make the Dutchmen lead 3-0. Union went up 4-0 when Presizniuk netted the period's final goal, his team leading seventh of the season, with assists from Schreiber and junior Mario Valery-Trabucco. In the third period, the story was much of the same as the Dutchmen added two more goals to cap off their victory. Sophomore Brock Matheson opened the periods scoring, as he recorded the first goal of his collegiate career at 8:32. Presizniuk and sophomore Stephane Boileau dished out the assists on Matheson's goal. Valery-Trabucco tallied the game's final goal as he scored with 2:04 left in the game's final period. Presizniuk had the assist on the goal for his fourth point in the game. Senior
Tom Fenton registered a 42 save effort, including 16 in the first period and 19 in the third. Sophomore Corey Milan stopped 15 shots before he was replaced in favor junior Rich Sillery who made four stops of his own. The loss was the Yellow Jackets third consecutive game in which they have allowed six goals or more. AIC was outshot 48-19for the game. The Yellow Jackets went 0-5 on power-play opportunities, while the Dutchmen went 2-5 when they had the extra-man.
ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts enters tonight's non-conference with a record of 7-6-1 during this season after beating the University of Connecticut 5-1 last Friday night. The Minutemen also post a record 4-4-1 in Hockey East for the year. Freshman T.J. Syner, a Springfield, Mass. native, put UMass up 1-0 when he scored his first collegiate goal 5:03 into the game's opening period with assists from senior Chris Davis and junior Justin Braun. The Minutemen went up 2-0 8:10 later as senior Alex Berry netted a shorthanded goal with an assist from classmate Cory Quirk. The Huskies cut UMass' lead in half with 1:10 left in the period when junior Chris Ochoa found the back of the net with assists from sophomore Matt Pedemonti and freshman Marcello Ranallo. After a scoreless second period, Quirk opened the scoring in the third period giving the Minutemen back their two goal lead when he tallied his second goal of the game, this time with an assist from sophomore James Marcou. Freshman Casey Wellman increased the UMass lead even further as he scored 3:58 later with assists from Davis and Syner. With 23-seconds left in the regulation, Davis found the back of the net for his third point of the night to close out the victory for the Minutemen. Syner and Wellman recorded the assists on Davis's score. Sophomore Paul Dainton stopped 20 shots for UMass in the win, including nine in the second period, while junior Beau Erickson made 38 saves for UConn, including 15 in the third period. The Minutemen outshot the Huskies 43-20 in the game.
MASSACHUSETTS LEADERS: Marcou leads the UMass offence with seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points for the season, while Quirk is second with five goals and 11 assists for 16 points overall. Barry is third on the team with 15 points as he has six goals and nine assists, while Wellman and Davis are not far behind with three goals and eight assists for 11 points and six goals and four assist for 10 points, respectfully.
AIC LEADERS: McLeod leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring with nine points as he has three goals and six assists, while freshman
Michael Penny (5g, 3a), Arcibal (2g, 6a), and Campanale (2g, 6a) are tied for second with eight points each. Richardson has four goals and three assists for seven points, while Mele and Primiani are tied with six points as they have five goals and one assist and two goals and six assists, respectively.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET: AIC fell 10-2 to the Minutemen on January 25, 1994, when UMass returned to varsity status after a 14 year hiatus. This will be the first time the two have met as Division I foes.
SERIES WITH MASSACHUSETTS: The Yellow Jackets lead the overall series with the Minutemen with record of 23-8-1 and are 7-3 over their last 10 meetings, outscoring them by a combined score of 57-45. The last time AIC beat UMass was on February 14, 1979 as they won 6-2.
NEXT UP: The Yellow Jackets take a three week break for the Holidays and return to action after the New Year on January 3, 2009 as they travel to Moon Township Pa. for their third non-conference match-up in a row, taking on Robert Morris University in a two game series. Puck drops at 7:35 p.m. on Friday and at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday.
