Live Stats (Away), Live Stats (Home), Live Audio, Live Broadcast

SETTING THE SCENE: This weekend's home-and-home series is between the American International College Yellow Jackets and the Army Black Knights.

ABOUT AIC: The Yellow Jackets enter this weekend with an overall record of 1-5-1 and are 1-3-1 in Atlantic Hockey play after being swept at Connecticut last weekend. In Friday night's 3-1 loss, UConn got on the scoreboard first when freshman defenseman Alex Gerke found the back of the net at 17:36 of the opening period, with assists from junior Matt Miller and freshman Jim Gallagher. The Huskies went up 2-0, 10-minutes into the second period when junior forward Jeff Sapieha buried his first goal of the season with assists from classmate Matt Turner and Miller. AIC cut the UConn lead to 2-1 when freshman forward #Adam Pleskach#, the AHA Rookie of the Month, tallied his team leading sixth goal of the season, unassisted at 11:03 of the period. UConn added an empty-net goal with less than a minute remaining in the game for the 3-1 victory. Freshman #Ben Meisner# stopped 27 shots for the Yellow Jackets. In Saturday nights 4-1 loss, UConn scored first, for the second night in a row, when Gallagher tallied the first goal of his collegiate career 4:28 into the first period, with an assist from classmate Sean Ambrosie. AIC tied the score at 1-1 with five-minutes remaining in the period, when senior forward #Mike McMillan# buried a shot on the power-play with assists from junior #Mike Little# and senior #Josh Froese#. Sophomore forward Marcello Ranallo put the Huskies up 2-1 when he netted a power-play goal, unassisted, at 10:54 of the second period. Just one-minute later, freshman defenseman Alex Gerke extended the UConn lead to 3-1 when he scored a power-play goal with assists from junior Andrew Olson and Ambrosie. The Huskies added an empty net goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation for the 4-1 win. Junior netminder #Jake Anderson# made 23 saves in his first career start for AIC. Pleskach leads the team with six goals and two assists for eight points, while Froese (1g, 3a), junior #Steve McLeod# (0g, 4a), and freshman #Richard Leitner# (1g, 3a) are all tied for second in points with four.

MONTHY AWARDS: Pleskach was named the AHA Rookie of the Month for October. He scored a least one goal in three of his first four starts, with a career-high two goals in a 3-2 loss to Rensselaer. In a weekend series against Union and Rensselaer, Pleskach had a hand in all four goals the Yellow Jackets score as he notched three goals and an assist. Overall he has five goals and two assists for seven points.

ABOUT ARMY: The Black Knights come into this weekend's series with a record of 1-6-2 overall and 0-3-1 in the conference after being swept by RIT last weekend. In the series opener, RIT skated to a 6-1 victory. Senior Owen Meyer scored Army's only goal of the game early in the third period, with assists from classmate Erik Sefchik and junior Cody Omilusik. Junior Jay Clark stopped 28 shots in the loss. In the series finale, the Black Knights fell 2-1. Army found the back of the net first when Omilusik scored a short handed goal in the second period with an assist from Sefchik. But RIT would comeback and netted two goals in the third period for the 2-1 win. Senior Joe Spraklen made 31 saves for the Black Knights. Omilusik leads the team in scoring with 10 points including five goals and five assists, while Sefchik is just behind him with two goals and five assists for seven points.

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Yellow Jackets went 0-1-1 in a home-and-home series with Army on February 27-28, 2009. AIC skated to a 3-3 tie with the Black Knights in the series opener, then lost the finale 3-1.

2008-09 RECAP: AIC went 5-28-2 during the regular season and 5-22-1 in conference play with a team that consisted of eight first year players. The Yellow Jackets played well in the Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament but came up short, losing in overtime to Holy Cross 1-0 in the first round. Sophomores #Michael Penny# and #Nielsson Arcibal# showed promise in their first season with AIC as both finished in the top five in points on the team. The Yellow Jackets placed 18 member on the AHA
All-Academic Team, with senior #Dean Yakura# and junior #Steve McLeod# sharing the Top Scholar Athlete award.

NEXT UP: AIC plays host to Canisius next weekend beginning on Friday at 7:05 p.m.