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SETTING THE SCENE: Tonight the American International College men's ice hockey team takes on the Holy Cross Crusaders in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Association Championship Tournament.

ABOUT AIC: The Yellow Jackets enter tonight's single elimination game with a regular season record of 5-23-4 and a conference record of 5-19-4 after going 0-1-1 in their season finale home-and-home with Army. AIC their final home game of the regular season 8-6 and then skated to a 2-2 tie in overtime. In the first game, Army was first on the board with a goal 1:55 into regulation. The Yellow Jackets responded quickly, evening the score at 1-1 just 1:35 later, when junior forward #Tom Mele# found the back of the net with an assist from freshman defenseman #Jeff Ceccacci#. Junior forward Cody Omilusik gave the Black Knights a 2-1 lead, nine-minutes into the first when he tallied a power-play goal. AIC, again, was quick to respond as freshman forward #Adam Pleskach# netted his team leading 15th-goal of the season. Forwards, sophomore #Nielsson Arcibal# and junior #Steve McLeod# dished out the assists on the goal. Senior forward Owen Meyer sent Army into the first intermission up 3-2 when he buried goal with just over a minute remaining in the opening period. Arcibal knotted the score at three-all eight-minutes into the second period when scored off a pass from McLeod and Pleskach. Meyer put the Black Knights back on top, this time 4-3, with a shorthanded goal at the 11-minute mark. Sophomore forward Alex McRae gave Army its first two-goal lead of the night scoring at 15:14. Just three minutes later, classmate Bryant Skarda sent the Black Knights into the second intermission up 6-3 with a power-play goal. Junior forward #Greg Vatrano# kicked-off the scoring in the third period, when he tallied his first goal of the season at 3:34, cutting the Army lead to 6-4. Forwards, freshman #Nick Grasso# and senior #Dean Yakura# were credited with the assists. Freshman defenseman #Chris Markiewicz# buried a slap shot three-minutes later, with assists from senior forward #Mike McMillan# and sophomore defenseman #Rob Blanchette#, to pull AIC within one goal. Black Knight senior forward Eric Sefchick netted back-to-back goals, one on the power-play and one shorthanded, to give Army an 8-5 lead. Ceccacci would tally a shorthanded goal at the 11-minute mark of the third to bring the score to 8-6, but it was not enough as Army held on for the win. Arcibal and freshman defenseman #Jason Cohen# handed out the assists on the goal Freshman goalie #Ben Meisner# stopped 28 shots, before being replaced midway through the third for junior #Dan Ramirez#, who made six saves of his own. In the 2-2 (OT) tie, Army got on the board first when freshman defenseman Cheyne Rocha netted his first career goal at 15:22 of the first period. Meyer gave the Black Knights a two-goal lead when he buried a goal with 27-seconds remaining in the first period. AIC cut the Army lead to 2-1 as senior forward #Josh Froese# tallied a shorthanded goal off of a rebound by #Tom Mele# when he sprung free on a breakaway. Junior defenseman #Tomas Benovic# started the break out when he dished the puck to Mele from the Yellow Jackets defensive zone. McLeod tied the score at 2-2 at the 10:25 mark of the third period, when he buried a pass from Arcibal. Meisner turned away 37 shots on the evening for AIC. Pleskach leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring with 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points, while McLeod is second with 21 points including nine goals and 12 assists. Mele is third with nine goals and eight assists for 17 points, while Arcibal rounds out the group with 12 points including three goals and 12 assists.

ABOUT HOLY CROSS: The Crusaders come into tonight's opening round match-up with an overall record of 11-17-6 and are 10-13-5 in the conference after going 1-0-1 with Bentley last weekend. Holy Cross claimed a 4-1 win in their home finale and then skated to a 1-1 overtime tie on Saturday night. In Friday's win, the Crusaders were first to score as senior forward Brodie Sheahan found the back of the net on the power play at the seven-minute mark of the first. The Falcons tied the score at 1-1 with a goal three-minutes later. Senior forward Rob Forshner reclaimed the lead for Holy Cross when he netted a goal on the power-play with just under two-minutes to go in the opening period. After a scoreless second, Sheahan lit the lamp just over a minute in to the third for his second of the night, this time extending the Crusaders lead to 3-1. Junior forward Jordan Cyr added an empty netter for the Holy Cross 4-1 win. Senior netminder Ian Dams stopped 19 shots in the win. In Saturday's tie, the Crusaders found the net first when Cry popped in his second goal of the weekend, putting Holy Cross up 1-0. The lead lasted until the second period when the Falcons tied the score with a shorthanded goal. After a scoreless third, in which the Crusaders outshot the Falcons 12-1, the game was pushed into overtime and would eventually end in a 1-1 deadlock. Cyr leads Holy Cross in scoring with 26 points including 12 goals and 14 assists, both of which lead the team. Junior forward Everett Sheen is second with nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points, while freshman forward Rob Linsamayer is third with 15 points including two goals and 13 assists. Sheahan and sophomore forward Jay Silvia round out the top group with 10 goals and four assists for 14 points each.

LAST TIME THEY MET (REGULAR SEASON): The Yellow Jackets went 1-0-1 in a home-and-home with the Crusaders on January 15-16, 2010. AIC tied the first game 1-1 and then claimed a 1-0 win in the second. The win snapped an 11-game losing streak and was the first time since 2000-01 that the Yellow Jackets won a season series with Holy Cross . AIC went 2-0-2 against the Crusaders over the season. McLeod and Mele netted goals for the Yellow Jackets, while Ramirez and Meisner combined to make 77 saves over the weekend. With the shutout, in the second game, Meisner set the school's all-time record for shutouts in a single season with three.

LAST TIME THEY MET (PLAYOFFS): AIC met Holy Cross in the first round of last season AHA Championship Tournament. The Crusaders pulled out a 1-0 win in overtime ending the Yellow Jackets season. Sheen buried a goal 8:24 into overtime for the win, while Dams made 30 saves. #Tom Fenton# stopped 22 shots in the loss. AIC outshot Holy Cross 30-23 on the night.

WEEKLY HONORS: Arcibal was named to the AHA Weekly Honor Roll. He recorded four points in the Yellow Jackets final series of the regular season with the Black Knights. Arcibal tallied a goal and two assists in the series opener, including the game tying goal in the second period. He also dished out the main assist on the game tying goal in the season finale at West Point.

MONTHLY HONORS: 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.