Box Score

MILFORD, Conn. – The American International College men's ice hockey pulled away with a 6-4 victory at Sacred Heart University on Friday night in an Atlantic Hockey contest. The Yellow Jackets improved to 5-15-1 overall and 5-12-1 in Atlantic Hockey, while the loss drops the Pioneers record to 3-17-5 overall and 3-10-5 in conference play.

The Yellow Jackets had a 2-0 lead in the first 9 minutes of the first period. Freshman forward Jon Puskar (Grosse Ile, Mich.) scored 6:55 into the game off a pass from senior forward Steve McLeod (Atikokan, Ont.) and freshman forward Whitney Olsen (Eagan, Minn.). Sophomore forward Richard Leitner (Los Alamistos, Calif.) scored a powerplay goal just 2 minutes later to give AIC the 2-0 lead. Sophmore forward Jeff Ceccacci (Placentia, Calif.) and sophomore defenseman Nick Grasso (Smithtown, N.Y.) assisted on Leitner's goal.

Sacred Heart got on the board 15:23 into the first when sophomore forward Tommy Castonguay (Rimouski, QC) found the back of the net to make it a 2-1 game. Junior forward Michael Penny (Calgary, Alb.) was dished a pass from junior forward Nielsson Arcibal (Vista, Calif.) and Leitner to increase their lead at 2:40 in the second for a 3-1 lead.

Senior forward Tomas Benovic (Trencin, Slovakia) buried a shot at 5:09 in the second off a pass from Arcibal for a 4-1 lead. Thirty nine seconds later Pioneer junior forward Matt Gingera (Winnipeg, MB) scored to make it a 4-2 game.

Senior forward Tom Mele (Bronx, N.Y.) scored a powerplay goal 12:29 into the third period off a pass from Leitner and Ceccacci. Senior forward Evan Mladenoff (Leawood, KS) scored 16:52 into the third, while Gingera scored his second goal of the night at 18:09 to make it a 5-4 score in favor of AIC.

Arcibal closed out the scoring at 19:23 on an open net goal to give the Yellow Jackets the 6-4 victory over the Pioneers.

Sophomore goaltender Ben Meisner (Halifax, N.S.) made 34 saves in earning the victory for the Yellow Jackets, sophomore goalie Steven Legatto (Kelowna, BC) stopped 10 in 25 minutes recording the loss, before being replaced by senior goaltender Olivier St. Onge (Wickham, QC) who made 19 saves in 34 minutes.

Sacred Heart outshot AIC 38-35.

AIC will finish the weekend series with the Pioneers at Olympia Ice Center on Saturday night January 29th for a 7:05 p.m. Atlantic Hockey Contest.