SETTING THE SCENE: The American International College Yellow Jackets will travel to Niagara, N.Y. to take on the Purple Eagles of Niagara University for an Atlantic Hockey weekend series. The puck will drop both nights at 7:05 p.m.

ABOUT AIC: The American International men's ice hockey squad had a 1-2-0 week. In the beginning of the week they dropped a 3-1 decision against RPI on Tuesday night in a non conference contest. The Yellow Jackets stung the Lakers in a 3-2 victory over No.1 Mercyhurst College, before dropping a 7-2 decision on Saturday night to earn a weekend split. Junior forward Adam Pleskach scored AIC's lone goal on Tuesday night against RPI. Pleskach, Senior forward Nielsson Arcibal and sophomore forward Blake Peake all had a four point weekend against Mercyhurst with three of those points being in the 3-2 victory over the Lakers. Pleskach put AIC on the board for a 1-0 lead at 14:49. Mercyhurst tied the game and scored another goal to take the 2-1 lead in the second period. Pleskach earned his second point of the game when he buried the puck past the Lakers goalie to knot the contest at 2-2. Arcibal scored the game winning goal for AIC and his third point of the night at 5:43 in the third period. Saturday's contest was 7-0 in favor of the Lakers before Peake found the back of the net at 16:47 to make it a 7-1 game. The Yellow Jackets scored one more goal with 59 seconds left for a 7-2 final. Pleskach (nine goals, seven assists) and Arcibal (five goals, 11 assists) are tied for first with 16 points each. Sophomore forward Jon Puskar follows with five goals eight assists for 13 points, while junior forward Steve Mele closely follows with six goals and five assists for 11 points. Junior goaltender Ben Meisner is 4-13-2 in net for the Yellow Jackets, with a total of 661 saves, a .918 save percentage and a 3.07 goals against average.

About Niagara: The Purple Eagles enter tonight's contest with an overall record of 7-8-7 and 6-4-5 in the AHA after sweeping Army on January 13th & 14th in a weekend series. Fridays contest was a 5-1 victory while Saturdays was a 3-0 shutout. Five different scorers would each record a goal in Friday's victory. Sophomore forward Scott Arnold is leading Niagara with nine goals and six assists for 15 points, closely followed by junior forward Marc Zanette with eight goals and five assists for 13 points. Sophomore forward Patrick Divjak is in third with three goals and nine assists for 12 points and classmate Ryan Rashid rounds off the top four with five goals and six assists for 11 points. Senior goalie Chris Noonan is 4-3-3 in net with one shutout for the Purple Eagles, a total of 255 saves, .934 save percentage and a 1.99 goals against average. Sophomore Cody Campbell is 2-2-3 in net with one shutout for Niagara and total of 240 saves, .913 save percentage and a 2.82 goals against average.

About the Series: This weekend marks the first time that AIC will play at Dwyer Arena. The Yellow Jackets are 0-2-0 against the Purple Eagles heading into tonight's contest.

Next up: The Yellow Jackets will host Sacred Heart on January 27th for a 7:05 p.m. Atlantic Hockey contest before traveling to the Milford Ice Pavilion to finish the weekend series against the Pioneers.