SETTING THE SCENE: The American International College men's ice hockey team hosts a weekend series against Rochester Institute of Technology November 2-3, 2012 at the Olympia Ice Center. Both games will start at 7:05 p.m.

ABOUT AIC: The Yellow Jackets entered the weekend with a record of 2-3-0 overall after falling to eight-ranked Union 8-0 and defeating Alabama-Huntsville 4-3 last weekend. AIC is 0-1-0 so far in league play, dropping a 6-2 decision to Holy Cross in its conference-opener October 16. Senior forward Adam Pleskach leads the team in scoring with three goals and three assists for six points, while junior forward Jon Puskar has a team-best four goals and is second on the team in scoring with five points. Senior defenseman Jeff Ceccacci leads the team with four assists. Senior goalie Ben Meisner is 1-3-0 with a 5.18 goals against average after getting roughed up against the Dutchmen this past Friday night. Sophomore goalie Chandler Long made 22 stops to beat the Chargers the following night in his only appearance of the season, marking the first victory of his collegiate career.

LAST TIME OUT: AIC bounced back from a tough 8-0 loss to No. 8 Union to register a 4-3 win over Alabama-Huntsville, snapping a six-game losing streak to the Chargers and while earning its first win over UAH as a NCAA Division I program. The Yellow Jackets led 1-0 after the first period on senior forward Richard Leitner's first goal of the season, but found themselves tied at two-all midway through the second. Pleskach then scored a pair of goals in a span of two minutes, one of which was on the power play, to put AIC ahead 4-2 through two periods of play. UAH made it a one-goal game with five minutes remaining in the game, but were unable to get the equalizer.

AHA WEEKLY HONORS: Long and Pleskach were placed on the Atlantic Hockey Honor Roll after leading the Yellow Jackets to a 1-1 record last week. Long earned his first collegiate victory in net in the Yellow Jackets' 4-3 win over Alabama-Huntsville, stopping 22 of the 25 shots on goal he faced. Pleskach scored two goals and dished out an assist in the win over the Chargers.

MILESTONE/RECORD WATCH: Pleskach enters tonight's contest with 89 career points (47 goals, 42 assists), and is now 11 away from becoming just the second 100-point scorer since the Yellow Jackets became a Division I program. The first was Guillaume Caron, who scored 117 points (61 goals, 56 assists) from 2000-04. Caron's totals in goals, assists and points are all AIC Division I records. Meisner is closing in on the career saves record. He now has 2,726 career saves and is 191 away from surpassing Novello's career 2,916 saves. Chance Thede holds the all-time record for career saves, stopping 3,014 shots on goal from 1997-2001).

ABOUT RIT: The Tigers enter the weekend with an overall record of just 1-4-0 for the season, opening the season with a 5-4 win at Michigan before dropping four in a row. RIT dropped the second game to the Wolverines 7-2 and the fell to Penn State (3-2), Robert Morris (6-4) and Colgate (6-3). Senior forward Jeff Smith leads the team in scoring with four goals and four assists for eight points, while junior forwards Ben Lynch and Adam Mitchell are tied for second with four points each. Lynch has one goal with three assists, and Mitchell has two goals with two assists. Junior goalie Josh Watson is 1-2-0 in net with a 4.36 goals against average, while sophomore goalie Jordan Ruby is 0-2-0 with a 6.52 goals against average.

ABOUT THE SERIES: RIT leads the all-time series with AIC 19-3-1 and has won four in a row against the Yellow Jackets. The Tigers swept the regular season series against the Yellow Jackets last season by scores of 3-1 and 4-2 after sweeping AIC out of the playoffs in 2010. The two teams split the regular season series in 2010-11 at the Olympia, with RIT taking the opener 4-0 and the Yellow Jackets taking game two 6-2.

NEXT UP: The Yellow Jackets travel to Quinnipiac Tuesday, November 6 for a 7 p.m. non-conference contest with their former conference rival. AIC will then play its final home game of 2012 November 16 at 7:05 p.m. against Bentley at the Olympia Ice Center.