MILFORD, Conn.—The American International College men's ice hockey team (9-14-5, 6-11-5 AHA) tied their Division I era scoring record on their way to their fourth straight win and nation-leading sixth in a row without a loss, as they won over the host Sacred Heart Pioneers (0-26-2, 0-19-2 AHA) by a final score of 9-1 at the Milford Ice Pavilion Saturday evening.

The Jackets jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a power play; with Pioneers sophomore right wing Drew George (Regina, Sask.) in the box, senior left wing Richard Leitner (Los Alamitos, Calif.) passed to junior center Blake Peake (Lethbridge, Alb.), who found captain and senior right wing Adam Pleskach (Beausejour, Man.) in front, beating freshman goalkeeper Fredrik Melander (Uppsala, Sweden) high on the glove side at 1:14 for his tenth of the year.

In the middle frame, the Jackets made it 2-0 early, with Leitner passing to Pleskach, who then found senior defenseman Jeff Ceccacci (Placentia, Calif.) at the point. Ceccacci wired a wrist shot through a screen that found the twine at 1:34 for his first goal of the year.

AIC extended the lead to 3-0 thanks to a steal by sophomore left wing Nathan Sliwinski (Castle Rock, Colo.), who passed to Ceccacci, who then found sophomore right wing Jason Popek (Hamilton, Ont.) in the slot; Popek wristed the puck home at 7:34 for his fifth of the year, sending Melander to the bench in favor of senior Steven Legatto (Kelowna, B.C.).

Sacred Heart broke the shutout on a two man PP shortly after; with both senior right wing Nick Grasso (Smithtown, N.Y.) and classmate and defenseman Chris Markiewicz (Calgary, Alb.) in the box, senior right wing Ben Ketchum (Greenwich, Conn.) and sophomore left wing Brian Sheehan (St. Louis, Mo.) moved the puck, getting to captain and senior center Eric Delong (Oakville, Man.) for his tenth of the year at 9:21.

However, AIC would score two more to end the period: first, freshman left wing Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.) made a pass to junior right wing Jon Puskar (Grosse Ile, Mich.), who dropped it back to sophomore defenseman Steven Hoshaw (Vista, Calif.) for a one-timer from the point for his first of the year at 13:52; finally, Pleskach stole a puck in the zone and whipped it high on Legatto at 19:17 to make it 5-1.

AIC then exploded again in the third, tallying four more goals: first, Hoshaw and sophomore center Brandon Fagerheim (Calgary, Alb.) connected to Popek in front for his second of the night and sixth of the campaign at 9:08; shortly after, Grasso and Ceccacci set up freshman left wing Colton Cyr (Nanaimo, B.C.) for his first career goal at 9:49. Then, sophomore center Alexander MacMillan (Calgary, Alb.) stole the puck and scored his sixth of the year at 14:01; finally, Porter lofted a pass to a breaking Puskar, who beat Legatto for his ninth of the year at 14:39 to close the scoring out.

Senior goalkeeper Ben Meisner stopped 25 of 26 shots in the win to improve to 8-13-5 on the year; Melander was tagged with the loss, falling to 0-3-0 after stopping 15 of 18 shots in 27:34; Legatto stayed at 0-14-1, stopping 8 of 14 in 32:26.

AIC next plays at the Olympia Ice Center Friday, February 22 at 7:05 PM against in-state rival Holy Cross for an Atlantic Hockey matchup.