NIAGARA, N.Y.-The American International College ice hockey team is back on the road as they head to western New York to battle the Niagara Purple Eagles in a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests at Dwyer Arena.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Niagara swept AIC in the 2014 Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament First Round, held at Dwyer Arena, winning 1-0 in double overtime and then 4-2. In the first game, then-rookies Hunter Leisner (Garland, Texas) and Jackson Teichroeb (London, Ont.) battled to a scoreless draw for eighty minutes, but ultimately the Eagles found the net on their forty-ninth shot of the game at 4:43 of the second extra session; they built a 4-0 lead in the second match and held on despite a pair of goals by sophomore right wing David Norris (Calgary, Alb.) that were set up by senior center Alexander MacMillan (Calgary, Alb.) early in the third frame.

LAST TIME OUT: AIC was swept by Canisius in a weekend set at the Olympia Ice Center, falling 3-1 and 4-2 as the Griffins netted three third period goals both nights to pull out wins. In Friday's contest, the game was scoreless through the first fifty minutes before a Griffins power play goal broke the deadlock; they scored quickly again to take a 2-0 lead. Though senior right wing Nathan Sliwinski (Castle Rock, Colo.) deflected a shot by sophomore left wing Austin Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) into the net to cut the lead to 2-1, Canisius responded with a goal at 17:00 of the frame to seal the win. On Saturday, AIC scored first as freshman center Jackson Dudley (Edmonton, Alb.) buried his first collegiate goal in the second frame, but Canisius scored the game's next three goals to again build a 3-1 lead. Freshman center Bryant Christian (Moorhead, Minn.) netted his first goal of his college career to cut it to 3-2 midway through the third, but the Jackets could not find a tying goal, conceding an empty-netter late to fall 4-2.
Niagara suffered a sweep at the hands of Hockey East power Notre Dame last weekend, falling 6-3 and 7-0 in South Bend. Junior defenseman Matt Chiarantano (Bolton, Ont.) had a pair of assists the first night.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Five players have two points through the first six games for Niagara, including two goals by each of freshman center Derian Plouffe (Shawville, Que.) and junior center Hugo Turcotte (Laval, Que.).
The team both takes and draws a significant number of penalties per game, as they have averaged 14.3 PIM per game but opponents have taken an average of 14.8. However, their special teams have struggled, as the power play is 3/26 for 11.5%, while the PK is 24/33 for 72.7%. In contrast, AIC both takes the fewest penalties, just 16 in five games, and draws the fewest, with just 10 in five games.

BACK IN BLACK: The Yellow Jackets begin a season-long five game road swing with this weekend's set; they continue next weekend with a game at the University of Massachusetts before concluding with a pair at the University of Michigan the following weekend.

THIRD PERIOD WOES: Both AIC and Niagara have struggled in the third frame of games. The Jackets are a -7 (5 GF, 12 GA) in the last twenty minutes of games, while Niagara is -12 (3 GF, 15 GA). In fact, the 12 third-period tallies allowed by AIC are more than the seven goals they have allowed in the first, second, and overtime periods they have played combined; AIC has surrendered just one first-period marker all year and has scored first in four of their five games.

GET IT TO THE NET: The focus for both teams this weekend will likely be generating shots on target. AIC has averaged 24.8 shots on per game so far this season, while Niagara has been held to 24.2; both teams are being outshot by wide margins as Niagara surrenders 32.8 shots per match while AIC has allowed 41.8 per game, including 55 in a 2-2 tie with Holy Cross two weekends ago.

NEXT UP: The Yellow Jackets will head to the Mullins Center for the Battle of the Pioneer Valley when they visit the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to take on the Minutemen in a non-conference matchup on Friday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m.