WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass.-For the final time in the 2014 calendar year, the American International College ice hockey team will hit the ice at the Olympia Ice Center when they host the Bentley Falcons in a pair of Atlantic Hockey Conference contests.

LAST TIME OUT: AIC went 0-1-1 last weekend against the Canisius Golden Griffins, falling 3-1 Friday night before tying 4-4 on Saturday. On Friday night, Canisius scored two late first period goals and then again in the first minute of the second to take a 3-0 lead before senior center Alexander MacMillan (Calgary, Alb.) scored in the third to break up the shutout. Freshman goalkeeper Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) made 34 saves in the defeat, but was named the game's third star. On Saturday, three players had multi-point nights for the Jackets, as goals came from senior right wing Jason Popek (Hamilton, Ont.), sophomore right wing David Norris (Calgary, Alb.), freshman center Bryant Christian (Moorhead, Minn.), and senior left wing Matt Cassidy (London, Ont.), but Canisius's Ralph Cuddemi's hat trick helped the home team rally. Nevertheless, sophomore Hunter Leisner (Garland, Texas) had 39 saves, including a spectacular stop in the middle frame on Shane Conacher.

Bentley is coming off of a sweep of the league's other Falcons, Air Force. Despite giving up the first goal in both games, the home team rallied, winning both contests at the JAR, with a 2-1 victory on Friday and then a 4-1 win on Saturday. Senior forward Brett Switzer (Calgary, Alb.) had a shorthanded goal as well as an assist in Friday's game and then added two helpers on Saturday to lead the team in scoring on the weekend, while rookie netminder Jayson Argue (Swan River, Man.) won with 33 saves Friday and 25 on Saturday to post a .967 SV% on the weekend.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Bentley swept AIC in the last series of the season, winning 5-1 in Watertown and 4-1 in West Springfield; Norris scored the team's lone goal in the Friday contest and had an assist on Saturday, the only player with multiple points on the weekend. However, AIC did win the first contest of the year between the two teams, scoring an 8-6 victory at the JAR.

A CALGARY STAMPEDE: Five players between the teams come from the city of Calgary, Alberta: for AIC, MacMillan and Norris call the city home, while Switzer, senior forward Alex Grieve, and junior forward Derek Bacon are Calgary natives on the Falcons' roster. This will be the largest gathering of the city's natives any time this season in the AHC, as only two other players-Holy Cross freshman forward Matt Scarth and Sacred Heart senior forward Ben Lake-come from Calgary among the nine other teams in the league.

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD: Bentley and AIC are two of the three schools whose primary athletic conference is the Northeast-10 that "play up" to compete in Division I hockey; the other, Merrimack, is a member of Hockey East. They are also two of the three teams who "play up" from any Division II conference that are members of Atlantic Hockey, with Mercyhurst primarily being a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

SUNDAY FUNDAY: The Sunday afternoon matchup marks the only time either team plays a regular season game on the last day of the weekend; last year, Bentley had two Sunday games, both with Canisius, tying their regular season match 2-2 and falling 3-2 in a postseason game at home, while AIC fell 4-0 at Michigan State University in their lone Sunday contest last year. The Jackets' last Sunday win came on February 10, 2013 when they blanked Army 3-0 at Tate Arena, while Bentley last took two points in a decisive playoff game on March 4, 2012 against Sacred Heart with a 5-0 win.

SHORT STACK: AIC's shorthanded goal in the first period on Saturday at Canisius was their first of the year; the team had five last season.

PLAYING CLEAN: The trio of junior left wing David Gandara (Canyon Lake, Calif.), junior defenseman Derek Henderson (Smithfield, R.I.) and freshman center Giovanni Bombini (Edmonton, Alb.) have not taken any penalties this season. Last year, AIC had one player-Norris-make it through the entire season without committing any infractions, as part of winning the Atlantic Hockey Team Sportsmanship Award.

UP NEXT: After a few weeks off for Christmas, the Jackets play their last non-conference matchup of the regular season as they visit Clarkson University on Tuesday, December 30.