SETTING THE SCENE: American International comes in riding a three-game winning streak as they get set to battle the rival Sacred Heart Pioneers in a home-and-home Atlantic Hockey Association series Friday at the Olympia Ice Center and Saturday at the Milford Ice Pavilion. Both games are slated for 7:05 p.m. puck drops.
ABOUT THE PIONEERS: Sacred Heart is coming off of a split with Holy Cross, with each team winning at home; SHU topped the Crusaders 4-2 Friday night before falling 6-1 on Saturday, allowing four special teams goals against in the setback. Sacred Heart is 8-20-0 overall, including a 7-14-0 league mark; their lone non-conference win was the season opener against then-#1 Massachusetts-Lowell. Freshman Justin Danforth is the team's top scorer, with four goals and 18 assists for 22 points; rookie Jordan Minello, junior Drew George, and fellow junior Will Rayner each top the team with six goals. Sophomore transfer Alex Vazzano has started 19 games and is 3-15-0 with a .896 SV%, while junior Andrew Bodnarchuk is 5-5-0 but has a .888 SV%.
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL vs. SACRED HEART
Friday, Feb. 14, 7:05 p.m.
Live Stats / Live Video
LAST TIME THEY MET: AIC won the first meeting of the season, 4-1, at the Olympia Ice Center on October 26, in the conference and home opener for the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets notched goals from Brandon Lubin (Commerce Township, Mich.), David Norris (Calgary, Alb.), Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.), and Nathan Sliwinski (Castle Rock, Colo.), while the Pioneers' lone goal was by Brian Sheehan. Ty Reichenbach earned the win with 20 saves in his first career start.
LAST TIME OUT: AIC swept a home-and-home with Army, winning 2-1 on Friday at the Olympia before taking a 5-4 overtime win at West Point on Saturday. Norris had the winning goal in Friday's contest after assisting on the first goal, while Jon Puskar (Canton, Mich.) tallied the winner in overtime on Saturday. Austin Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) and David Gandara (Canyon Lake, Mich.) each had their first career goals for AIC in Saturday's win.
GOING STREAKING: AIC is 3-0-0 in their last three games overall and 4-0-1 in their last five against the Pioneers. Alexander MacMillan (Calagry, Alb.), Puskar, and Norris-linemates on AIC's "Yellow Line"-each have three-game point streaks, and for Norris he has two points per game in each of those last three.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Norris, the most recent Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Month and named Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week by the New England Hockey Journal, is a leading candidate for the yearly award from the league, topping all AHA rookies with 24 assists and 28 points, but he is not alone among freshmen who have made an impact. Hunter Leisner (Garland, Texas) has taken over the starting role in net, posting a 7-9-1 record, a .907 SV%, and 618 saves, the latter of which is good for fifth in the conference. Mike Dietrich has two goals and eight assists for 10 points, and defenseman Dominic Racobaldo has been on AIC's top pairing almost all season long.
PUSKAR GOES FOR 100: At the beginning of the season, senior left wing Jon Puskar set a goal: reach 88 points for his AIC career, the mark set by former captain Jereme Tendler '08. Having attained that with his overtime winner at Army, Puskar now has a new target: becoming the third player since the program elevated to Division I status to break the triple digit mark. Guillaume Caron '04 and Adam Pleskach '13 are the only two players to do so for the Yellow Jackets since 1998.
HOME ICE IN SIGHT: The Yellow Jackets have not hosted an Atlantic Hockey Tournament game in the ten-year history of the league, but this year's squad is determined to change that. Presently, AIC is tied with Holy Cross and RIT for eighth place, as each team has 17 points with six games remaining. Under the current Atlantic Hockey playoff structure, the fifth through eighth seeds host the twelfth through ninth seeds, respectively, in a best-of-three first round series, with the top four seeds earning a bye to the second round.
UP NEXT: The Yellow Jackets head to Worcester on Friday, February 21, to start a home-and-home with the Holy Cross Crusaders in another crucial weekend of AHA play.
