WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College men's ice hockey squad returns to the ice after 10 days off as they host the Army West Point Black Knights in their final weekend set of the first semester this weekend from the Olympia Ice Center.
AIC has only played a pair of games in the last 20 days as they look to end the semester on a high-note before returning to action after break when they host Canisius on January 2-3.
LAST TIME OUT: AIC dropped a single contest to Bentley last Tuesday, 1-0, as they were shutout for the second consecutive game.
BACK-TO-BACK BLANKINGS: This marks the seventh time in the Division I history of the program that AIC has been held without a goal in back-to-back contests and first time since the 2009-10 season when they were swept by Canisius 7-0 and 4-0. In games following two straight shutouts the Jackets are 0-7. AIC was only shutout once last season a 6-0 loss at home to Robert Morris.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Dating back to the 1952-53 season the two squads have met 87 times with the Black Knights holding the 58-23-6 overall series lead.
LAST TIME THEY MET: AIC and Army West Point met on four occasions last season splitting the series 2-2 while each team collected a road victory as well with AIC grabbing a 3-2 overtime victory at Tate and Army securing the 4-3 victory the following night at the Olympia during the first series. The second series saw the teams hold home ice as AIC won going away 4-0 and Army grabbed a 5-1 victory in the final series of the regular season on each teams respective senior night's.
RECENT SUCCESS: This year's senior class is 6-4 against Army West point over the last three years and look to build off that success. Captain Chris Porter has also had individual success against the Black Knights with three goals and one assist for four points while David Gandara has added a pair of goals and Brandon Lubin has three assists. Junior Austin Orszulak loves playing against Army as he has scored three goals and added three helpers for six points in seven career games. Sophomore Johno May has also had success in just one season scoring once and adding three assists against Army.
SCOUTING ARMY: Sophomore Conor Andrle leads the Black Knights with 11 points on two goals and nine assists while both junior Ryan Nick and sophomore Brendan McGuire have each scored five goals. Between the pipes junior Parker Gahagen has been solid with a 4-3-4 record a 2.81 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. Those marks are good for seventh and fifth in the league, respectively.
