WESTPOINT, N.Y. The American International College ice hockey squad dropped a 4-0 decision to the United States Military Academy in the third and decisive game during a first round series in the Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament this evening from Tate Rink.
With the loss the Jackets conclude their 2015-16 campaign at 7-29-3 overall while the Black Knights move to 13-14-9 and will travel to third seeded Holy Cross next weekend for the Atlantic Hockey Championship Quarterfinals.
Army opened the scoring early as senior Christian Pomarico (Simsbury, Conn.) collected a rebound out front and slapped it into the vacated net for the 1-0 advantage at just 1:36 of the first period.
AIC was held without a shot on goal for an extended period of time to open the game, but junior Austin Orszulak (Springfield, mass.) found himself alone in the low slot and flicked a wrister that smacked off junior Parker Gahagen's (Buffalo, N.Y.) mask keeping the Jackets off the board.
The Black Knights then struck quick during a 4-on-4 period after coincidental minors as sophomore classmates Brendan McGuire (Flower Mound, Tx.) and Conor Andrle (St. Louis Park, Minn.) scored just 23 seconds apart for the 3-0 margin.
The middle frame was a more even affair as neither team had great chances and the score remained the same heading into the second intermission.
The third period was more of the same as both defenses played strong with Army getting the better of the chances, but with hitting another pipe and sophomore goaltender Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) standing tall between the pipes they remained off the board until a late goal with just under two minutes to play made the final score 4-0.
Murray collected 36 saves to finish the season at 7-23-3 while Gahagen stopped 19 pucks including a pair of late saves on shots by sophomore Jackson Dudley (Edmonton, Alb.) and senior David Gandara (Canyon Lake, Calif.) to improve to 12-10-9 on the year.
The Yellow Jacket penalty kill excelled on the weekend as they stopped all 15 of Army's power-play chances over the three game series including one tonight while being held without a power-play chance on the other end.
Army outshot the visitors 40-19 for the game.
