AIC YELLOW JACKETS (5-12-6, 4-8-5 AHC)
vs.
ARMY WEST POINT BLACK KNIGHTS(11-8-3, 10-6-1AHC)
Tuesday, January 17, 2017, 7:05p.m.
MassMutualCenter, Springfield, Massachusetts
Live Stats | Video| AIC Roster | ArmyRoster
LEADERS:
AIC:
Goals:Dominik Florianand Blake Christensen (7), Martin Mellberg andAustin Orszulak(5)
Assists: Blake Christensen,Hugo Reinhardtand Martin Mellberg (10), Shawn McBride (8)
Points: Blake Christensen (17), Martin Mellberg (15),Hugo Reinhardt (13)
Blocked Shots: Dominic Racobaldo(37), Ryan Polin (36), Nicolas Luka (31)
Goaltenders:
Justin Ketola: 2 GP, 0 GS, 0-0-0, 3.93 GAA, .889 SV% (8/9), 0 ShO
Alex Murray: 12GP, 10GS, 2-6-2, 3.34GAA, .887SV% (275/310), 1 ShO
Zackarias Skog: 13GP, 13GS, 3-6-4, 3.03GAA, .905SV% (360/398), 1ShO
PP: 21.74% (20/92) PK: 78.8% (93/118)
Army:
Goals:Brendan SoucieandZach Evancho (10), Conor Andrle(9)
Assists: Tyler Pham (12), Alex Wilkinson (10), Dominic Franco (9)
Points: Zach Evancho (17), Dominic Franco (16), ConorAndrle (14)
Blocked Shots: Dalton MacAfee(32), Mike Preston (30), Ryan Nick (29)
Goaltenders:
Parker Gahagen: 22GP, 22GS, 11-8-3,1.85GAA, .936 SV% (602/643), 4 ShO
PP: 16.10% (19/118) PK: 86.9% (93/107)
The American International College ice hockey team will host Army West Point in the final matchup of its three-game homestand at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17 at the MassMutual Center.
LAST TIME OUT: AIC split a home series with the Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday, January 13 and Saturday, January 14.
On Friday, despite a 35-save performance from junior goaltender Alex Murray, the Yellow Jackets couldn't hold off RIT's strong offense the strong goaltending of Mike Rotolo, who shut out AIC by a final score of 5-0.
Saturday was a different story, as AIC scored five goals of their own and went on to win by a score of 5-3. The Tigers got the first goal of the game, but freshman defenseman Patrik Demel, in his season debut, tied things up with 1:37 to go in the first period for his first goal of the year. Freshman Jared Pike later added his second of the year and sophomore Marc Dubeau his first of the year, but RIT came back to tie the game at 3-3. It was Demel who notched the game-winner at 15:59 of the third period, and freshman Blake Christensen added an insurance goal with 1:50 left in the game to push the final score to 5-3. Freshman goaltender Zackarias Skog - who also had his first point off a secondary assist on Dubeau's goal - made 38 saves for AIC.
Army enters the series off a home split with Mercyhurst, losing Friday by a score of 3-1 and winning on Saturday, 4-1. 10 different Black Knights recorded a point, with Dalton MacAfee, Trevor Fidler, Dominic Franco and Brendan Soucie scoring goals. The win snapped a three-game winless streak for Army.
LAST TIME THEY MET: AIC traveled to West Point, New York, on December 2, falling in a tight match by a score of 1-0. Ian Mansfield had the only goal in the contest, recorded at 10:47 of the third period. Murray made 30 saves to keep the Yellow Jackets in the game.
FAMILIAR FOES: Head coach Eric Lang will host his former team, the Black Knights, for the first time in Springfield on Tuesday. Lang was an assistant coach at Army West Point from 2012 to 2016.
DEMEL DEMO: Demel's two-goal, one-assist performance is the first time a Yellow Jacket has had three points in their collegiate debut in more than 10 seasons.
Freshman Dominik Florian had two goals in the first game of the 2016-17 season.
Martin Mellberg is the only other AIC player to record a two-goal, one-assist game this season, doing so twice against Mercyhurst (October 28) and Holy Cross (November 4).
Florian, Mellberg and Demel are the only Yellow Jackets to have a multi-goal game this season.
PEEK AT THE STANDINGS: Army is fighting for a top spot in the Atlantic Hockey Conference, sitting just one point behind first-place Air Force. AIC sits in ninth place ahead of Sacred Heart and Niagara.
HONORABLE MENTION: For his efforts, Demel was named the league's Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. AIC has had two players receive Rookie of the Week awards back-to-back, as freshman Joel Kocur earned the recognition last week.
FRESHMAN PHENOMS: AIC owns the national lead in points by a freshman class with 86 points as a class, sitting ahead of No. 1 Penn State with 79 points. The next-closest team in Atlantic Hockey in terms of freshman scoring is Army, whose freshmen have 64 points.
Each freshman skater for the Yellow Jackets has recorded at least a point this season; 10 have scored a goal on the season. 12 of AIC's 13 freshmen have recorded a point, with more freshman scorers than any other team in the nation.
In every game this season in which AIC has scored at least one goal (with the exception of three shutouts), at least one freshman has scored a point.
Of AIC's 53 goals scored this season, a freshman has been involved in 48 of them.
Six freshmen have had multi-point games this season for the Yellow Jackets.
Christensen is tied with Army's Zach Evancho for the lead in Atlantic Hockey rookie scoring with his 17 points on the season, and is tied for 16th nationally in scoring among all freshmen.
NEXT UP: AIC will travel to Niagara County, New York, for a weekend series against Niagara University. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. for both Friday, January 20, and Saturday, January 21.
