NIAGARA, New York - Five different freshmen scored seven goals as the American International College ice hockey team beat Niagara University on Friday evening, 7-3, at Dwyer Arena.

Seven different players had multi-point nights. Freshman right wing Dominik Florian and freshman left wing Jared Pike each had a pair of goals in the contest, and junior winger Jackson Dudley added three helpers. Junior defenseman Andrew DeBrincat also had three assists in his 100th career game. Right wing Kyle Stephan also notched his first collegiate goal, becoming the 11th freshman skater to record a goal this season for AIC.

Rookie goaltender Zackarias Skog made 42 saves for AIC, while the Jackets got 31 shots on Niagara goalie Joe O'Brien, who made 24 saves.

AIC had not scored seven goals since a game against Sacred Heart on February 15, 2014, and the seven-goal eruption was AIC's best offensive performance since an 8-7 win over Bentley on November 8, 2013.

AIC improves to 6-13-6 with a 5-9-5 mark in conference, while Niagara falls to 3-17-3 and 3-12-2 in conference.

The Yellow Jackets got out to a 2-0 lead early off goals from two freshmen. Stephan scored just 3:32 into the contest, off a Niagara turnover that was taken by DeBrincat. Just three and a half minutes later, AIC added one more off another turnover, this one snatched by sophomore defenseman Johnny Mueller and sent up to Pike for his third of the year.

The Purple Eagles got one back 1:58 later, off a power-play tally by Kris Spriggs, and AIC went to the locker room with a 2-1 advantage.

Though Niagara got a goal in the second frame, it was all Florian early in the second as he boosted his season goal total to a team-best nine. His first goal came off assists from sophomore Marc Dubeau and Dudley at the 3:31 mark of the second, and his next came close in off a defender at 6:52.

Niagara made the score 4-3 at 14:30, but Pike added his second of the night at 15:23 and freshman defenseman Nicolas Luka had a power-play tally at 17:28 to extend AIC's lead to 6-3.

Officials took an early intermission with 36.2 seconds remaining to make repairs to the ice, but AIC led 6-3 at the official end of the second period. The Jackets were also able to kill off 32 seconds of a 5-on-3 chance for the Purple Eagles to begin the third period, their second 5-on-3 kill of the evening.

With AIC up a man after a Niagara player took a five-minute major and game misconduct, freshman defenseman Patrik Demel pushed AIC's lead to 7-3 with 1:27 to go in the contest.

Seven players posting multi-point nights is the most for AIC since a 9-1 win over Sacred Heart on February 16, 2013, which also had seven multi-point performances.

AIC and Niagara return to close out the series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.