BUFFALO, New York The American International College ice hockey team scored first, but fell 4-2 to the Canisius College Golden Griffins in an Atlantic Hockey Conference matchup on November 2, 2018.

FAST FACTS:
SCORE: Canisius 4, AIC 2
RECORDS: AIC falls to 2-5-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the AHC, while Canisius improves to 3-3-0 and 3-2-0 in league play.
LOCATION: HarborCenter, Buffalo, New York

STATS:
AIC:
Luka Maver: One goal, four shots
Darius Davidson: One goal
Blake Christensen: One assist, four shots
Justin Cole: One assist
Zackarias Skog: Loss (0-3-0), 20 saves on 24 shots in 58:28

Canisius:
Dylan McLaughlin: Two goals, one assist, +2, six shots on goal
Matt Hoover: One goal
Mitchell Martan: One goal
Tucker Weppner: Win (1-2-0), 26 saves on 28 shots in 59:47

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• AIC had the bulk of the chances early on, drawing a power play just under a minute into the contest, but ultimately Canisius pulled momentum in its direction later in the period after the Yellow Jackets took a pair of penalties later in the frame. However, junior goalkeeper Zackarias Skog kept the net clean, most notably with a sliding pad save on Cameron Heath on a two-on-one.
• In the second, AIC was the team to break the deadlock; junior right wing Kyle Stephan shoved a puck up the boards from his own zone to redshirt freshman center Justin Cole; Cole beat a defender coming over the blue line, then waited until the remaining Canisius defender went down before floating a pass across to his classmate, left wing Luka Maver, who buried his first collegiate goal into the open left side of the net at 6:33 of the period.
• The lead lasted less than a minute, as Mitchell Martan netted his own first collegiate goal for the Golden Griffins by jamming in a rebound of a Dylan McLaughlin shot at the top of the crease at 7:25; under four minutes later, on a power play, McLaughlin scored, ripping a one-timer from the right faceoff dot at 11:09 for a 2-1 lead.
• AIC put on significant pressure in the third, but it was the host squad scoring again, as McLaughlin flicked a puck between his own legs to score his second of the game at 5:34 of the period; just over four minutes later, Matt Hoover came out of the corner and fired a shot home to extend the edge to 4-1 at 9:46.
• AIC cut the deficit to 4-2 shortly after; junior left wing Blake Christensen fed a pass to senior center Shawn McBride; though the captain's bid was stopped, the rebound bounced straight to sophomore right wing Darius Davidson, who flicked it home for his third of the year at 11:41. However, AIC could not find another, leaving the final at 4-2.

COACH'S CORNER:

• "Right now we're struggling a little bit in terms of how we're managing the hockey game," head coach Eric Lang said after the game. "We get up 1-0. We follow that up with a goal against on the next shiftthe following shift after that, we wind up taking a penalty, next thing you know, we're down 2-1. So in a three-minute span, you go from up 1-0 to down 2-1."
• "We had a big emphasis on our kill; it's an area of our game that has to get better. This team's done a good job of cleaning some things up: we got some clears, we reacted well to some triggers, and for the most part kept the puck on one side of the ice. When we do those three things, our kill will have success," he said of the team's PK unit, which went 5-of-6 on the game.

NEXT UP:

• The Yellow Jackets have another chance to earn a win in Buffalo, as they will rematch with the Griffins at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, November 3.

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates about the AIC ice hockey team, follow@AIC_Hockey onTwitterand Instagram, and likeAmerican International College Ice HockeyonFacebook. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow@AICAthleticsonTwitterandInstagram, and likeAIC Yellow JacketsonFacebook.