SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Sophomore left wing Jared Pike's third-period goal gave the American International College ice hockey team a 1-0 victory over the College of the Holy Cross in its regular season home finale on Saturday, February 17.

Saturday's game also marked Senior Day for six Yellow Jackets. Alongside their families and friends, seniors Dominic Racobaldo, Bryant Christian, Johno May, Jackson Dudley, Andrew DeBrincat and Alex Murray were honored pregame for their contributions to the program.

FAST FACTS:
Final score: AIC 1, Holy Cross 0
Records: AIC moves to 11-17-4 overall and 10-12-4 in Atlantic Hockey Conference play; Holy Cross is now 12-14-7 overall and 11-10-6 in Atlantic Hockey play.
Location: MassMutual Center

STATS LEADERS:
AIC:
Jared Pike (one goal, +1)
Ryan Polin (one assist, +1)
Andrew DeBrincat (six shots on goal, +1)
Stefano Durante (23 saves, shutout)

Holy Cross:
Kevin Darrar (four shots on goal)
T.J. Moore (four shots on goal)
Paul Berrafato (29 saves)


HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Yellow Jackets outshot the Crusaders 13-7 in a scoreless first period.
• Holy Cross was able to go on a five-minute power play at the 11:38 mark of the second period, but AIC was able to kill the entire penalty and then have an 11-5 advantage in shots in the period.
• The scoreless tie was finally broken when sophomore forward Jared Pike put one in net with 14:10 left in the contest to give the Yellow Jackets the 1-0 lead.
• With Holy Cross having an empty net for the remaining 1:20 of the game, AIC freshman goaltender Stefano Durante was able to stop the Crusaders' final three shots to have the Yellow Jackets hold on for the win.

BUZZWORTHY:

• The 1-0 victory marks the second time Durante has posted a shutout this season and in his career. He leads the Atlantic Hockey Conference with a 2.23 goals-against average. Durante also becomes the first AIC goaltender to record multiple shutouts in a season since Ben Meisner had two in 2012-13.
• With the goal on Saturday afternoon, Pike is now tied for fifth on the team in points with 13 and ranks second on the team with nine goals in the year.
• The Yellow Jackets reached double-digit victories in conference play for the first time since the 2000-01 season. AIC sits at 11 wins on the season, the second-most in Division I program history.

COACH'S CORNER:

• "I thought it was just a really good college hockey game," said AIC head ice hockey coach Eric Lang. "For a game that for the most part was 0-0, I thought there were good chances, we had a tremendous five-minute kill there, which I thought turned the game a little bit back to us. It's a good time of year for our hockey team to be able to win a game 1-0 because now the ice gets hard. Things shrink up, and there's an unbelievable emphasis on defensive play."

PLAYERS' CORNER:

• "It felt really good, it being Senior Day, a lot of emotions," Christian said. "It was fun, we just played our typical AIC hockey. Defensive and gritty, and it kind of had a playoff mentality to it with two games left against them. It was a good win."
• "I was just coming down the middle and [junior defenseman Ryan] Polin gave me a nice pass off the wall, and I just picked it up off my backhand," Pike said about his goal. "I got a nice shot over his blocker and that was it. The only goal of the game, so that was nice."
• "It was a huge, total team effort," Durante said. "The guys played really well, blocking shots, especially at the end of the game. It was a good game tonight for the boys."

NEXT UP:

• The Yellow Jackets will finish off their regular season with two consecutive road games when they take on Holy Cross on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m. AIC will then face off with Bentley University on Saturday, February 24, with puck drop set at 7 p.m.
  

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates about the AIC ice hockey team, follow @AIC_Hockey on Twitter and Instagram, and like American International College Ice Hockey on Facebook. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow @AICAthletics on Twitter and Instagram, and like AIC Yellow Jackets on Facebook.