SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts The American International College ice hockey team overcame a tough start to defeat Cansius College 3-2 in overtime in an Atlantic Hockey Conference matchup on Saturday, December 7.

FAST FACTS:
SCORE:AIC 3, Canisius 2 (F/OT)
RECORDS:AIC improves to 7-7-0 on the season and 7-4-0-0 in the AHC, while Canisius drops to 2-12-0 with a 1-7-0-0 AHC mark.
LOCATION:MassMutual Center, Springfield, Massachusetts

STATS:
Canisius:
Austin Alger: One goal, one assist
Matt Hoover: Two assists
Nick Hutchison: One goal
Matt Ladd: Loss (2-5-0), 28 saves in 63:17

AIC:
Blake Christensen: Two goals, one assist
Hugo Reinhardt: One goal
Nicolas Luka: One assist
Martin Mellberg: One assist
Chris Dodero: One assist
Patrik Demel: One assist
Zackarias Skog: Win (7-6-0), 33 saves in 63:08

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Canisius came out of the gates hot and notched the game's first goal on an early power play, as Austin Alger had time in the slot to puck his spot after a Matt Hoover pass; the goal came at 6:40, just 18 seconds into the power play.
• Canisius had two subsequent chances while up a man, and though the Golden Griffins outshot AIC 14-4 in the period in total, senior Zackarias Skog prevented any further damage in the net.
• In the second, AIC's offense came to life a bit, with the shots even at 12-12, but it was Canisius scoring the only goal of the frame late on another power play; Alger set up Nick Hutchison at 18:51 to put the visitors ahead by a pair a mere 10 seconds after the beginning of the team's fourth power play of the afternoon.
• Determined to avoid a loss at home, AIC finally solved Canisius goalkeeper Matt Ladd in the third, as senior Nicolas Luka came from behind his net and weaved through the neutral zone toward the Canisius cage; he then laid a perfect pass to senior Blake Christensen, who cut down the left side of the zone and onto the puck to one-time home his third of the year at 1:00.
• With the momentum now favoring the home team, the Yellow Jackets needed an opportunity to strike and got it as Alger took an elbowing penalty at 8:40. On the power play, senior Martin Mellberg found Christensen along the goal line, but instead of going across the crease as they had the day before, Christensen instead went through the middle, where senior Hugo Reinhardt was able to fire in his sixth of the season at 9:12 and tie the game.
• With the score squared at 2-2 after 60 minutes of play, the teams headed out for overtime; after a near goal by the Golden Griffins, senior Patrik Demel flipped the rebound out up the right side of the ice to sophomore Chris Dodero, who had flown the zone for a two-on-one. Dodero in turn was able to feed a cross pass to Christensen, who knocked home the decisive tally, his fourth of the year, at 3:17 of the extra session to give AIC the sweep.

CHRISTENSEN'S STELLAR STREAK:

• AIC's senior winger has recorded points in five consecutive games, with at least one assist in all five and seven helpers in total to go with the game's two goals for nine points in that span.
• Since November 15 at Mercyhurst, Christensen has recorded three goals and 10 assists for 13 points and a +5 rating.
• His 106 career points rank third in the Division I-era, two back of Guillaume Caron '04 with 108 and eight back of Adam Pleskach '13, who leads the program with 114.

IS THERE A RECORD FOR THE NUMBER OF RECORDS BROKEN?:

• Skog became the first goalkeeper in program history to win 34 games in a career, surpassing Mark Buckley '90, who had held the crown since AIC's ECAC East-title season in 1990.
• He currently sits sixth in the Division I-era of program history with 1960 total saves, with Tom Fenton '09 at 2116 as the next on the list.

COACH'S CORNER:

• Head Coach Eric Lang was happy with the result, though not necessarily with how it came about, saying after the game to "credit our guys for a gutsy comeback win. We played a determined third period. We have lots of character in that room and we willed our way to a win. I was really impressed with the resolve of Canisius. They have some really talented young players that play with great structure and discipline. I'm not convinced that the better team won today, but we will take it."

NEXT UP:

• AIC will break from conference action and play the one game in its stretch of nine contests in 19 days when the Yellow Jackets visit Hobey Baker Rink at Princeton University on Tuesday, December 10 at 7 p.m.

STAY CONNECTED:

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