SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts The American International College ice hockey team came out on the right end of another offensive outburst, downing Niagara University 6-4 in an Atlantic Hockey Conference matchup on Friday, February 1.

FAST FACTS:
SCORE:AIC 6, Niagara 4
RECORDS:AIC improves to 14-12-1 overall and leads the AHC at 14-8-1; Niagara drops to 10-13-3 overall and 9-8-3 in league play
LOCATION:MassMutual Center, Springfield, Massachusetts

STATS:
AIC:
Kyle Stephan: One goal, two assists
Blake Christensen: One goal, one assist
Joel Kocur: One goal
Tobias Fladeby: One goal
Chris Theodore: Game-winning goal
Chris Dodero: One goal
Zackarias Skog: Win (11-9-0), 16 saves, one assist

Niagara:
Ludwig Stenlund: Two goals, one assist
Reed Robinson: One goal, one assist
Eric Cooley: One goal
Cole Weaver: Loss (2-3-0), 38 saves on 43 shots in 58:52

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Thanks to a pair of tripping penalties, the Yellow Jackets found themselves facing a 3-on-5 penalty kill, but managed to score anyway, as junior goalkeeper Zackarias Skog's clearing pass sprung junior center Joel Kocur on a breakaway, and Kocur was able to work the puck past Niagara keeper Cole Weaver at 9:05 for a 1-0 AIC lead and his fifth of the year.
• Late in the period, the Purple Eagles were the ones shorthanded, and a trio of juniors made them pay, as right wing Kyle Stephan's pass back to the point to defenseman Patrik Demel was furthered along to left wing Blake Christensen, who fired over the right pad of Weaver for his 12th goal of the season with less than eight seconds to play in the frame.
• The Yellow Jackets seemed to have complete command of the game after dominating the first, but a resilient Niagara team stormed back to take the lead with three goals in the first 12:22 of the middle frame; Reed Robinson scored a shorthanded goal into essentially an empty net after a turnover along the right-wing wall at 1:40, and Ludwig Stenlund one-timed shots from the slot home at 6:06 and 12:22.
• Another late power play gave AIC new life, and the team buzzed to a buzzer beater as Christensen and redshirt freshman left wing Luka Maver both threw pucks toward the net in the waning moments of the period, and sophomore right wing Tobias Fladeby flicked home the rebound, his 12th of the campaign, just before time expired in the period to tie the matchup at 3-3.
• The Yellow Jackets quickly regained the lead in the third, as redshirt freshman left wing Justin Cole won a puck battle in the corner before passing to sophomore right wing Darius Davidson; Davidson then found sophomore center Chris Dodero at the right side of the net, and he pushed the rebound of his initial shot over the line to give AIC a 4-3 edge with his second of the season at 2:03.
• Just as quickly, Niagara drew even again, as on the power play, Stenlund fired a shot that was redirected home by Eric Cooley from the left side of the slot at 3:36.
• AIC continued to control the play, and finally were able to take the lead for good as Stephan came out of a corner battle with the puck and passed to senior center Shawn McBride, who quickly dished to the right side of the net for freshman left wing Chris Theodore. Theodore gathered the puck and fired it high into the net at 12:55 for his fifth of the season, and Stephan sealed the deal 4:04 later with an empty netter for his eighth of the year and the 6-4 final.

THE LONG AND SHORT(HANDED) OF IT:

• The opening goal of the game was the first time this season that AIC had scored a man-down goal.
• AIC's last shorthanded goal was also against Niagara; sophomore defenseman Brennan Kapcheck tallied while down a man on November 25, 2017 at the MassMutual Center.
• Skog's assist on the goal was the first point of the year for the goalkeeper; his only other career point, also an assist, was on January 14, 2017, in a 5-3 win over RIT.

ALMOST THERE:

• AIC has scored 87 goals in 27 games after scoring 88 last season in 39 games.
• The team is also one win away from tying its record of 15 victories set last year, with five regular-season games still to be played in addition to a minimum of two postseason contests.
• Christensen is rapidly approaching the single-season points record of 35, set by Jon Puskar '14 in 2014 and tied by Alexander MacMillan '15 and Austin Orszulak '17 the following season; Christensen's 12-20-32 line is the best the team has had since that 2014-15 campaign and his 20 assists are the most by a player since Johno May '18 had 23 as a freshman playing on a line with Orszulak and MacMillan that season.
• Kapcheck is five points back of his defenseman-record 26 points from a season ago.

NEXT UP:

• AIC will face the Purple Eagles for the fourth and final regular season meeting between the teams on Saturday, February 2 at 1:05 p.m.

STAY CONNECTED:

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