BUFFALO, New York - The American International College ice hockey team buckled down and earned a 3-2 win over Canisius College on Saturday, November 27 to salvage a split of an Atlantic Hockey Association series.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score: AIC 3, Canisius 2
Records: The Yellow Jackets rise to 4-9-1 overall and 4-4-0-0-0-2 in the AHA, while the Golden Griffins fall to 8-6-1 and 5-3-0-0-0-0 in the AHA
Location: LECOM Harborcenter, Buffalo, New York

KEY STATS:
Canisius:
Max Kouznetsov: One goal
Austin Alger: One goal
Jacob Barczewski: Loss (8-5-0), 23 saves

AIC:
Luka Maver: One goal
Justin Young: One goal
Blake Bennett: One goal
Justin Cole: One assist
Chris Theodore: One assist
Parker Revering: One assist
Evan Stella: One assist
Alec Calvaruso: Win (1-3-0), 16 saves

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Canisius had two early power plays, but AIC ultimately benefitted the most as graduate student Justin Cole was able to spring classmate Luka Maver out of the box and on for a breakaway. Maver cut left-to-right and tucked the puck under the bar at 15:16 for his third of the season.
• AIC doubled the lead in the final minute of the first period, as senior Parker Revering came forward out of the zone and passed right-to-left to classmate Chris Theodore over the blueline. Theodore then found graduate student Justin Young at the netmouth for a redirect, Young's second of the season, at 19:19.
• After a scoreless second, Canisius cut its deficit to 2-1 just after an AIC power play ended. Max Kouznetsov was able to fire a shot into the net from the slot at 3:13 for the first Golden Griffins goal.
• AIC restored its two-goal edge just past the midpoint of the period. Freshman Evan Stella flipped a puck past the Canisius defense to send junior Blake Bennett in on a breakaway and Bennett buried his third of the season at 11:28.
• In desperation mode, Canisius pulled Jacob Barczewski for a sixth attacker with just under three minutes to play and made it a 3-2 game, as Austin Alger snuck a point shot through a screen, but the Yellow Jackets slammed the door to secure the win and series split.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:

• The Yellow Jackets held Canisius to 18 shots on goal, a best for AIC's defense on the season.
• Revering had a team-best three blocked shots as AIC snuffed out 15 bids before they got to graduate student Alec Calvaruso in net.

QUOTABLE:

• "I thought we had a very strong game start to finish. They knew it wouldn't be an easy game and showed up to play," Calvaruso said of the game, adding "It feels great to get a tough win on the road going into an off weekend. I know everyone is going to do everything necessary over the next two weeks to be ready for UConn."
• "Great response from our guys. We had a lot riding for our guys, we pushed pretty hard in our morning team meeting and they responded. Really good for us to close this one out and in the manner that we did it, battling through a little adversity. Credit Canisius for not making it easy. They have a really good team with a lot of belief. It shows in their play," said Head Coach Eric Lang.

NEXT UP:

• AIC has a week off before opening a home-and-home series with the University of Connecticut at the MassMutual Center on Thursday, December 9 at 7:05 p.m.
• Tickets for that game, and all AIC home ice hockey games, are available at www.aicyellowjackets.com/hockeytickets.