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Game Recap: Men's Ice Hockey |

Ice hockey wins fourth consecutive AHA regular season crown

ERIE, Pennsylvania - Elijiah Barrigascored three of the four unanswered goals the American International College ice hockey team posted in a 5-1 win at Mercyhurst University to claim an unprecedented fourth consecutive Atlantic Hockey Association regular season title on Friday, February 18.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score: RV AIC 5, Mercyhurst 1
Records: AIC rises to 17-11-2 overall and 16-6-1-0-0-2 in the AHA; the Lakers fall to 9-18-4 overall and 7-12-4-1-0-1 in the AHA
Location: Mercyhurst Ice Center, Erie, Pennsylvania

KEY STATS:
Mercyhurst:
Marko Reifenberger: One goal
Kyle McLellan: Loss (5-12-2), 26 saves

AIC:
Elijiah Barriga: Three goals
Luis Lindner: Two assists, +4 rating
Blake Bennett: Two assists
Chris Van Os-Shaw: One goal
Chris Theodore: One goal
Jake Kucharski: Win (11-7-2), 26 saves

HOW IT HAPPENED:

  • The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an early lead by taking advantage of a failed clear. Jake Stella won a board battle along the right wing wall and pushed the puck to the slot area, where Justin Young laid it up for a Chris Theodore one-timer at 3:16. The goal was Theodore's ninth of the season.
  • Marko Reifenberger took advantage of a turnover to score an unassisted goal at 6:03 to tie the game.
  • IN the second, the AIC offense erupted for three goals in 6:18. The tie was broken when Chris Dodero sent Justin Cole into the offensive zone. Cole fired a shot that Kyle McLellan saved, but Barriga was on the doorstep to bang in the rebound at 2:04 for his seventh of the season. The goal withstood an official review.
  • Another failed clear led directly to AIC's third goal of the game, as Blake Bennett kept the puck in at the left point and passed it up the left wing side to Julius Janhonen. Janhonen saw Chris Van Os-Shaw waiting at the right post and hit him with a pass that the senior deposited into the net at 6:02 for his fifth of the season.
  • The big run reached its climax with a great D-to-D pass as Brian Kramer went left-to-right across the blue line for a slapshot by Luis Lindner that Barriga redirected into the cage at 8:22 for his eighth of the year.
  • The Lakers pushed, with 11 shots in the third, but Jake Kucharski was not beaten again after the initial goal by the hosts, and on the power play, Barriga won the draw to Chris Theodore on the left side. Theodore moved the puck around the umbrella to Lindner and then Bennett on the right side for a shot, which again was tipped in by Barriga at 14:03 for his third of the game, ninth of the season, and the 5-1 win.


CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT:

  • The Yellow Jackets are the first team in the history of Atlantic Hockey to win four consecutive regular season titles.
  • AIC is the fifth team in the history of Division I men's ice hockey to win four in a row; the others are Harvard University, Boston University, the University of Minnesota, and Minnesota State University-Mankato.
  • This is the first time AIC has clinched away from home; the previous three titles were all put away at the MassMutual Center.


SOME MORE FOURS:

  • The defense pair of Kramer and Lindner both recorded +4 ratings on the evening.
  • It is the second time in three games that the duo both posted +4 marks.
  • Kramer has a +23 in AHA games this season, leading the league.


HATS OFF TO BARRIGA:

  • Barriga's trifecta was the second hat trick of the season for AIC, following Stella's three-spot against Bentley University earlier in the campaign.
  • It is the second time he has scored a hat trick at Mercyhurst Ice Center, having done so on November 15, 2019 in the team's 12-0 rout of the Lakers.


COACH'S CORNER:

  • "I never ever want to take for granted how hard this journey is," Head Coach Eric Lang said after the game, noting that "We have guys in this locker room that winning trumps everything. That's all they care about. All individuality is on the back burner. It's all about US and WE and it's the most precious thing in sports: set a goal and go out and accomplish it."
  • He continued, "I'm so proud of these guys. It's a special group. We have so much love for one another. It's a beautiful thing. We have more work to do but this is special. Five-and-a-half-month journey with a gigantic target on our back. These guys bring it every night."


NEXT UP:

  • The two teams close the season series with a 3:05 p.m. tilt in Erie.
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