West Point, N.Y. - - The Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament had an exciting start tonight in the Play-In round. Army and American International faced off at 7 p.m. at Tate Rink and it was non-stop action until the end of the game.

The Yellow Jackets scored first at the 5:47 mark of the first period. Senior defenseman # 27 Troy Johnston beat Army goalie Brad Roberts and was assisted by Andy Walbert and Jeff Valdes. Less than a minute later, Army tied it up as #6 Jon Boyle got past AIC netminder Frank Novello at the 6:40 mark. Boyle was assisted by #10 Michael Picone.

Army took its only lead of the night as Chris Casey scored at the 8:41 mark. He was assisted by Chad Mayfield and Ryan Cruthers. The Black Knights held onto that lead until the 13:28 mark of the first when AIC's Jay Fennessy evened it up on an unassisted goal.

Things settled down in the second period and both goalies stepped up their play. The Yellow Jackets scored the only goal of the second period at 10:13 as John Levesque found the back of the net assisted by C.J. McConnell and Ron Miller.

Both teams felt each other out at the beginning of the third period and Army was given a man advantage early, but could not capitalize. Midway through the period AIC was in a five on three situation and quickly scored as the Yellow Jackets took a 4-2 lead at the 10:10 mark. The power play goal was scored by Guillaume Caron assisted by Andy Walbert.

The Black Knights responded as Chris Casey scored his second goal of the night at 14:21. He was assisted by Chad Mayfield. As the puck switched ends furiously for the next several minutes, the Black Knights had an opportunity to tie things up with a one man advantage with less than two minutes left in regulation. Army subsequently put six skaters on the ice after a time-out was called at the 19:09 mark, but the Yellow Jackets were able to hold on for the win.

Army finishes their season at 8-18-4 and AIC (5-24-4) is scheduled to play top seed Holy Cross tomorrow at 5:30 as the Atlantic Hockey Tournament continues.

Tomorrow's other Quarterfinal matchups are #5 University of Connecticut playing #4 Sacred Heart University at 10 a.m.. At 1:15 p.m. #6 Canisius College will play #3 Qunnipiac University, and at 8:45 p.m. #7 Bentley College will face #2 Mercyhurst College.

Click here for the box score.

The Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament will continued to be covered real-time at www.atlantichockeyonline.com