Atlantic Hockey Update For Games Through November 23, 2003

November 24, 2003

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Player of the Week

Greg Kealey, Holy Cross (Sr., F, Nepean, ONT) ? Kealey collected a goal and two assists in a 4-2 win over Connecticut Friday night. In the Crusaders, 6-5 OT win over Sacred Heart on Saturday, the senior added four assists.

Others Nominated: Jeremy Leroux, AIC; Paul Markarian, Bentley; T.J. Kemp, Mercyhurst; Peter Giatrelis, Sacred Heart.

Co-Goaltenders of the Week

Jamie Holden, Quinnipiac (Jr, G, Telkwa, B.C) ? The Bobcats? goaltender made 38 saves in a 2-2 draw with Army on Friday night. Holden was in goal once again Saturday night and made 33 saves is a 1-1 draw with Connecticut. The Junior netminder lowered his GAA to 2.64 and upped his save percentage to .933.

Tony Quesada, Holy Cross (So., G, S. Freeport, ME) ? Quesada recorded 29 saves against Connecticut in a 4-2 win on Friday night. On Saturday, Quesda came into the game against Sacred Heart in the third period and stopped seven shots in 20:10 minutes as the Crusaders won in OT 6-5.

Others Nominated: Brad Roberts, Army; Max Buetow, Canisius; Frank Novello, AIC; Scott Tomes, Connecticut; Andy Franck, Mercyhurst; Kevin LaPointe, Sacred Heart.

Freshman of the Week

James Sixsmith, Holy Cross(Fr., F, Alexandria, VA) ? Sixsmith recorded one assist in the win against Connecticut Friday night and two goals and two assists in the 6-5 overtime win against Sacred Heart Saturday Night. Sixsmith scored the first two goals of the game and assisted on the game-winning goal against the Pioneers.

Others Nominated: Jeason Lecours, AIC; Michael Cohen, Canisius; Jim Gehring, Mercyhurst; Reid Cashman, Quinnipiac; Drew Sanders, Sacred Heart.

American International: The Yellow Jackets picked up their first win of the season with a 4-1 home victory against Army. AIC next skates on Tuesday with a home showdown against Bentley. Four different Yellow Jackets scored in the win, including rookie Jeason Lecours who netted his first collegaite goal. Junior netminder Frank Novello stopped 27 shots to pick up his first win. He also stopped the Black Knights on five powerplay chances, pushing his consecutive shutdown streak to 19. Roookie Jeremy Leroux assisted on both the first and last goals of the game pushing his team leading point total to 12. Guillaume Caron also netted a goal, leaving the senior just 13 points shy of 100. Sophomore C.J. McConnell netted the game-winner on a breakaway in the second period and has now scored in three straight games and recorded a point in each of the last four contests.

Army: ?Army earned a 2-2 tie with visiting Quinnipiac Friday night, before dropping a 4-1 verdict to American International on Sunday. The loss to AIC snapped Army?s seven-game winning streak against the Yellow Jackets. It was the first time that AIC topped the Black Knights since Jan. 20, 2001.The Black Knights finished the month of November 1-4-2, ending a string of five consecutive winning months dating back to last season. Friday night?s game at Tate Rink drew 2,019 fans, marking the second straight home game that Army attracted better than 2,000 spectators. The Black Knights average a league-best 1,800 fans per game at Tate Rink ? the sight of the 2004 Atlantic Hockey Association Championship. Sophomore goaltender Brad Roberts stopped three breakaway attempts by Quinnipiac Friday night to spark his squad to the tie. He recorded 31 saves in all. Head coach Rob Riley remains at 299 career wins. He will go for win No. 300 on Dec. 5 and 6 when the Black Knights travel to Worcester, Mass., to take on division-leading Holy Cross.Freshman center Michael Picone picked up his first career point, getting credit for an assist on Nick Cahill?s goal Sunday against American International. Freshman Ryan Cruthers picked up an assist Friday opposite Quinnipiac to take over the team lead in scoring with nine points (3G, 6A). The plebe Army?s penalty killing unit has successfully killed of 87.3 percent of opponent?s power plays. The Black Knights? trip to Holy Cross the first weekend of December will end a stretch of 9 out of 11 contests on the road. Army is 2-4-1 during that string so far.

Bentley: Bentley, in its only game of the week, dropped a 3-2 decision on the road against Sacred Heart on Friday night. The game was a rematch of last season?s conference tournament quarterfinals, a game Bentley won 2-0. Sophomore Paul Markarian (So, F, Quincy, Mass.) followed up his one goal, one assist performance last week against Canisius with a Bentley?s first goal against the Pioneers, a power play tally (Markarian?s fourth PPG of the season and team-leading fifth) in the second period. Junior Troy Wiebler (Jr, F, Faribault, Minn.) recorded his second goal of the season in the third period to pull the Falcons within a goal, but that would be as close as Bentley would come. The Falcons are winless in the month of November, with a 0-6-2 record and wrap up their busiest month (9 games in November) since January of 1998 with a game Tuesday against American International. Bentley downed the Yellow Jackets 6-3 for its only win of the season back on October 11 in the consolation game of the Quinnipiac Cup tournament. Bentley has led the nation in penalties the last two weeks and gave up three power play goals to Canisius last time out, but the Falcons turned over a new leaf against the Pioneers as they were called for just one penalty in the entire game.

Canisius: After falling to host University of Findlay 5-0 on Friday night, Canisius rallied back the following afternoon to skate to a 2-2 draw with the Oilers at the Clauss Ice Arena. Freshman Michael Cohen (Williamsville, N.Y.) scored a goal and added an assist, while classmate Billy Irish-Baker (Clarence, N.Y.) scored the other Canisius goal. Sophomore Andrew Dawe (Kitchener, Ont.) added two assists and freshman goalie Max Buetow posted 31 saves, including 17 in the third period to preserve the tie. Canisius is off this weekend before traveling to American International on Friday, Dec. 5, at 7:00 p.m. and facing Quinnipiac on Dec. 6, at 4:00 p.m

Connecticut: The Huskies recorded a loss and a tie on the weekend against the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the AHA. Two Huskies scored their first-ever goals for the program in UConn?s 4-2 loss to Holy Cross, as sophomore transfer Aaron Kakepetum and freshman James Martin both scored. UConn stormed out of the gate in the first period, out-shooting Holy Cross 10-2, but the Crusaders rallied back in the final two periods to score two goals in each. In UConn?s second game of the weekend, a 1-1 tie against Quinnipiac, freshman Scott Tomes made a career-high 43 saves for the Huskies, who were out-shot 44-34 in the contest. Tomes? total ranks him fourth on UConn?s all-time single-game saves list. Mark Murphy scored the Huskies? lone goal in the game, which was his second goal of the season and seventh of his career. The game marked the first of the season in which UConn has scored just one goal, and the overtime tie puts the Huskies? mark at 1-1-3 in overtime contests.

Holy Cross: Holy Cross' men's ice hockey team defeated Atlantic Hockey opponent Connecticut, 4-2 at the UConn Ice Arena Friday night. With the win the Crusaders continue a five game winning streak and jump to 7-0-1 in Atlantic Hockey action. UConn came out first, scoring at 14:33 into the first period when Aaron Kakepetum hit a shot that deflected off the post and Holy Cross goaltender Tony Quesada (South Freeport, ME) before finding its way into the net. The Crusaders rallied from a slow first period to knock in two back-to-back goals in the second period. Andrew McKay (Bellefeuille, QUE) struck first for the Crusaders followed by a power-play goal from senior captain Greg Kealey (Nepean, ONT) just two minutes later to put the Crusaders up 2-1. In the third period, Pierre Napert-Frenette (Bathurst, NB) scored right in front of the net to give the Crusaders a two goal advantage. Jeff Dams (Manotick, ONT) added the final goal of the game when he found himself wide open on the left side to collect a rebound and slip the puck past UConn goalie Scott Tomes. Quesada recorded 29 saves in net for Holy Cross, and Tomes saved 22 shots for the Huskies. In their second game of the weekend, the Crusaders? rallied to beat Atlantic Hockey opponent Sacred Heart in overtime 6-5 at home Saturday, November 22nd. The Crusaders remain undefeated in Atlantic Hockey action and extend their winning streak to six. Freshman James Sixsmith (Alexandria, VA) and senior Jeff Dams (Manotick, ONT) led the Crusaders with two goals and two assists each. Sixsmith scored the first two goals for the Crusaders at 17:30 in the first period and again 1:46 into the second period. Dams added the Crusaders? third goal a minute later to make it 3-0 before Sacred Heart rallied and scored five goals to take the lead. Garrett Larson struck first for the Pioneers at 9:02 in the second period, followed by two more goals in the period coming from Peter Giatrelis and Marc-Andre Fournier. Fournier struck again seconds into the third period followed by a goal from Peter Ferraro minutes later. Pierre Napert-Frenette (Bathurst, NB) cut the Pioneer lead to one before Blair Bartlett (Dryden, ONT) evened the score to send the game into overtime when he tipped the puck in off of assists from Dams and Greg Kealey (Nepean, ONT). Dams scored the game-winning goal 2:34 into overtime when he got one past Pioneer netminder James Smith. Sixsmith and Kealey assisted on the goal, giving Kealey four assists on the night. In the goal for Holy Cross, Ben Conway (South Hadley, MA) and Tony Quesada (South Freeport, ME) combined for 37 saves. Jason Smith recorded 35 saves in net for Sacred Heart.

Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst snapped a three-game losing streak with Saturday's win at Western Michigan. The two games marked the first-ever meetings. The Lakers are now 2-2 this season against teams from the CCHA. Western Michigan won Friday's contest 4-2. The Broncos led 3-0 late in the second, but needed an empty net goal in the last 30 seconds to seal the win. Freshman goalie Jordan Wakefield (Sprucegrove, Alberta) stopped 34 shots in a losing effort. Thirteen different players had at least one point in the two games.Six of Mercyhurst's nine goals were scored on the power play against WMU as the Lakers converted 6 of 11 chances (.545). Mercyhurst was 4 of 5 with the man advantage Saturday. Mercyhurst will visit Cornell next Saturday before resuming conference play the following weekend at Quinnipiac and AIC. The Lakers are in the midst of an eleven game road trip.

Quinnipiac: Quinnipiac remained unbeaten in Atlantic Hockey action with a pair of ties over the weekend...The Bobcats are 5-0 at home this year, but just 0-4-2 on the road....Junior forward Jack Devaney scored his first goal as a member of the Bobcats at a clutch time, with 2:45 left in regulation, forcing a 2-2 tie with Army...Quinnipiac is back in action this weekend for a two-game non-league set at Hockey East member Merrimack...The Bobcats are 0-5 all-time against members of HE.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers won their third straight game after defeating Bentley 3-2 on November 21st at the Milford Ice Pavilion and then had that winning streak snapped after a 6-5 overtime loss at first place Holy Cross. The Pioneers have moved from last place to a four-way tie for third in a one-week span. Junior goaltender Kevin LaPointe has won three consecutive starts and has greatly improved his GAA and save percentage. The Pioneers offense has also come to life, averaging 4.25 goals per game in their last four games played. Sacred Heart will host Holy Cross in the final meeting of the regular season between these two teams on November 25th at the Milford Ice Pavilion.