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Golden Griffins' Giffin Earns Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week (2/27/06)
Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week
Pierre-Luc O'Brien - Sacred Heart
Junior, Forward, Nicolet, QUE
O’Brien recorded a five point weekend as the Pioneer swept
Holy Cross to move into a tie for first place. Friday night he
assisted on the Pioneers first two goals, and then scored the game
winner with four seconds left in overtime. On Saturday, he scored
the second goal of the game for Sacred Heart and then assisted on
the empty-netter that sealed the game and sweep. The helper was
O’Brien’s 28th on the season, setting a new Sacred
Heart record for assists in a season. O’Brien leads the
Pioneers in scoring with 48 points, 18 goals and 28 assists.
Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week
Ray Jean - Bentley
Junior, Goaltender, Randolph, Maine
Jean extended his career-high winning streak to four games as the Falcons pulled off a weekend sweep of UConn. Jean made 39 saves on Friday night as Bentley beat the Huskies 6-3 and then allowed just a single goal on Saturday night, making 32 saves and earning his 10th win of the season.
Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week
Dan Giffin - Canisius
Freshman, Forward, Milton, ONT
Giffin stopped 55 of 57 shots on the weekend and recorded his
third shutout in six starts in Friday night’s game. Giffin
dropped his goals against average to 2.48 and raised his save
percentage to .927, which ranks fifth in the country.
Weekly Honor Roll
Tom Fenton - American International (Fr., G,
Sarnia, ONT) - Stopped 59 of the 64 shots he faced over the weekend
at Canisius for a .921 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against
average. Made 40 saves to preserve a 2-2 tie with the Golden
Griffins on Saturday.
Zach McKelvie - Army (Fr., D, New Brighton, Minn.)
- McKelvie registered career-high two assists in Army’s win
Saturday at Mercyhurst.
Ryan Mayhew - Bentley (Sr., F, Owatonna, Minn.) -
Mayhew tied the Bentley Division I mark for most career goals on
Friday night with his 32nd career goal. The goal, Bentley’s
fourth of the night, turned out to be the game winner,
Mayhew’s third GWG of the season. In addition to the goal,
Mayhew tallied an assist on both Friday and Saturday night.
Michael Cohen - Canisius (Jr., F, Williamsville,
ONT) - Cohen picked up a goal and an assist on the weekend against
the Yellow Jackets. Cohen’s goal was the second game-winner
of his career and gave him 32 points on the season, including 12
points in the last nine games.
Ben Cottreau - Mercyhurst (So., F, Toronto, ONT) -
Cottreau had a combined goal and three assists against Army. He had
his 15th multiple-point game of the season in Friday’s 6-2
win.
Tyler Small - Mercyhurst (Fr., G, Kincardine, ONT)
- Small stopped a combined 56 of 61 Army shots (.918) in a 1-1
weekend.
Jason Smith - Sacred Heart (Jr., G, St. Lambert,
QUE) - Smith stopped a total of 54 Holy Cross shots and allowed
only one even strength goal in the Pioneers sweep of Holy Cross.
Friday night he made 24 saves to at least keep the Pioneers even
into overtime. Saturday he stopped 30 shots to perserve the sweep
for Sacred Heart. Smith leads Atlantic Hockey with a 2.12 goals
against average and .932 save percentage.
Bear Trapp - Sacred Heart (Fr., F, Regina, SASK) -
Trapp recorded three assists in the Pioneer sweep of Holy Cross.
Friday night he assisted on the first Pioneers goal and then led
the rush and made the perfect pass that created the game winner in
overtime.Saturday night he assisted on the Pioneers first goal.
Trapp is second on the Pioneers with 39 points, including 13 goals
and 26 assists on the season.
Team Notes
American International: AIC set
a school record for ties in a season Saturday night against
Canisius, recording its fifth tie of the season. It also extended
its unbeaten streak in overtime games to 10 (2-0-8). The Yellow
Jackets won the season series with the Golden Griffins 2-1-1,
marking the first regular-season series win for AIC against a
league opponent since 2002-03 when the Yellow Jackets had winning
marks against Canisius, Fairfield, Iona and Connecticut.
Army: The Black Knights split a two-game series at Mercyhurst, rebounding for a 3-2 win on Saturday after falling 6-2 on Friday night … Army’s win Saturday clinched the season series over the Lakers with the Black Knights winning three of the four games this year … it marked the first series win over Mercyhurst since the two schools became members of the same conference in 2000-01 when both were part of the MAAC … Saturday’s win also highlighted Army’s first win over Mercyhurst on the Lakers’ home ice, snapping a 10-game losing streak to Mercyhurst in Erie, Pa. … freshman defenseman Zach McKelvie assisted on two of Army’s three goals Saturday night in the win … Chase Podsiad scored the game-winning goal on the power play, just seven seconds into the man advantage … Friday night, freshman goalie Josh Kassel made his collegiate debut, relieving Brad Roberts at the beginning of the third period … Kassel was credited with five saves in the final frame without allowing a goal … the Black Knights registered their third and fourth straight multiple power-play-goal games on Friday and Saturday … Army has scored 10 power play goals in its last four contests.
Bentley: Bentley swept a weekend home-and-home
series against UConn, 6-3 at the J.A.R. on Friday and 4-1 at the
Freitas Ice Forum on Saturday ... the wins extended Bentley’s
winning streak to four games and is the longest for the Falcons at
the Division I level. The last four-game winning steak for a
Bentley team occurred between November 6-21, 1998 ... The two wins
against UConn also mean that the Falcons swept the four-game season
series from the Huskies this season. It is the first ever season
series win for Bentley over UConn; in fact, coming into the season
Bentley had only one win in 17 (1-15-1) games against UConn ...
Seniors Paul Markarian and Josh Thompson broke the school record
for career games played on Saturday night by appearing in their
126th contest, eclipsing the old mark of 125 held by Marcus Willy
... Junior goaltender Ray Jean became just the seventh goaltender
in school history to record 10 wins a season and only the second at
the Division I level ... Ryan Mayhew and Paul Markarian are now
tied as Bentley’s Division I all-time leaders with 32 goals
scored ... Markarian is third on Bentley’s Division I list
with 73 career points, while Mayhew became just the fourth player
to reach seventy career points at Division I with a goal and an
assist on Friday night - he now has 71 points ... Bentley senior
defenseman Josh Chase has now played in 123 career games, the last
102 consecutively ... a trio of freshmen continue to pace Bentley
in scoring: Anthony Canzoneri leads the team with 19 assists and 27
points. The 27 points ties Canzoneri for eighth most for a Bentley
player at the Division I level; Jeff Gumaer is second on the team
with 22 points and leads the team with 15 goals. The 15 goals in a
season is tied for second most all-time for a Bentley player at the
D-I level; Dain Prewitt (8-12-20) is the only other Bentley player
with 20 points this season. This season marks the first time since
1980-81 that three freshmen have netted 20 points in one season for
Bentley.
Canisius: Canisius took three of four points on
the weekend against American International at the Buffalo State
Sports Arena. The Griffs got at least three points in a weekend for
the third time this season and second time in four conference
series. Freshman Dan Giffin returned to the Canisius lineup and
earned his third shutout of the year as well as his third in six
starts. In his last 12 appearances, Giffin has a 1.68 goals against
average and .952 save percentage. Giffin got the first assist of
his career in Friday night’s game when he picked up the
second helper on the shorthanded goal by captain Fred Coccimiglio,
which was the first shorthanded goal of his career. Junior Michael
Cohen scored his second game-winning goal of the season in Friday
night’s game. Cohen recorded a point in both games and has
scored in the past three games and eight of the last nine. For the
season, Cohen has 32 points, which ranks fifth in the Canisius
record books for points since the Griffs went to Division I for the
1998-99 season. Cohen’s goal was on the power play, which
gives him six on the season, tying him for seventh all-time. Senior
defenseman Tim Songin scored his third goal of the season in
Saturday night’s game, giving him 11 points on the campaign,
which ties his career high set as a junior. Songin has recorded a
point in six of the last seven wins for the Griffs and has scored
in six of the last eight games overall for the Blue and Gold.
Freshman Tommy Flikeid netted his second goal of his career in
Saturday night’s game against the Yellow Jackets.
Flikeid’s other goal came in the Jan. 6 game at AIC. Junior
Jaymie Harrington recorded an assist in each contest against the
Yellow Jackets. Harrington scored in consecutive contests for the
first time this season and for the first time since he scored in
four consecutive appearances from Jan. 10 to Jan. 30, 2004.
Sophomore defenseman Scott Follett got his first assist in 11 games
when he recorded a point in Friday night’s game. Canisius has
allowed five power play goals during the last and has killed 79 of
84 power plays during that stretch. On the offensive side, the
Golden Griffins have converted 20.5 percent of their power plays
during the past eight games.
Connecticut: Connecticut is heading into its final
weekend of the regular season and is fighting to stay out of the
cellar as they head into the post season. After a three game
unbeaten-streak last week, the Huskies dropped two games in a
home-and-home series to Bentley College. Freshman Chris Myhro added
three points to his career stats this weekend with a goal and two
assists. The rookie now stands in second place on the team in
points with 26. In first is junior Cole Koidahl. Koidahl added two
more points to his stats this weekend, totaling 32 this season. The
Huskies will play a home-and home series with Sacred Heart this
weekend. On Saturday night, UConn will be celebrating senior night.
Co-captain Chris Uber and defensemen Ryan Palmer and Aaron
Kakepetum will be honored.
Holy Cross: Senior Pierre
Napert-Frenette now holds the school record for career games played
with 139. The record was 138 by Tim Coskren (2000-04). Senior
goaltender Tony Quesada currently owns four of the six all-time
career goaltending records at Holy Cross. He ranks first all-time
for save percentage (.914), wins (55), games played (98) and
minutes played (5613:26). Quesada is second in saves (2503) and
goals against average (2.53). With 21 wins so far this season, the
Crusaders are one win away from tying the school-record for wins
(22), which was done by both the 1998-99 and 2003-04 teams. Holy
Cross had 21 wins in the 1979-80 season and 20 wins in the 1982-83
season.
Mercyhurst: Army won for the first time ever at
Mercyhurst (1-9-0) and took the season series 3-1. The line of
Scott Champagne, Ben Cottreau, and Dave Borrelli accounted for 9 of
Mercyhurst’s 16 points Friday. Each had a goal and two
assists. Champagne and Cottreau have 15 multiple-point games this
season while Borrelli has 14. Senior forward Scott Reynolds has a
four game goal-scoring streak and a six game scoring streak.
Cottreau has an 8 game scoring streak while Borrelli has scored at
least one point in his last three and seven of his last eight.
Mercyhurst scored six goals against Army netminder Brad Roberts in
40 minutes Friday. Roberts was replaced to start the third. Junior
defenseman Jamie Hunt, among the national leaders in
points-per-game was limited to one assist against Army and now has
that lone assists in his last four games. Mercyhurst will close the
regular season with a home-and-home against Canisius next weekend.
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series 25-12-4 and won both earlier
meetings (5-4 in overtime and 4-3).
Sacred Heart: The Pioneers swept Holy Cross to take the season series and move into a tie for first place in the standings. Sacred Heart won the opener 4-3 in overtime Friday night in Worcester. Junior Pierre-Luc O’Brien scored the game winner with four seconds left in the extra session. Saturday the Pioneers won 5-2 in Milford. O’Brien leads the team in scoring with 46 points including 18 goals and 28 assists. His 48 total points ties him for the most points in a single season of any player in Sacred Heart history. O’Brien’s 28 assists are also a record for most assists in a season. Junior goaltender Jason Smith has posted a .932 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average, the best in Atlantic Hockey, this year. The Pioneers wrap up the regular season with home and home series against Connecticut this weekend. The set opens in Milford on Friday, with the rematch Saturday night in Storrs.
