Pioneers' Smith Earns Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week (10/31/05)

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Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week

Scott Champagne - Mercyhurst 

Junior, Forward, Cornwall, ONT 

Champagne had a 6-point weekend and extended his scoring streak to 23 games dating to last year. He assisted on Friday’s first goal of the game, a power play marker midway in the first, in a 5-2 win over UConn. He then scored Saturday’s first goal of the game and assisted on the other 4 in a 5-3 win over the Huskies. He’s tied for the team lead in goals (3) and leads the squad in both assists (7) and points (10) in just 4 games.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Chris Trafford - Mercyhurst 

Freshman, Forward, Kinburn, ONT

Trafford had his first collegiate game-winning goal when he lit the lamp late in the middle period of Friday’s 5-2 win over UConn. He also assisted on a back-breaking marker early in the third, just 48 seconds after the Huskies had closed to 3-2. He leads freshman scoring on the team with a pair of goals and an assist in four games.

Weekly Honor Roll

Jason Kearney, Bentley (Fr., G, Gibsonia, Penn.) - Freshman goaltender Jason Kearney made 28 saves keeping Bentley close in Saturday night’s 3-1 loss at Colgate University.

Billy Irish-Baker, Canisius (Jr., F, Clarence, N.Y.) - The junior scored two goals in loss to Sacred Heart, which tied his career high for goals in a game.

Ryan Hatch, Canisius (Fr., G, Medway, Mass.) - Hatch allowed two goals against Sacred Heart Friday night and made 21 saves.

Blair Bartlett, Holy Cross (Sr., F, Dryden, ONT) - Bartlett scored a goal and had two assists in the weekend series with Army. On Friday night he scored the game winner in the 1-0 victory, while on Saturday night he registered two assists in the 5-3 win.

Tony Quesada, Holy Cross (Sr., G, South Freeport, Maine) - Quesada made 25 saves earning the shutout in the Crusaders’ 1-0 win over Army on Friday night.

Rocco Molinaro, Sacred Heart (Sr., F, Dearborn, Mich.) - Molinaro keyed the Pioneers to two big conference wins over Canisius this weekend, scoring three goals over the two games. Friday night he broke a 0-0 tie in the third period, scoring his first goal of the year in what would turn out to be the game winning goal. Saturday he scored two goals in the Pioneers 5-3 win over the Griffins. Molinaro leads the Pioneers with three goals over the first three games. He is tied for the team lead with four points in the first three games.

Team Notes

Army: Army dropped both of its Atlantic Hockey contests at preseason favorite Holy Cross over the weekend. The Black Knights yielded a first-period goal on Friday night in a 1-0 loss and then fell 5-3 when the Crusaders tacked on an empty-net goal in the closing seconds … Freshmen defenseman Tim Manthey and forward Matt Hickey both scored their first collegiate goals on Saturday night. Manthey’s marker tied the game 2:23 into the contest, while Hickey’s short-handed effort pulled the Black Knights within one, 4-3, with 19 seconds left … Army notched a season-high two power play goals and its first short-handed tally of the year in Saturday’s loss.

Bentley: Three Bentley seniors made their 100th appearances for the school Saturday night at Colgate: co-captain Paul Markarian, Ryan Mayhew and Josh Thompson. Senior co-captain Josh Chase is sitting on 98 appearances and will potentially make his 100th appearance on Saturday at the J.A.R. against Sacred Heart. Bentley remains winless against the ECACHL, 0-5-0 overall and 0-3-0 this season, after losses to at Quinnipiac, at Union and at Colgate. After not allowing a power play goal on opponent’s first 26 opportunities, Bentley has allowed at least two power play goals in the last four games. Bentley is one of two AHA teams to not have played a conference game yet this season, AIC is the other, Bentley opens with a home-and-home with Sacred Heart this weekend.

Canisius: Canisius lost its first two conference games for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Golden Griffins got swept by the same opponent on a weekend for the first time since Dec. 17-18, 2004, when North Dakota beat Canisius twice. The Golden Griffins lost two conference road games on the same weekend for the first time since Feb. 13-14, 2004 when they lost two at Connecticut. The last time Canisius got shut out in a conference game was Jan. 3, 2003 (2-0 at Quinnipiac)...Junior Billy Irish-Baker (Clarence, N.Y.) scored two goals in the 5-3 loss at Sacred Heart Oct. 29, which was the third time in his career that he scored twice in one game. His brother Brandon Irish-Baker (Clarence, N.Y.) had two assists in that game, which was a career high. Junior Max Buetow (Denver, Colo.) saw his first action of the season when he replaced Dan Giffin (Milton, Ont.) in the third period of Saturday night’s game.

Holy Cross: The Crusaders’ 3-0-0 start is their best start since the 1993-94 season, when they went 4-0-0. The best start in school-history is 7-0-0 in the 1977-78 season...Senior goaltender Tony Quesada made 25 saves to earn the shutout in the 1-0 win over Army on Friday night. Quesada now has 41 career wins, making him just four shy of tying Paul Pijanowski’s school-record of 45 (1984-87)...Senior co-captain Tyler McGregor had a goal and two assists in the 5-3 win over Army on Saturday night. He now has 86 career points...The Crusaders had six different goal scorers account for their six goals against Army...Senior Pierre Napert-Frenette had three points with a goal and two assists this past weekend, increasing his career total to 96, leaving him four shy of becoming the 35th Crusader to join the 100 point club.

Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst improved to 18-5-1 all-time against the Huskies. The Lakers held UConn to only one power play goal in 17 chances until giving up two late in Saturday’s 5-3 win. Sophomore Ben Cottreau scored his first three goals of the season in the weekend series and both Kyle Gourgon and team captain Scott Reynolds lit the lamp for the first time. Junior Mike Ella picked up the win between the pipes Friday to square his season record at 1-1. Freshman Tyler Small won his second straight collegiate verdict Saturday. Mercyhurst travels to AIC next weekend. The Lakers are 16-1-1 lifetime against the Yellow Jackets.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers recorded two big conference victories this weekend, beating Canisius twice in Milford. Friday night Erik Roos scored two goals and Jason Smith made 24 saves as the Pioneers shut out the Griffs 3-0. Saturday night Rocco Molinaro and Pierre Luc-O’Brien each netted two goals and Smith made 30 saves for a 5-3 Pioneer win. Molinaro, who leads the team with three goals, had the game winner on Friday night. He and O’Brien each have a team high four points. Smith has a 2.34 goals against average through the first three games. The Pioneers will play a pair of games against Bentley this weekend. The teams meet in Milford on Friday night and then will have a return match in Waltham on Saturday.