Falcons' Canzoneri Tabbed Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week (12/4/06)

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Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week

Jason Smith - Sacred Heart
Senior, Goaltender, St. Lambert, QUE

Smith was superb in goal in both games against Air Force, helping the Pioneers garner two draws. He made 35 saves in each game, stopping 70 of the 74 shots he faced on the weekend. Smith had double digit saves in three of the six periods, including the third period of both games.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Dan Ringwald - R.I.T. 
Freshman, Defensemen, Oakville, ONT 

Ringwald had a solid weekend for the Tigers as they swept Holy Cross. On Friday the freshman defenseman tallied the primary assist in the games opening goal. He followed that up with a goal and an assist in a 5-1 victory over the Crusaders. The goal was the first of his collegiate career. Ringwald now has eight points on the season on a goal and seven assists.

Weekly Honor Roll

Eric Ehn, Air Force (Jr., F, Dexter, Mich.) - Assisted on all three Air Force goals on Friday...Extended his scoring streak to eight games...The three goals gave him seven games this season with three or more points...Three assists ties as his the second-most of his career...Still leads the nation in goals (15) and is tied for second in points with 33 in 18 games...Won 20 of 29 faceoffs on Friday and 22 of 27 on Saturday for a 75 percent mark.

Peter Foster, Air Force (Sr., G, Canton, Mich.) - 25 saves are a season high...GAA and sv % are also season bests for a series...Started back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 13-14.

Mark Fuqua, American International (Sr., F, Shelby township, Mich.) - Had two goals and an assist on the weekend, including the game-winning goal Friday.

Mark Pavli, American International (Jr., F, Sarnia, ONT) - Had two goals Saturday against Mercyhurst and finished the weekend with totals of 2-1-3.

Ray Jean, Bentley (Sr., G, Randolph, Maine) - Jean made 51 saves this weekend while allowing only five goals and collecting two wins. He stopped 24 shots against Canisius on Friday and followed that up with 27 saves on Saturday.

Jesse Williams, Bentley (Fr., D, Webster, N.Y.) - Williams scored his first collegiate goal in the third period of the Falcons' 5-2 win over Canisius on Saturday.

Josh Heidinger, Canisius (Fr., F, Buffalo, N.Y.) - Heidinger had four points - one goal and three assists - on the weekend. The Buffalo, N.Y. native had two multiple-point games, raising his season total to a team-leading six. Heidinger leads the Griffs with 20 points in 15 games.  

David Kasch, Canisius (Jr., F, Sault Ste. Marie, ONT) - Kasch had his most productive weekend of the season, tallying two goals and an assist. Kasch scored his first goal since March 5, 2005, after being redshirted last season. The junior from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. has a two-game goal-scoring streak for the second time in his career.

Scott Champagne, Mercyhurst (Sr., F, Cornwall, ONT) - Had a goal in each game in weekend split at AIC.

Matt Fennell, Mercyhurst (Fr., D, Melfort, SASK) - Had first three-point game, all assists, in 8-3 win at AIC Saturday.

Jocelyn Guimond, R.I.T. (Jr, G, Quebec City, QUE) - Guimond turned in one of his best performances of the season on Friday, holding the high-powered Holy Cross offense to just one goal. He made 20 saves, including several in the final minute of regulation with the Crusaders trying desperately trying to get the game-tying goal. The junior netminder is among the nation's leaders in save percentage (.929) and has a very respectable 2.51 goals against average.

Steve Pinizzotto, R.I.T. (So., F, Mississauga, ONT) - Pinizzotto played a major role in RIT's sweep of Holy Cross this past weekend not only with his points but his physical pay aswell. On Friday, he gave RIT an early lead with his power play goal at 12:03 of the first period. He followed that up with a goal and an assist on Saturday as RIT completed the sweep of the Crusaders, 5-1. The sophomore forward leads the team in power play goals with six and he is second on the team in scoring with 15 points on seven goals and eight assists.

Dave Jarman, Sacred Heart (Fr., F, Toronto, ONT) - Jarman had two points in the Pioneers set against Air Force. He scored a goal on Friday night and then recorded an assist on Saturday. Jarman has four goals on the year, the most of any Sacred Heart rookie.

Pierre-Luc O'Brien, Sacred Heart (Sr., F, Nicolet, QUE) - O'Brien continued his outstanding season, tallying a goal and an assist in the set against Air Force. He now leads the team with 12 goals and 15 assists, 27 points on the season.

Team Notes
 

Air Force: AFA skated to two overtime ties in a series for the first time ever in a conference game and the first time since 1995 vs. Mass.-Lowell...AFA killed all five opponent power-plays in the series...Eric Ehn's eight-game point streak ended on Saturday. It was the longest of his career and the longest by any Falcon this season. He has 15 points (5-10-15) during the streak...Ehn won 75 percent of his faceoffs in the series. On the season, he has won more draws that he has lost in 15 of the 18 games...Ehn's three assists on Friday gave him 90 career points in 86 games...Defenseman Billy Devoney had an assist on Friday and has now scored in four of his last six games...AFA won the special teams both nights and is now 6-0-3 when winning the battle of special teams...Mike Phillipich had two points on Friday giving him 20 for the season. He had 15 points all last season...Of Air Force's seven losses this season, five have come against ranked teams (Colorado College, Denver, Notre Dame and Alaska twice)...Air Force's annual toy drive, the Toy Trick generated over 500 toys. The team has now collected over 3,800 toys for children in hospitals and clinics in seven years...AFA is on a three-game unbeaten streak and is now 5-2-3 in the last nine games...AFA plays at UConn on Dec. 7-8. The Falcons are 8-1 vs. UConn, but are 0-1 at UConn. However, AFA is 2-1-1 on UConn's home ice. The Falcons won the 2001 UConn tournament and then lost to UConn (1-0) in the championship game of the 2003 tournament.

American International: AIC snapped a 15-game winless streak against Mercyhurst with a 4-2 win over the Lakers Friday night. It marked the first win over Mercyhurst since February 2, 2001. The four goals AIC scored Friday night was a season high.

Army: The Black Knights have not competed since falling to Union, 4-1, on Friday, Nov. 24, and they have seen their status on the Atlantic Hockey standings drop from a tie for first to second during their break from competition ... Tim Manthey ranks fourth amongst NCAA defensemen averaging 1.07 points per game ... Manthey is tied for 21st in the nation with a 0.86 assists per game average ... Owen Meyer's recognition as the AHA "Rookie of the Week", marked the first time a Black Knight had won the award since Manthey collected honors on Jan. 16, 2006 ... Army returns to the ice for the first time in 12 days on Wed., Dec. 6 when they welcome Holy Cross to West Point's Tate Rink for a 7 p.m. faceoff.

Bentley: After splitting the first four Atlantic Hockey series of the season, the Falcons collected a sweep with a pair of wins against Canisius ... Bentley has now won the last four games against the Golden Griffins ... Sophomore Anthony Canzoneri scored five points this weekend with two goals on Friday and two goals and an assist on Saturday ... Canzoneri scored a short-handed goal on Friday. Bentley is now tied for sixth in the nation with four short-handed goals this season ... The Falcons scored two power-play goals on Saturday after going four games without converting a power-play opportunity. It was the first time the Falcons scored two power-play goals in a game since Oct. 28 at Princeton ... Sophomore Jeff Gumaer scored his 25th career goal on Saturday, tying him for sixth place in the Falcons' Div. I history. The goal was the first career game-winner of Gumaer's career ... Freshman Jesse Williams scored his first career goal on Saturday against Canisius ... Bentley hits the road for a non-conference series at Nebraska-Omaha next weekend with games on Friday and Sunday ... The Falcons have never faced the Mavericks.

Canisius: Canisius resumed its conference schedule with a weekend series at Bentley. The Griffs dropped both games - falling 4-3 and 5-2 to the Falcons. The one-goal loss in Friday night's game was the fourth time in five games that Bentley beat Canisius by one goal. Josh Heidinger led the Griffs with four points on the weekend. It's the fourth time in five conference weekend sets that the freshman from Buffalo, N.Y. has led or been tied for the team lead in points. David Kasch had his first multiple-point weekend of the season, talliying three points. Kasch's scored a goal in each game with his goal in Friday night's game being his first since March 5, 2005, against Army. Kasch has a goal streak of at least two games for the third time in his career. Both of those other streaks reached three games. Bryce Luker (Rigaud, Quebec) started Saturday night's game in net, his first start since Nov. 11, against Air Force. Luker made 34 stops in the exhibition game at the U.S. Under-18 Team Nov. 22. Joey Coccimiglio (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) extended his point streak to a career-best seven games in the 4-3 loss to Bentley but saw the streak end the next night. Junior defenseman Scott Follett (Hamilton, N.Y.) scored his second goal of the season after going the first 44 games of his career without notching a goal. Canisius returns to the Buffalo State Sports Arena for two games against the Yellow Jackets of American International. The weekend set will be the only regular-season matchup between the teams this season.

Holy Cross: After the game at Army on December 6, Holy Cross will return to action on December 29-30 at the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic in Storrs, Conn. On December 29, the Crusaders will face UConn in an Atlantic Hockey game, while they will then take on either Colgate or Northeastern on December 30...Senior captain James Sixsmith has 19 assists this season and he is second in the nation in assists per game with 1.19...Senior Jon Landry's 1.19 points per game by a defenseman is second the nation....His seven power play goals are tied for second in the country. For the season he has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points.

Mercyhurst: Sophomore defenseman Bobby Phillips and freshman defenseman Matt Fennell had the first three-point games of their careers Saturday. Phillips also collected his first career goal. He had missed the last seven games. Sophomore forward Chris Trafford celebrated his return to the lineup after a five-game absence with a pair of power play goals and an assist Saturday. After falling to the Yellow Jackets 4-2 Friday, the Lakers got three-point efforts from five players Saturday and at least one point from eleven players all told. Senior goalie Jordan Wakefield picked up his first win in over a year in Saturday's 8-3 triumph. His last win also came at AIC, 9-3, on November 5, 2005. AIC snapped a 15-game winless streak against Mercyhurst Friday. The Lakers still lead the all-time series 21-2-1. Team captain Kyle Gourgon had his second 3-point game of the season Saturday while assistant captain Ryan Toomey had his first. Gorgon hadn't lit the lamp since a 6-2 win over UConn October 27 at the Ice Center, a stretch of 10 games. The Lakers and RIT, old members of the ECAC, resume their rivalry next weekend as members of Atlantic Hockey. The Lakers trail the all-time series 16-10-3 but won an independent game 4-3 last season at the Ice Center.

Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT has allowed three goals in the last three games, outscoring their opponents 12-3 in that stretch. The Tigers held the league's top-ranked power play unit to one goal in 19 attempts this past weekend. RIT's power play scored four times in 15 attempts. With the sweep of Holy Cross the Tigers won are in the midst of their second, three-game winning streak of the season. RIT is 3-1-1 in their last five games. RIT never trailed this weekend and out shot the Crusaders 56-44. Louis Menard was excellent on Saturday, stopping 22 of 23 shots he faced. He has a 1.0 GAA in his last two games. RIT's leading scorer Simon Lambert had a goal and two assists over the weekend, upping his season total to 18 points. The Tigers are ninth in Division I in scoring offense, averaging 3.69 goals per game. RIT is tied for 15th in Division I in scoring defense, allowing 2.54 goal per game. The Tigers special teams are among the nation's leaders. The power play is 8th, converting 22.6% of the time. The penalty kill unit is fifth in the nation, stopping the opponents power play 89.1% of the time.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers skated to two draws with Air Force in Colorado Springs. Friday night Alexandre Parent scored the game-tying goal with 1:24 left in regualtion. Goaltender Jason Smith made 35 saves in each game to help the Pioneers garner a point in each game Freshman Dave Jarman had a goal, his fourth to lead all SHU rookies. Freshman Matt Gordon scored the Pioneer goal Saturday night. The Pioneers have now played four games against the two service academies (two vs Army and two vs Air Force) and each game has ended in a tie. Senior Pierre-Luc O'Brien had a goal and and an assist in the series to raise his team leading total to 27. O'Brien needs three more goals to break the school record for goals scored in a career (65). He needs five more assists to set a new school record for assists in a career (80), and he needs just four more points to break the school record for points in a career, 142. The goals and points records are held by Martin Paquet '03, while the assists mark was set by Jon Yackmack '97. The Pioneers are off until December 21st when they open a two game set with Bentley in Milford.