Black Knights' Hollweg Earns Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week (1/2/2007)

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Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week

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

Smith continued his outstanding play of late in goal, stopping 48 of the 50 shots he faced against Bentley to earn two victories. His best performance came in the first game of the series when he made 31 saves, including 11 in the second period and 13 in the third period to keep the game tied until the Pioneers could score late in regulation. Smith has now allowed just one goal in each of his last three starts, posting two wins and a tie in that span. The hot streak has helped lower his goals against average to 2.78 and raise his save percentage to .907 for the season.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Beau Erickson - Connecticut 
Freshman, Goaltender, Merrill, Iowa 

Erickson tallied his first career win Friday night in UConn's 2-1 win over Holy Cross. He totaled 28 saves on the night. He then picked up another 33 saves the following day in the championship game of the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic against Colgate, giving him a total of 61 for the tournament.

Weekly Honor Roll

Josh Kassel, Army (So., G, Greensburg, Pa.) - Kassel stopped 63 of 68 shots faced this past weekend opposite RIT. In Friday nights win, the sophomore turned away 34 of 35 RIT shots on goal in earning the win in Army's 2-1 victory, including 18 in the third period. He made 29 saves, with 11 in the final twenty minutes, allowing the Black Knights to climb back into the contest before falling 5-3 on Saturday. (RIT's fifth goal on Saturday was an empty netter with 13 seconds remaining in the game.)

Owen Meyer, Army (Fr., F, Littleton, Colo.) - Meyer collected an assist in each of Army's two games this past weekend. The freshman forward set up Bryce Hollweg's game winner on Friday and picked up an assist on Luke Flicek's goal Saturday night. He has erupted of late with seven points, two goals and five assists, in Army's last six games.

Tom Dickhudt, Bentley (So., F, Woodbury, Minn.) - Dickhudt scored a goal on Dec. 21 and notched an assist on Dec. 22 against Sacred Heart.
 

Ray Jean, Bentley (Sr., G, Randolph, Maine) - Jean made 57 saves while allowing five goals in two games at Sacred Heart.

Josh Heidinger, Canisius (Fr., F, Buffalo, N.Y.) - Heidinger led the team with two points in the contest, his seventh multiple-point game of the season and third in the last five games. The Buffalo, N.Y. native is now tied for the team lead in goals with eight and is third among rookies in the country with 23 points.

Chris Ochoa, Connecticut (Fr., F, Santa Monica, Calif.) - Ochoa scored the game-winning goal Friday night in UConn's 2-1 win over Holy Cross in the opening game of the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. His goal sent the Huskies to the championship game against Colgate.

Cullen Eddy, Mercyhurst (Fr., D, Hidden Valley, Pa.) - Eddy scored his first collegiate goal in a 3-2 overtime loss to Brown in consolation game of Denver Cup 12/30.

Jordan Wakefield, Mercyhurst (Sr., G, Spruce Grove, ALB) - Although Wakefield went 0-2-1 in three games over the Christmas/New Year's period, he stopped a combined 147 of 154 shots (.955) in the process. He turned aside 45 of 46 in a 1-1 overtime tie at then #3 Maine 12/16, including all 18 in the third period and 3 more in overtime. He then stopped 48 of 51 at #10 Denver and set a new Mercyhurst one-game record with 54 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss to Brown in the consolation game of the Denver Cup 12/30. He stopped 22 of 23 Brown shots in the third to force the extra session. Four of the seven goals allowed came on power plays.

Louis Menard, R.I.T. (Fr., G, Chicoutimi, QUE) - Menard won his sixth game of the season on Saturday, allowing three goals in a 5-3 win over Army. The freshman netminder made 25 stops none bigger than a save on a 2-on-0 breakaway by the Black Knights. He stuck his toe out at the last second and made the stop which led to an RIT goal at the other end of the ice.

Steve Pinizzotto, R.I.T. (So., F, Mississauga, ONT) - Pinizzotto helped RIT to a split this past weekend at Army. In Friday's loss the sophomore winger had the primary assist on RIT's lone goal. He followed that up with a pair of assists in a 5-3 win on Saturday.

Bear Trapp, Sacred Heart (So., F, Regina, SASK) - Trapp led the Pioneer attack to a two game sweep against Bentley before Christmas, tallying four points (two goals and two assists). In the first game he assisted on the Pioneers first goal. Friday night he scored the first goal for SHU, assisted on the game winner and then tallied an empty netter that sealed the win for the Pioneers. Trapp is second on the team in scoring with 25 points, nine goals and 16 assists.
Team Notes
 

Air Force: Air Force has been off for 27 days. The team was also off for 27 days last season in December and in its first series back earned a win and a tie vs. RIT at home. AFA normally takes off about 20 days during finals and the holidays...After the Falcons' long holiday break, Air Force plays eight straight regular season weekends prior to the AHA Playoffs in the second half of the season...Prior to the break, the Falcons had played 10 straight weeks for the first time since the 1997-98 season, Frank Serrratore's first year...Air Force plays 10 of the last 16 regular-season games on the road. The Falcons play road series at Mercyhurst, Holy Cross, Bentley, RIT and AIC. The only home games are Jan. 19-20 vs. Army, Feb. 2-3 vs. Mercyhurst and Feb. 16-17 vs. Canisius...Air Force makes its first ever trip to Mercyhurst this week...Air Force and Mercyhurst have never played each other...Eric Ehn scored his 16th goal of the season against UConn and had three points in that series. Ehn leads the nation in points (36) and points per game (1.80) and is second in goals scored (16)...Air Force's nine wins before the holiday break ties the most in school history. The 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2004-05 teams all won nine games...Air Force is the eighth least penalized team in the nation, taking just 13.8 minutes per game. AFA's opponents have taken 21.5 minutes per game this season...Air Force has scored four or more goals in 10 of the 20 games this season. In all of last season, the Falcons scored four or more just six times...When Air Force wins the battle of the special teams, the Falcons are 6-0-3 this season. However, when the Falcons lose the special teams, AFA is just 2-8-2.

American International: AIC was 2-2 in its last four games heading into the holiday break, and will look to start the calendar year much like they started calendar year 2006 when it went 3-1 over its first four games following the New Year. The Yellow Jackets played just four of their first 16 contests at home, but will play in the friendly confines of the Olympia Ice Center 10 times over the final 16 games, including each of the second semesters' first three games, beginning Saturday night against UConn. Junior Bryan Jurynec's (Orland Park, Ill.) eight assists are four fewer than the team-high for assists in 2005-06.

Army: The Black Knights returned from a 23-day hiatus on Friday with a 2-1 victory over RIT ... it marked Army's first-ever win over the Tigers in the inaugural meeting of the two teams ... the Black Knight's 1-1 showing this weekend moved them into sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 17 points ... Tim Manthey logged two goals and an assist in Army's two games, boasting his NCAA points per game to 1.06 and lifting him to second among the nations defensemen in that category ... Manthey, Casey Bickley, Luke Flicek and Bryce Hollweg each collected two points in Saturday's 5-3 setback, marking the first time since Oct. 21, 2006 that four Black Knights posted multi-point efforts in the same game ... Army converted on 3 of 17 power play chances against RIT's then ranked seventh penalty kill unit ... the Black Knights also held the Tigers third ranked power play unit at bay limiting them to only one such goal on seven chances ... Army returns to the ice on Friday, Jan. 5, in the first of two games at Canisius.

Bentley: The Falcons were in action before Christmas, dropping two games to first-place Sacred Heart, both by 3-1 scores ... Bentley has now lost four games in a row, all on the road, the team's longest losing streak since Feb. 2005 ... With a goal on Dec. 21 and an assist on Dec. 22, sophomore Tom Dickhudt has a three-game point-scoring streak ... The Falcons return home this weekend to face Holy Cross in a rematch of last season's Atlantic Hockey championship game ... The Crusaders have won the last six meetings with Bentley and the Falcons have not beaten Holy Cross since Nov. 6, 2004 ... Bentley is 4-1 at home this season and has won the last three games at Ryan Skating Arena.

Canisius: Canisius returned to the ice after a 20-day layoff and lost 6-2 to Niagara at Dwyer Arena Dec. 30. The Griffs fell to 0-5 in non-conference games and 0-8-1 on the road. The combined record of the team's four non-conference opponents this season is 41-31-4. Josh Heidinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) led the team with two points in the game, registering a goal and an assist. The goal, his eighth of the season, ties the freshman with defenseman Carl Hudson (Smooth Rock Falls, Ont.) for the team lead. Heidinger currently ranks third in the country with 23 points. Against Niagara, the Griffs had a season-high 41 shots, which was the highest shot total since the team had 42 against American International Feb. 25. Canisius recorded two power-play goals for the third time in five games. The Griffs had their first in-game goaltender change of the season as Andrew Loewen (Winnipeg, Manitoba) replaced Bryce Luker (Rigaud, Quebec) after the first period. Loewen stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced from the Purple Eagles. Canisius starts its 2007 Atlantic Hockey schedule with a two-game home set against Army Jan. 5-6, the only two games between the teams this season. The game on Jan. 6 is the third of four this season for the Golden Griffins at the Amherst Pepsi Center. Last season, Canisius went 2-1-1 against the Black Knights, taking three of four points in Buffalo.

Connecticut: The University of Connecticut men's hockey team split a pair of games over the weekend and earned a second place finish in the 2006 Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. The Huskies opened the event with a 2-1 win over Holy Cross to reach the title game for the second consecutive year. In the win over the crusaders, sophomore Chris Myhro scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season and freshman Beau Erickson notched his first career win in net. UConn fell just shy of its fourth tournament title and the Huskies were edged by Colgate, 3-1, in the championship game. Despite the loss, senior captain Matt Scherer was named to the all-tournament team. UConn returns to the ice Jan. 6 at American International.

Holy Cross: Holy Cross will wrap up its nine game road trip with two games at Bentley on January 5-6. The road trip began on Nov. 24-25 with two games at Mercyhurst, while the Crusaders will host Air force for two games at the Hart Center on January 12-13...Senior captain James Sixsmith has 22 assists this season and he is second in the nation in assists per game with 1.11...Senior Jon Landry's 1.05 points per game by a defenseman is third in the nation. For the season he has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points...Holy Cross' 21.9 power play percentage is seventh in the nation.

Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst is winless in its last five games (0-4-1). The Lakers have now played seven overtime games in 2006-07 (0-3-4). Senior Jordan Wakefield has started the last three games in goal. He hadn't started back-to-back games since late December of the 2003-04 season, his freshman year. The Lakers held the Black Bears to just a lone power play goal. They then allowed three goals to #10 Denver before blanking the Pioneers for the final 37:37. Freshman Cullen Eddy collected his first career goal in the setback to Brown. Wakefield's 54 saves against Brown were a new Mercyhurst one-game record. The previous record was held by Tyler Small when he made 53 saves against Bentley in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals last March. Mercyhurst has nothing but 14 conference games left on its schedule. The Lakers begin 2007 at home with a pair of games against AH newcomer Air Force January 5 and 6, the Falcons' first-ever trip to Erie.

Rochester Institute of Technology: After this weekend's action in Army, RIT has won six of their last seven contests. RIT went 1-for-5 over the weekend on the power play and allowed three power play goal in 18 chances by the Black Knights. RIT out shot Army 69-57 in two games, outscoring the Black Knights 6-5. Despite taking the loss, junior goaltender Jocelyn Guimond was outstanding on Friday for the Tigers. He made 27 saves allowing just two goals and did it in calm fashion. The Tigers will face two non-league opponents in Quinnipiac and Niagara before finishing out the season with 15 Atlantic Hockey contests.

Sacred Heart: Just prior to Christmas, the Pioneers swept a two game series with Bentley, winning by identical 3-1 scores. Sophomore Bear Trapp led the attack, with 4 points, two goals and two assists. Senior Jason Smith stopped 48 of the 50 shots he faced and has now allowed just one goal in each of his last three games. Senior Pierre-Luc O'Brien had three assists in the series to raise his team leading point total to 30. The three helpers gave O'Brien 142 career points, tying him for the most points in school history with Martin Paquet ‘03. He needs just two more assists to set a new school record for assists in a career (80), and just three more goals to break Paquet's school record for goals scored in a career (65). The assists mark was set by Jon Yackmack '97. Sacred Heart is unbeaten in their last five games, and has posted at least one point in 12 of it's last 13 contests. The Pioneers start the second half of the season with a road-trip to Ithaca, NY for a non-conference date with Cornell on January 6th. The Pioneers went 2-0-2 in December, the first unbeaten month in school history.