Air Force's Phillipich Named Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week

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Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week

Louis Menard - R.I.T.
Freshman, Goaltender, Chicoutimi, QUE 

Menard earned his first shut out victory in a RIT uniform versus AIC on Saturday. The red-shirt freshman made 31 saves including a stop of a penalty shot late in the third period as RIT downed AIC 8-0. Its Menards' first collegiate win.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Josh Heidinger - Canisius 
Freshman, Forward, Buffalo, N.Y. 

Heidinger had four assists on the weekend, including three in the team's 5-2 win over Sacred Heart. The three assists in the game were the most by a freshman since Spencer Churchill had three Nov. 19, 2005.

Weekly Honor Roll

Chris Hepp, Air Force (Fr., D, Burnsville, Minn.) - First career point was an assist on the game-winning goal by Mike Phillipich on Friday...Had two assists in the game...AFA's top freshman scorer with two points in six games.

Josh Kassel, Army (So., G, Greensburg, Pa.) - Goaltender Josh Kassel remained unbeaten on the year backstopping Army to its first road sweep of a league opponent in nearly 18 years. Kassel stopped 61 shots, while recording 31 saves on Saturday and 30 saves on Friday. He has recorded at least 30 saves in each of his past three games and etched a save percentage of .915 in the process.

Robb Ross, Army (Jr., F, North St. Paul, Minn.) - Ross finished with three goals, all on the power play and all in the third period, and one assist in a two-game sweep against Connecticut on the road. Ross capped an exceptional weekend with two power play goals in the third period Saturday, including the game-winner, that put the contest out of reach. Ross' markers came in a 1:03 span of the third period Saturday that put Army in front, 5-2. His power play tally in the third period on Friday night put Army in front for good, 4-3.

Marc Menzione, Bentley (Fr.., F, Darien, Ill.) - Menzione scored a goal and added an assist this week, including his first collegiate goal.

Dain Prewitt, Bentley (So., F, Westminster, Colo.) - Prewitt scored two goals and an assist including the game-winning goal in Bentley's come-from-behind 6-5 win over Air Force on Saturday.

Andrew Loewen, Canisius (Fr.., G, Winnipeg, MAN) - Loewen earned his first collegiate victory in his second start. Coming off a school-record 61-save performance, Loewen stopped 33 of 35 shots in the 5-2 Canisius win.

Chris Ochoa, Connecticut (Fr., F, Santa Monica, Calif.) - Ochoa scored his first collegiate goal Friday night in the second period to tie the score at that point at two goals apiece. Just 48 seconds later, Ochoa gave the Huskies the lead for the time being with his second goal of the season. 
 
Matt Scherer, Connecticut (Sr., F, Seattle, Wash.) - Scherer notched two goals over the weekend and upped his career total at UConn to 44 goals, just two shy of the UConn Division I record. With the Huskies trailing by a two goals midway through the third period Friday, Scherer scored a goal to cut the deficit to just one goal, giving the Huskies an opportunity to tie the game. He followed that performance Saturday by tying the game in the second period at two goals apiece on his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Ryan Driscoll, Holy Cross (Fr., F, Dorchester, Mass.) - Driscoll scored his first two collegiate goals in the game against Mercyhurst on Saturday. He scored back-to-back goals in the first period to tie the game at 2-2. His first goal came with a little over two minutes to go in the period, while his second goal came with just six seconds remaining.

Dale Reinhardt, Holy Cross (Jr., F, Livingston, N.J.) - Reinhardt scored three goals and added an assist in two games against Mercyhurst. In the 4-1 win on Friday night, Reinhardt assisted on Holy Cross' first goal, while he then scored the game-winner and netted a shorthanded goal for the Crusaders' fourth tally. On Saturday, he scored his second shorthanded goal of the weekend. Reinhardt leads the team in goals with four so far this season.

Ben Cottreau, Mercyhurst (Jr., F, Toronto, ONT) - After being blanked on a game-high 8 shots Friday in a 4-1 loss at Holy Cross, Cottreau scored his first career hat trick on a game-high 11 shots in Saturday's 7-5 victory over the Crusaders. His second goal of the game tied Saturday's contest at 4-4 in the third. His third of the contest tied the game again at 5-5 later in the period. He also added a pair of assists for his first career five-point game.

Matt Fennell, Mercyhurst (Fr., D, Melfort, SASK) - Fennell collected his first collegiate points, a goal and an assist, in Saturday win at Holy Cross. He assisted on senior Kyle Gourgon's power play goal in the first for a 2-0 advantage. He then scored his first goal on a power play midway in the second for a 3-2 Mercyhurst lead.

Matt Crowell - R.I.T. (Fr., F, Kelowna, BC) - Crowell played a key role in a pair of wins over AIC this weekend. On Friday Crowell tallied a goal and an assist in an 8-3 win. He added another goal on Saturday as RIT shut out the Yellow Jackets 8-0.

Ricky Walton - R.I.T. (Jr., F, Hamilton, ONT) - Walton played a key role in a pair of convincing wins over AIC this weekend. On Friday Walton had two goals and two assists in an 8-3. On Saturday Walton had an assist in an 8-0 win. On the weekend the junior forward had five points and provided a tremendous amount of energy to the squad.

Erik Boisvert - Sacred Heart (Fr., F, Drummondville, QUE) - Boisvert had an impressive weekend, registering a goal an assist in Friday's Pioneer win over Canisius. He scored the game tying goal midway through the first period and then set up the eventual game winner late in the opening period. The pair of points were the first of the rookie's career.

Eric Giosa - Sacred Heart (So., F, Northville, Mich.) - Giosa was heavily involved in the Pioneer offense all weekend long against Canisius. The sophomore assisted on the game tying and game winning goals on Friday night, and then tallied a goal of his own on Saturday. It was his first goal of the season, and the first three points of the year for Giosa.

Jason Smith - Sacred Heart (Sr., G, St. Lambert, QUE) - Smith made 19 saves in goal Friday night to earn his first win of the season. After giving up a goal early in the first period, Smith held Canisius for the final 57 minutes of the game to earn the victory.

 Team Notes

Air Force: Freshmen Chris Hepp and Jeff Hajner recorded their first career assists in the series. Hepp on Friday and Hajner on Saturday...Freshman Matt Fairchild scored his first career goal on Saturday...Sophomore defenseman Frank Schiavone and sophomore forward Brent Olson scored their first career goals on Saturday...Freshman goalie Andrew Volkening recorded his first career win with a 5-1 victory on Friday. He stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced for a 95.7 saves percentage...Eric Ehn had a five-point series with three goals and two assists. He had two goals and one assist on Friday and the one goal and one assist on Saturday. He leads the team with 8-4-12 in six games this season...The Falcons' top line of Ehn, Ramsey and Phillipich were each a +6 in the series...In the series, Bentley scored four goals on the power play, one short-handed and two even-strength...AFA earned its first win ever in the AHA with Friday's 5-1 win...AFA travels to Tampa for the Lightning College Hockey Classic, Oct. 28-29. The Falcons face Alabama-Huntsville, a team AFA beat 4-3 earlier in the season, in the first game....AFA last played in Florida in the Falcons' first season of hockey in 1968-69. The Falcons played two exhibition games against Army, losing both 12-4 and 8-0...The Classic is AFA's only tournament of the season...Air Force has allowed 14 power-play goals on the season, and one short-handed, while scoring just six power-play goals...The Falcons have been out-scored 11-5 in the third period this season.

American International: Freshmen Dean Yakura (West Vancouver, B.C.) and Mike McMillan (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) each had their first career goals Friday night against RIT.

Army: The Black Knights are off their best start in 30 years and lead Atlantic Hockey by three points in the early going ... junior forward Robb Ross enjoyed the most productive weekend of his career, tallying four points (3G, 1A) in a weekend sweep against Connecticut ... it is the most goals Ross has scored in a weekend in his career ... Army's road sweep versus UConn marked the first time in nearly 18 years that the Black Knights won back-to-back road games against a league opponent ...they had not turned that trick since their days in the ECAC in 1988 ... Army ranks among the nation's Top 10 in four team categories, including scoring defense and power play efficiency ... the Black Knights' four-game unbeaten streak is tied for the second longest current streak in the country along with Minnesota ... sophomore defenseman Tim Manthey registered seven points in Army's two wins ... he leads the nation in assists per game (2.00) and points per game for defensemen (2.25) ... his points per game average is good for sixth in the country overall ... Flicek, Ross and Will Ryan each have scored three power play goals this season ... they are tied for fourth nationally in that category ... goalie Josh Kassel's .875 winning percentage ranks eighth in the country ... he is one of only 10 goalies who bring an unbeaten record into next weekend's games ... he ranks 11th in save percentage (.929) and 17th in goals-against average (2.20) ... Army was 7-for-23 (30.4%) on the power play against the Huskies and scored 8 of its 12 goals over the weekend in the third period ... the Black Knights have scored 16 goals in their first four games of the season ... Army did not score its 16th goal of the season until the 10th game of the year a season ago ... Army's seven goals Saturday were the most in a game since beating Fairfield, 7-4, on Feb. 15, 2002 ... the Black Knights' top line of Luke Flicek, Bryce Hollweg and Chase Podsiad is a combined +11.

Bentley: Bentley went 1-1 this week at Air Force...Bentley lost 5-1 for the second consecutive game on Friday night...Bentley won its first game of the season on Saturday night with a 6-5 come-from-behind win that was the Falcons' biggest comeback since Feb. 14, 2003, when they came back from a three-goal deficit at Iona...Sophomore forward Jeff Gumaer scored his third career short-handed goal on Saturday to become Bentley's all-time leader in short-handed goals at the Division I level...This weekend the Falcons face Princeton for a two-game set...The two teams meet on Friday at Codey Arena at South Mountain in West Orange, N.J., for the first annual Hockey for Hope charity game and then meet on Saturday at Baker Rink in Princeton, N.J.

Canisius: The Golden Griffins split their first two Atlantic Hockey games - falling 3-1 in the opener and winning 5-2 on Saturday against Sacred Heart. In the 5-2 victory, five different Canisius players scored goals for the first time since Jan. 28 at Connecticut. The five goals by Canisius matched the team's output from the opening four games of the season combined. Freshman Josh Heidinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) led the team with four points on the week - all assists. The three assists by Heidinger in the 5-2 victory were the most by a freshman since Spencer Churchill (Brantford, Ont.) had three against Connecticut on Nov. 19, 2005. Heidinger is currently ninth nationally among rookies with a 1.20 points per game average. Freshman Chris Forsman (Powell River, B.C.) scored his first collegiate goal. His goal was the sixth of the season by Canisius, but was the team's first even-strength goal of the campaign. This season, Canisius has tallied 10 goals - six on the power play, three at even-strength and one shorthanded. Goaltender Andrew Loewen (Winnipeg, Manitoba) recorded his first collegiate victory by making 33 saves against Sacred Heart. Loewen is currently fifth in the country with a .949 save percentage. The Griffs play two games this week - traveling to Colgate on Tuesday and hosting RIT on Friday. The game against Colgate is the first between the teams since Feb. 5, 2002. The contest between the Griffs and Tigers will be played at the Amherst Pepsi Center, the first game at the Pepsi Center for Canisius since Feb. 20, 2001.

Connecticut: The University of Connecticut men's hockey team lost both games over the weekend as Army won Friday night's game, 5-4, and then took Saturday's contest, 7-3, at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. With the game tied at two goals apiece Friday evening, the Black Knights recorded three third period goals, including two power-play goals, to erase a one goal deficit en route to a 5-4 win in game one. Husky freshman Chris Ochoa notched his first career goal to even the score at two during the second period. Ochoa struck again, minutes later, with his second goal of the game to give the Huskies a brief lead. The following night, Army took game two of the weekend series with a 7-3 victory on Saturday. Much similar to Friday night's game, the Black Knights waited until the third period to do the majority of the damage. With the scored tied 2-2 entering the third period, Army exploded for five goals to break the game open on its way to a four-goal win. The Huskies are now 0-4-0 overall and is the worst start since the 1971-72 team opened the year with an identical 0-4-0 record. Senior Captain Matt Scherer totaled two goals over the weekend and upped his total to a team-leading four. Scherer now has 44 goals for his career and stands second all-time in goals scored since UConn joined Division I. His is just three goals shy of passing Ron D'Angelo for first all-time. D'Angelo netted 46 career goals from 1999-2002. The Huskies look to right the ship this weekend with a pair of road games at Mercyhurst.

Holy Cross: Junior Dale Reinhardt scored two shorthanded goals on the weekend as he is tied for first nationally in that category. Reinhardt has scored four goals in the first three games...Senior captain James Sixsmith had two more assists on the weekend, as he already has five in three games giving him 79 for his career which is good for fourth on Holy Cross' all-time Division I chart...Junior defenseman Frank O'Grady earned his first two points since the 2004-05 season with two assists on Saturday. He missed last season due to an injury...Freshman Ryan Driscoll scored his first two collegiate goals in the Mercyhurst game on Saturday...Freshman goalie Tyler Chestnut earned a win in his collegiate debut making 41 saves in the Holy Cross' 4-1 win over Mercyhurst on Friday...The Crusader offense has gotten off to a good start as it is averaging 4.33 goals a game.

Mercyhurst: With the split, Mercyhurst is now 15-8-2 lifetime against HC. Sophomore forward Matt Pierce had the Lakers' only goal Friday and the game-winner in the last minute of regulation Saturday. Sophomore goalie Tyler Small has now started the last 15 regular and post-season games for Mercyhurst dating to last season. Junior forward Ben Cottreau's hat trick and five-point effort Saturday were the first of his career. Senior captain Kyle Gourgon's four-point game Saturday (2g, 2a) was also the first of his career. The seven goals scored by Mercyhurst Saturday exceeded their total output of 6 for the first three games. Mercyhurst plays its first home games of the regular season next Friday and Saturday when it entertains conference-rival Connecticut. The Lakers lead the all-time series 20-5-1 and swept all four games last season.

Rochester Instit. of Tech.: RIT outscored AIC 16-3 last weekend Louis Menard had his first career shut out - earned his first career win On Saturday RIT went 6-for-10 on the power play. The Tigers out shot AIC 75-50. The sweep of AIC was RIT's first sweep of a Division I opponent. On Friday seven different players tallied a goal. Eight different players tallied a goal on Saturday.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers split a pair of games with Canisius over the weekend, winning Friday night, 3-1, before falling in the finale, 5-2. Freshmen Erik Boisvert and Nick Johnson each scored their first career goals in Friday's win. Boisvert's tied the game and Johnson's turned out to be the game winner. Senior Jason Smith made 19 saves in goal to earn his first victory. Saturday night's loss snapped the Pioneers six game winning streak over the Golden Griffins. The last time SHU had lost to Canisius was November 13th, 2004. Johnson and Bear Trapp lead the Pioneers with two goals and an assist each, for three points apiece. The Pioneers travel to Michigan next weekend for a pair of non-conference tests. SHU will face Wayne State on Friday night and then visit Michigan State on Saturday.