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Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week

Kyle Gourgon - Mercyhurst
Senior, Forward, Stittsville, ONT 

Gourgon had a goal and four assists in a two-game sweep at Air Force. He had a goal and three helpers in a 7-5 win Friday. His 10th goal of the season put the Lakers ahead to stay 4-3 in the second period. He helped on the Lakers' second, third and game-winning goals. He then assisted on the tying power play goal with just 3:42 left in regulation Saturday.

Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week

Beau Erickson - Connecticut 
Freshman, Goaltender, Merrill, Iowa

Erickson picked up a pair of wins over the weekend in helping lead the Huskies to two wins over in-state foe Sacred Heart. He began the weekend by stopping 31 shots en route to a 2-1 victory over the Pioneers Friday evening. He followed that with a similiar showing the next night in Storrs. On Saturday, Erickson collected 35 saves and earned his sixth win of the season as he held the Sacred Heart offense scoreless for the final 47:03 minutes of the game.

Weekly Honor Roll

Jeff Hajner, Air Force (Fr., F, New York, N.Y.) - Tied his career-high with two goals on Friday. Both of his goals came late in the third period and came within two minutes of each. His goals cut the deficit to 6-5...Is AFA's top rookie scorer with eight goals and 14 points.

Andrew Ramsey, Air Force (Sr., F, Noblesville, Ind.) - Scored AFA's first goal on Friday and then assisted on the goal that cut the lead to 6-4...Assisted on AFA's second goal on Saturday that gave AFA a 2-1 lead in the second period...Has a career-high 32 points this season and 97 points for his career.

Tom Fenton, American International (So., Goaltender, Sarnia, ONT) - Posted a pair of victories and a .917 save percentage and 2.01 goals-against average in a 2-1 week. Registered his first career shutout with 22 saves against Army on Tuesday. Stopped 23 of 25 shots he faced in a 5-2 win over Bentley Saturday.

Greg Genovese, American International (Jr., F, Hingham, Mass.) - Had five assists in three games last week, notching two assists apiece in wins over Army and Bentley.

Bryan Jurynec, American International (Jr., F, Orland Park, Ill.) - Recorded two goals in a 3-0 win over Army Tuesday night.

Jason Kearney, Bentley (So., G, Gibsonia, Pa.) - Kearney made 52 saves over two games this weekend. He made a season-high 31 saves while allowing only two goals to earn the win on Friday, then stopped 21 shots the next night.

Mark Menzione, Bentley (Fr., F, Darien, Ill.) - Menzione notched two assists on Friday, including a helper on the game-winning goal, and scored a goal on Saturday.

Pat Percella, Bentley (So., F, Bayonne, N.J.) - Percella scored a goal in each game this weekend, including the game-winning goal in Friday night's 4-2 win over American International. Percella now leads the team with three game-winning goals.

Andrew Loewen, Canisius (Fr., G, Winnipeg, MAN) - Loewen made both starts for Canisius and had a 2.01 goals against average in two games against RIT. Loewen stopped 61 of 65 shots on the weekend for a .938 save percentage.

Cole Koidahl, Connecticut (Sr., F, Minneapolis, Minn.) - Koidahl collected a total of four points in a weekend that saw the Huskies defeat Sacred Heart twice. He picked up the game-winning assist Friday night in a 2-1 victory on the Pioneers' home ice. He followed that performance Saturday evening with a game-high three points in UConn's 4-1 win over Sacred Heart at the Freitas Ice Forum. He collected his team-leading 17th assist early in the second period to help even the score at one goal apiece. Late in the third period with the Huskies up by one goal, Koidahl picked up his first goal of the game and put the Huskies up 3-1 in the process. With the goal, Koidahl earned his 100th career point and became just the 26th player in UConn hockey history to reach the 100-point plateau. Later, with two minutes remaining, Koidahl notched his 11th goal of the season with UConn's league-leading sixth short-handed goal of the season to lift UConn to a 4-1 victory over Sacred Heart.

Dale Reinhardt, Holy Cross (Jr., F, Livingston, N.J.) - Reinhardt scored two third period goals in Holy Cross' 3-3 tie at Army on Saturday night. His first goal tied the game at 2-2 and his second goal gave the Crusaders a 3-2 lead. Reinhardt leads the team in goals with 15.

Cullen Eddy, Mercyhurst (Fr., G, Winnipeg, MAN) - Eddy had a four-point weekend, including his first two-goal goal game and his first career power play goals as the Lakers swept Air Force. He assisted on the Lakers' first and third goals Friday and then scored two power play goals Saturday. His second came with under four minutes to play in regulation and forced overtime. Three of his four goals this season have come against Air Force.

Jordan Wakefield, Mercyhurst (Sr., G, Spruce Grove, ALB) - Wakefield stopped a combined 90 of 97 shots (.928) and has won his last four starts. He registered his third 50-saves-or-better performance in Friday's 7-5 win (50 of 55) and followed that with a 40-save contest in Saturday's 3-2 win in overtime. He stopped Air Force's talented sniper Eric Ehn from point-blank range early in overtime before the Lakers got the game-winner seconds later.

Steve Pinizzotto, R.I.T. (So., F, Mississauga, ONT) - Pinizzotto had three points this past weekend versus Canisius. On Friday he had the primary assist on RIT's lone goal. On Saturday he had a goal and an assist versus Canisius. He had the secondary assist on the game-winning goal. Pinizzotto leads the team in scoring with 38 points on 12 goals and 26 assists. He is among the league leaders in points and assists.

Dave Grimson, Sacred Heart (So., D, Mozart, SASK) - Grimson figured on both of the Pioneer goals in the series against UConn. Friday night, he scored SHU's only goal of the game. Saturday night he assisted on the only Pioneer goal. Grimson leads all SHU defenseman with 3 goals and 15 assists, 18 points on the year.

Team Notes

Air Force: AFA outshot Mercyhurst, 97-43, in the series...Mercyhurst was 4-for-10 on the power play while AFA was 2-for-12...AFA suffered its first overtime loss of the season. Prior to the loss, AFA was 0-0-5 in OT this season...AFA is now 2-11-1 when losing the special teams battle. The Falcons are now -6 in special teams this season...Jay Medenwaldt scored his first point of the season with a goal on Friday. He had two points in the series...Freshman Brett Nylander scored his first career goal on Saturday...Billy Devoney had a season-high two assists and also tied his career-best on Friday...Freshman Brandon Johnson had his first career point with an assist on Friday...Ben Worker started both games and has now started seven of the last eight after not starting a game in the first three and a half years of his career...He suffered his roughest outings of his career by allowing nine goals on 38 shots...Eric Ehn has been AFA's top faceoff man all season and hit his season average by winning 65 percent of his draws vs. the Lakers...Ehn entered the series tied for the national lead in scoring, but had just one assist in the two games and fell to third in the nation...AFA travels to first-place RIT, Feb. 9-10...AFA took three points from RIT on Nov. 3-4 at the Academy with a 3-0 win and a 4-4 tie...AFA leads the overall series with the Tigers, 5-4-2...The Falcons are 1-0 at RIT with the only win coming last season in overtime, 3-2.

American International: Sophomore Tom Fenton (Sarnia, ON) notched his first career shutout with a 22-save effort Tuesday against Army. AIC's penalty kill unit kept up its strong play, killing off all 20 power play chances by opponents last week while the power play unit was 3-9 Saturday in a 5-2 win over Bentley. Overall, the Yellow Jackets have stopped opponents last 23 power play chances and 50 of their last 53. Junior Greg Genovese (Hingham, Mass.) has at least a point in four of AIC's last five games and had at least one assist in each of AIC's three games last week. The Yellow Jackets' six wins matches last year's total and AIC is 6-9 over its last 15 games and 4-5 over its last nine outings after a 0-12 start.

Army: The Black Knights went 0-1-1 this past week, losing at AIC on Tuesday, 3-0, then skating to a 3-3 overtime tie with Holy Cross at West Point on Saturday ... Army enters a two-week hiatus in sole possession of second place in the AHA standings, but can slip to as low as fourth before they return ... the Army Athletic Association honored former head coach Jack Riley with "Jack Riley Night" and a special banner unveiling prior to Saturday night's game with Holy Cross ... Army improved to 16-4-5 at home against the Crusaders with the outcome ... Owen Meyer scored his tenth goal of the season with 37 seconds remaining in the third period to even the score at 3-3 in that game ... Meyer has three goals in Army's last four games and ranks 31st among rookie point scorers this season ... Tim Manthey also scored in Saturday night's tie and ranks 13th among the nation's defensemen in scoring ... goalie Josh Kassel stands 19th in the country with a 2.33 goals against average and 23rd with a .914 save percentage, after allowing 5 goals and making 38 saves this past week for Army ... the Black Knights have the next two weeks off from competition and return to action when they host Bentley at Tate Rink on Feb. 16 and 17 ... the teams split the first weekend series of the season in Waltham.

Bentley: The Falcons split a series with American International this weekend, with each team winning on its home ice ... Bentley has now split the season series with the Yellow Jackets, 2-2, with each team winning both games at home ... The Falcons have now split 8 of 11 Atlantic Hockey series this season ... Pat Percella scored the game-winning goal on Friday, his third of the season ... Percella has scored the game-winning goal in three of the last four Falcon wins ... Jason Kearney made a season-high 31 saves to earn the win on Friday ... The Falcons have their busiest week of the season ahead with three games ... Bentley faces No. 18 Quinnipiac on Tuesday in Hamden, Conn., and then has a home-and-home series against Connecticut on Friday and Saturday.

Canisius: Canisius splits its weekend series with first-place RIT with each team winning on the road. The Griffs have won two of their last three games against the Tigers in Rochester. In the 4-1 win on Feb. 2, the Griffs scored the first three goals of the game for the first time this season and held a 3-0 lead for the first time since Jan. 27, 2006, in a 5-0 win at Connecticut. Canisius also had four even-strength goals for the first time this season. Andrew Loewen made both starts for Canisius and had a 2.01 goals against average on the weekend along with a .938 save percentage. The freshman from Winnipeg, Manitoba has made 16 Atlantic Hockey starts this year for the Blue and Gold and hasn't recorded a loss in back-to-back conference starts. Jason Weeks (Seattle, Wash.) led the team with four points on the weekend, including a two-goal, one-assist performance in the 4-1 victory. Weeks had his fourth multi-goal game in nine contests and has 10 goals in the last 10 games. The freshman is tied for sixth in the country among rookies with 14 goals. Weeks ranks fifth on the school's single-season goals list and has the most since Joel Kitchen (Orilla, Ont.) had 14 as a freshman during the 2004-05 campaign. Michael Cohen had a three-point weekend and recorded his 41st career goal, which doubled as his 21st career power-play goal in the 4-1 win. The senior has 97 points and is three away from becoming the third player in school history to record 100 points while the Canisius program is at the Division I level. Kyle Bushee (Otsego, Mich.) recorded his first collegiate goal in the 4-1 victory and then had his second goal the next night. Bushee, who played 63 games at Western Michigan during his first two seasons, was without a goal in his first 84 college games and scored the game-winner against the Tigers. David Kasch (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) had a three-assist weekend and now has recorded new career highs in assists with 10 and points with 16. Carl Hudson (Smooth Rock Falls, Ont.) has tallied an assist in four of the last five games. Canisius closes out its regular-season home schedule next weekend when the Griffs host defending league champion Holy Cross at the Buffalo State Sports Arena for two games.

Connecticut: The University of Connecticut men's hockey team enjoyed its first weekend sweep of the season as the Huskies won both games of a home-and-home series with Sacred Heart. With the wins, the Huskies earned their first home-and-home sweep since UConn knocked off the same Pioneers Dec. 8-9 of last season. UConn has also now defeated instate rival Sacred Heart in eight of the last 10 meetings. Senior Cole Koidahl picked up a total of four points on the weekend and became just the 26th player in UConn hockey history to tally 100 points in a career. Sophomore Chris Myhro scored a pair of goals over the weekend and now owns the team lead with 17. Husky goaltender Beau Erickson notched two wins this weekend after allowing the Pioneer offense to just two total goals over the two games. Erickson became the first UConn goaltender to post back-to-back games in which he allowed one goal or less since Brad Smith accomplished the feat Dec. 3, 8, 2005. UConn returns to the ice Friday evening when the Huskies welcome Bentley to the Freitas Ice Forum for a 7:05 p.m. match-up.

Holy Cross: Junior Dale Reinhardt scored two goals in the 3-3 tie at Army. This was his third two-goal game of the season as he previously netted two against Mercyhurst (10/20) and UConn (11/21). Senior James Sixsmith leads the team in assists (27) and points (40), while he is second in goals (13). His 1.43 points per game are fifth in the nation and his .96 assists per game are fourth nationally. Sixsmith was recently named one of 15 semifinalists for the 55th Walter Brown Award presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. Sixsmith is the fifth Holy Cross player to be named a semifinalist for this award in the program's history, along with Jim Stewart, Patrick Rissmiller, Tony Coskren and Tony Quesada.

Mercyhurst: It took sophomore defenseman Kirk Medernach 53 games to get his first career goal, but it proved to be the game-winner in Friday's 7-5 win at Air Force. Mercyhurst got goals from seven different players Friday and from nine different players in the two games. Junior forward Ben Cottreau extended his scoring streak to seven games over the weekend. Senior goalie Jordan Wakefield has now started the last 12 contests. Friday marked the third time this season Wakefield has made 50 or more saves in a contest. Freshman Cullen Eddy's two power play goals Saturday were the first of his career. Three of his four goals this season have come against Air Force. The Lakers picked up their first overtime win of the season Saturday (1-3-5). The nine overtime contest equal the team record set in 2003-04. Mercyhurst hadn't won an overtime contest (not counting exhibitions) since 4-3 win at Connecticut January 14 of last year. The Lakers were outshot 97-43 in the two games but won both thanks to 90 saves by Jordan Wakefield. Mercyhurst returns to the Ice Center next weekend to play Sacred Heart. The Pioneers defeated the Lakers twice in Connecticut early in November by scores of 6-4 and 5-4 in overtime. The Pioneers have won 5 of the last 6 meetings and now lead the all-time series 12-10-2. The Lakers four-game winning streak is their longest in over a year. Mercyhurst doubled its road victories this season to four with the sweep at Air Force.

Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT extended their lead in the Atlantic Hockey Association to four points despite splitting a pair of games against Canisius. The Tigers lead Army by four points in the AHA standings. RIT fell to Canisius, 4-1 on Friday night but rebounded with a 4-2 win on Saturday in Buffalo, New York. Simon Lambert had two goals on Saturday, including the game-winner at 3:08 of the third period. The Tigers are first in the conference in goals with 108 and first in the conference in goals per game, averaging 3.71 per contest. RIT is fourth in the nation, behind just Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire in goals per game. RIT¹s power play is tops in the conference and second in the country behind Maine, converting 22.7% (37/163) of their chances. RIT features a balanced scoring attack with 12 players scoring at least 10 points and 21 players scoring a goal. RIT is second in the conference in goals allowed and goals allowed per game. The Tigers are among the nation's leaders in penalty killing.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers were swept in a weekend series with UConn, losing by counts of 2-1 and 4-1. SHU has now lost eight of the last 10 meetings with the Huskies, including three of the last five in Milford and five in a row in Storrs. The Pioneers have not won at the Freitas Ice Forum since January 31, 2004. The sweep was the second the Pioneers have suffered this year, the first time the Pioneers have lost two weekend series in a season since the end of the 2004-05 season. Sophomore Dave Grimson and senior Pierre-Luc O'Brien scored the Pioneer goals on the weekend. The tally was the 65th of O'Brien's career, tying the school record for goals in a career. O'Brien needs one more goal to set a new school record for goals in a career. He already holds the career marks for points and assists in a career. The Pioneers travel to Erie this weekend for a series with Mercyhurst. The teams meet Friday and Saturday night and coverage can be heard on WICC 600 AM.