Atlantic Hockey Weekly Award Winners for Games Through February 8

Atlantic Hockey Co-Players of the Week

Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week

Jay Clark - Army

Sophomore, Goaltender, Baudette, Minn.

Clark allowed just three goals in nearly 125 minutes of play in net to help Army to a win and tie against Canisius. Clark made 34 saves in a 3-1 win on Friday and then turned away 42 shots in a 2-2 overtime tie the next night. With the exception of the overtime session, Clark made double digit saves in each of the six periods. His goals against for the weekend was 1.44 while his save percentage was .962 on those 76 saves. 

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Atlantic Hockey Honor Roll

Atlantic Hockey Team Notes

Air Force: AFA has now won four straight home games and moved back into first place in the league...Five of the last six meetings with UConn have been decided by one goal or less...The Cadet Ice Arena was sold out both nights with 2,531 on Friday and 3,206 on Saturday. Saturday’s crowd was the third-largest in school. AFA now has six consecutive sellouts, a new school record. The nine sellouts this season are an Academy record for any sport...Air Force scored first both nights vs. UConn and is now 16-3-2 this season when getting the first goal...AFA broke a five-game and 0-for-27 slump on the power play with two on Friday and one on Saturday...An Air Force defenseman assisted on every Falcon goal in the series...Matt Fairchild matched his season high with two goals on Friday. He has a goal in five of the last eight games. Fairchild has four power play goals, four short-handed goals and four even strength goals this season...Jacques Lamoureux’s hat trick on Saturday as his second of the season...His 23 goals this season are the most since Eric Ehn had 24 in 2006-07...Greg Flynn had three assists in the series and is still the No. 2 scoring defenseman in the nation...Air Force plays at Bentley this week. AFA swept Bentley earlier this season by scores of 5-1 and 8-2...AFA is 2-2 in the last four games at Bentley.

American International: The American International College men’s ice hockey team lost both games in this past weekends series at Mercyhurst. In the first game, the Yellow Jackets were shutout 2-0. The Lakers tallied a goal on the first and one more in the second period to propel themselves to victory. Senior Tom Fenton made 22 saves on the night for AIC. The Yellow Jackets outshot Mercyhurst 26-24 on the game. In the back end of the series, AIC lost 6-2. The Lakers took an early 2-0 lead, but sophomore Greg Vatrano cut that lead in half when he found the back of the net late in the first period. Mercyhurst added to their lead scoring twice in the second period. Junior Chris Campanale made the score 4-2 when he netted a goal midway through the second. But the Lakers offence was to much as they tallied to more scores in the third period to cap off the 6-2 win. Fenton stopped 26 shots for AIC in the loss. Next up, the Yellow Jackets are on the road again as they travel to Buffalo, N.Y. to take on Canisius in a weekend series begining on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

Army: The Black Knights took three out of four points with a win and tie against Canisius … Four players scored goals in a 4-1 win on Friday to halt a six-game winless streak and four-game losing streak while Jay Clark made 42 saves in a 2-2 overtime tie on Saturday … Clark made double digit saves in all six periods of regulation over the weekend and posted a 1.44 goals against and .962 save percentage with 76 saves … Clark was in net for all four games against Canisius and helped Army win the series 2-1-1 … Mark Tilch scored his first career goal on Friday, six minutes into the third period. It came in his 55th career game … Joey Ammon scored a short-handed goal on Friday for the game-winning tally. He also had two assists … Matt Hickey handed out two assists on Friday as well. It was the second career multiple-point game for each … Freshman Bret Larson earned his first collegiate point with an assist on Cody Omilusik’s goal on Saturday … Will Ryan and Matt Hickey each played in their 100th career games on Friday and both picked up at least an assist … Army concluded its four-game homestand 1-2-1 … Army will play four of its final six games at Tate Rink, where it averages more than 2,100 fans … The Black Knights will play a home-and-home against Sacred Heart, host RIT for two games and then wrap up the regular season with a home-and-home against American International.

Bentley: Bentley swept Holy Cross in a home-and-home series over the weekend by identical 4-1 scores, giving the Falcons a 3-1 record against the Crusaders this season. Bentley has won five games in a row, which is the program’s longest winning streak since the 1980-81 season. With nine wins in its last 11 games, they are in the midst of their best stretch of play since the 1996-97 team went 10-1-1 over a stretch of 12 games. With 13 Atlantic Hockey wins, Bentley has set the program record for most AHA wins, and with 15 wins overall, have tied the program record for most wins at the Division I level. In Friday’s win, the second line of sophomores Erik Peterson and Dustin Cloutier and junior Marc Menzione carried the offense and sophomore Joe Calvi had his second straight solid outing in net. Peterson, Cloutier and Menzione each had a goal and an assist. Calvi made 28 saves. On Saturday Menzione scored the game-winner late in the third period and Kyle Rank was fantastic again in goal as Bentley completed the sweep. With the score tied at one, Menzione put in the rebound from a Trent Bonnett shot to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead with 5:12 remaining. Junior Bobby Preece and senior Jeff Gumaer then scored empty-net goals in the final 51 seconds. Rank won his sixth game in a row and during the streak he’s played to a 2.18 GAA and a .926 saves percentage. He’s lowered his season GAA to 2.54. Gumaer’s goal was the 58th of his career and his 100th career point. He’s now tied for fourth all-time in goals and becomes the third Falcon this season to reach 100 points, joining classmates Dain Prewitt and Anthony Canzoneri. He’s the 15th player all-time to reach 100. Bentley continues its five game home stand this weekend against Air Force and will be looking to avenge a sweep earlier in the season. Bentley is 2-2 in its last four home games against Air Force.

Canisius: The Griffs went 1-1-1 during the week, posting an overtime victory over Mercyhurst, 3-2, losing at Army, 4-1, and tying the Black Knights, 2-2. Canisius is now in sole possession of fifth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with a league mark of 9-9-4 and an overall record of 11-11-6. Canisius’ two overtime games this week were its eighth and ninth of the season. The nine overtime games are the most for the Griffs since they played 13 during the 2003-04 season. Against Mercyhurst, freshmen Scott Moser and Dave Kostuch each tallied regulation and goals and then junior Carl Hudson scored in the extra frame. Hudson, who is the first Canisius defensemen to record 50 points at the Division I level, now has 17 points this season on 10 goals and seven assists. He ranks third nationally and first in Atlantic Hockey among blueliners with 0.37 goals per game. He is also tied for fourth among the league’s defensemen with his 17 points. In the weekend series, Army won the opener against the Griffs, 4-1. Canisius’ streak of scoring at least two goals in 21-straight games came to an end. The Griffs’ run was the longest in the nation. The loss also ended Canisius’ five-game unbeaten streak on the road. It was the first loss for the Griffs away from home since Nov. 23 against Bentley. Kostuch scored the Griffs’ lone goal of the evening, raising his team-leading total to 17. The freshmen ranks 12th nationally in goals per game plus 14th with seven power play goals. He is also first in the country among rookies in goals per game, second in power play goals and fourth in points per game (0.89). Sophomore Cory Conacher and junior Josh Heidinger both tallied goals for the Griffs in Saturday’s 2-2 draw. Heidinger goal was the first for the junior since scoring against Connecticut on Nov. 15. Junior Andrew Loewen stopped 33 shots against the Black Knights, including a shot from point-blank range in the extra frame. In six career games against Army, Loewen has posted a goals against average of 1.82 plus a save percentage of .938. Canisius returns to the ice to host AIC at the Amherst Pepsi Center of Friday and Saturday. The Griffs swept the Yellow Jackets earlier in the year, 3-2 and 4-1.

Connecticut: UConn traveled to Colorado for a meeting with Air Force this past weekend. The Falcons took both games in the weekend series and finished the year 3-0-1 against the Huskies. In game one, UConn allowed Air Force to get out to a 2-0 lead but were able to tie the game up at two-apiece thanks to goals by Matt Pedemonti and Jason Krispel. Both goals scored were the second of the season for the Husky forwards. The game remained tied at two until the Falcons got their third goal of the game at 8:19 in the third and would keep the lead to take the game one victory 3-2. Game two held the same fate for the Huskies. Air Force got out to a 1-0 lead early into the second period but UConn would tie the game up once again when Pedemonti scored his second goal of the series. But the third period goal would be the downfall for the Huskies as Air Force’s Jacques Lamoureux scored his second goal of the game for the game-winner. With the goalie pulled at the end of the game Lamoureux recorded the hattrick on an empty net goal and Sean Bertsch netted a fourth goal for the Falcons for the 4-1 victory. The Huskies are back in action at home on February 13 and 14 for a weekend series with Mercyhurst.

Holy Cross: Holy Cross only committed six penalties in the series with Bentley as it had two on Feb. 6 and four on Feb. 7. The Crusaders are only averaging 5.8 penalties per game and 12.0 penalty minutes per game. The Crusaders have killed 20 straight penalties with six in the 2-2 tie with No. 18 Dartmouth (1/21), four in the 5-3 win at Connecticut (1/30), five in the 4-1 win at Connecticut (1/31), one in the 4-1 loss against Bentley (2/6) and four in the 4-1 loss at Bentley (2/7). Sophomore Mark Znutas (Emerson, N.J.) scored Holy Cross’ lone goal on Feb. 7 at Bentley. He leads all Holy Cross defenders in points with 11 as he has three goals and eight assists. He is tied for fourth on the team in assists. Last year as a freshman he had six goals and nine assists for 15 points as he was named to the Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team. Junior Rob Forshner (Sundre, Alberta) scored the Crusaders’ lone goal on Feb. 6 against Bentley. He has five goals and four assists for nine points in the last 10 games. Forshner is tied for first on the team in assists with 11, while he is tied for second on the team in points with 19 and his eight goals are tied for third. In 93 career games, he has scored 18 goals and has 36 assists for 54 points. The Crusaders return to action when they host Atlantic Hockey opponent RIT in a two-game 7:00 p.m. series on Feb. 13-14. Feb. 14 will be Holy Cross’ winter homecoming game as a trophy will be given to contest’s most valuable player. Holy Cross will host the NCAA Men’s Hockey Division I Northeast Regional in 2010. The dates are Mar. 27-28 at the DCU Center in Worcester. HC held the event for the first time in 2008.

Mercyhurst: The Mercyhurst College men's hockey team wrapped up its nine-game homestand this past week, falling to Canisius 3-2 in overtime before sweeping American International by the scores of 2-0 and 6-2. Overall, the Lakers finished the trek with a mark of 7-1-1. Senior Matt Pierce wrote his name in the Mercyhurst record books with a four power-play goal performance in the second game against AIC. The Pakenham, Ontario product tied the Mercyhurst Division I record set by sophomore Steve Cameron for most goals in a game while breaking the record for most power-play goals in a game set by Rob Madia in 1992. He now leads the team with 18 goals. Sophomore Ryan Zapolski earned his third career shutout, all coming in the past month, when he blanked the Yellow Jackets on Friday night. Freshman Phil Ginand improved his rookie goal total to nine with both scores against Canisius. The Lakers, who are now 14-13-3 on the season and 12-7-3 in Atlantic Hockey play, hit the road this weekend for a two-game series against Connecticut on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14 at the Mark Freitas Ice Forum. Mercyhurst swept the Huskies earlier this season to improve to 23-7-1 in the all-time series.

Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT had its 11-game winning streak snapped by Sacred Heart, 6-4 on Friday. The Tigers regrouped and defeated the Pioneers, 5-3 on Saturday and will look to move closer to clinching home ice in the AHA Quarterfinals at Holy Cross this weekend. The Tigers are now 10-0-0 when leading after two periods, 10-1-0 in the second game of a weekend series and 12-0-0 when scoring at least five goals in a game this season. RIT is second in Atlantic Hockey with 33 points, one point behind Air Force. RIT is tied for the lead in Division I with eight shorthanded goals. RIT is now second in Division I in scoring, averaging 3.79 goals per game (three of the top four scoring teams are from Atlantic Hockey). The Tigers have incredibly balanced scoring, with six players scoring between 23 and 27 points and 13 in double digits. Dan Ringwald is second among all Division I defensemen with 25 assists and sixth with 27 points. Sophomore Andrew Favot had his Division I team-record tying 11-game point scoring streak, snapped on Friday. Senior goaltender Louis Menard is 7-1-1 in AHA play this season and 32-7-6 all-time in AHA regular season play. The Tiger power-play was 4-for-11 on Saturday against Sacred Heart and 19-for-67 (29.7 percent) in 10 2009 contests. They have moved up to sixth in the nation at 20.2 percent. RIT is 10-3-0 at home this season and has scored 66 goals (5.1 per game) this season.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers split their weekend series with RIT, winning Friday night, 6-4 before dropping the back end of the series 5-3 Saturday night. Senior Bear Trapp led the Pioneers with six points on the weekend, the most points any player has had in a series this season. Trapp had four assists on the weekend to raise his career total to 93, a new Sacred Heart record. Trapp has at least one point in 8 of his last 10 games. Sophomore Dave Berube scored two goals Friday night, his first career multi-goal game. Sophomore Ryan Warsofsky had an assist on Saturday night to tally his first collegiate point. Senior Anthony Barela played in his first collegiate game Friday night. Friday’s win snapped a six game winless streak on the road for the Pioneers. Friday’s victory was the first time SHU has ever won at Ritter Arena. The Pioneers won the season series from RIT, 2-1-1, the first time they have done that since RIT joined Atlantic Hockey. Sacred Heart faces Army in a home-and-home series this weekend. The teams meet Friday in Milford with the rematch Saturday in West Point.