December 7, 2009 Weekly Release (PDF)

Atlantic Hockey Weekly Award Winners for Games Through December 6

Atlantic Hockey Players of the Week

Jacques Lamoureux - Air Force Junior, Forward, Grand Forks, N.D. Six points (3-3-6) to lead Air Force to a sweep of AIC...Tied his career high with four points (2-2-4) in Friday’s win...Added a goal and assist on Saturday...One power play goal and two even strength in the series...Scored the game-winner on Friday, his second of the season...Fifth in the nation with six PPG.

Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week

Ryan Zapolski - Mercyhurst Junior, Goaltender, Erie, Pa. Zapolski helped the Lakers extend their winning streak to six games with a pair of wins over Connecticut, 5-0 and 3-1, this past weekend at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Zapolski combined for 50 saves and allowed a power-play goal on the weekend. The Erie, Pa., native recorded his sixth-career shutout and became the first Mercyhurst goalie in the Division I era to mark back-to-back shutouts with 21 saves in the 5-0 win on Friday. He then improved his season record to .500 (8-8-1) with 26 saves in a 3-1 decision on Saturday.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Joe Campanelli - Bentley Freshman, Forward, Whitesboro, N.Y. Campanelli had a team-high four point weekend on one goal and three assists. He had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win, including an assist on the game-winning goal. He had two assists in Saturday’s game.

Atlantic Hockey Honor Roll

Andrew Volkening - Air Force (Senior, Goaltender, Genoa, Ill.) - Earned both wins in the AIC series...2.21 GAA and a .918 saves percentage...Stopped 45 of the 49 shots he faced...Two of his four goals allowed came on the power play. Steve McLeod - American International (Junior, Forward, Atikokan, Ontario) - Netted two goals for the Yellow Jackets in their weekend series with Air Force. He tallied the game tying goal late in the second period of the series opener. With his second goal of the weekend, McLeod put AIC on the board in the second period, after the Falcons jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Jay Clark - Army (Junior, Goaltender, Baudette, Minn.) - Clark made 76 saves and allowed just three goals as Army swept a weekend series with Sacred Heart. Clark turned away 41 shots during a 2-1 win on Friday and then helped the Black Knights to the sweep with 35 saves in a 4-2 win on Saturday. Danny Colvin - Army (Sophomore, Forward, Vernon, N.J.) - Colvin collected four points to help Army sweep a weekend series against Sacred Heart. Colvin assisted on the first goal and then netted the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win on Friday and then contributed a goal and assist during a 4-2 victory on Saturday as Army extended its winning streak to four games. Andy Starczewski - Army (Freshman, Forward, Whitesboro, N.Y.) - Starczewski contributed two goals as Army swept a weekend series against Sacred Heart. After being held without a point in Friday’s win, Starczewski netted two goals, including the game-winning tally as Army posted a 4-2 win and won its fourth straight game. Justin Kemmerer - Bentley (Senior, Defenseman, Hershey, Pa.) - Kemmerer had two goals and one assist over the weekend and was a team-best +2. He had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win for his first career multi-point game. Cory Conacher - Canisius (Junior, Forward, Burlington, Ontario) - Conacher continues to dominate offensively during his junior season, matching two school records during the weekend. Conacher tied the Canisius Division I record with five points in a 9-3 victory over Bentley, scoring the game-winning goal and adding a school-record four assists. The junior also recorded a helper in the opener and has recorded a point in a career-best six-consecutive games. Conacher is currently tied for the national lead with 25 points and 13 goals this season and ranks second in the country with three game-winning scores. Preston Shupe - Canisius (Freshman, Forward, Weyburn, Saskatchewan) - Shupe registered a career-best three points in the Griffs’ 9-3 victory over Bentley during the weekend. Shupe now ranks ninth in Atlantic Hockey with 10 assists this season and fourth in freshman scoring with 11 points. Thomas Tysowsky - Holy Cross (Freshman, Goaltender, Amherst, N.Y.) - Tysowsky stopped 51 of 55 shots versus RIT over two games for a .927 save percentage and a 1.87 goals against average. On Dec. 4, he made 24 saves and allowed only one goal as Holy Cross tied the Tigers, 1-1, while on Dec. 5, he stopped 27 shots and allowed three goals as the Crusaders had a 3-2 overtime loss. For the season his 2.30 goals against average is second around the conference. Grant Blakey - Mercyhurst (Freshman, Forward, Canton, Mich.) - Blakey led all Mercyhurst rookies with two goals in the Lakers’ 5-0 win over Connecticut Friday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. He scored both goals within a three minute and 26 second span in the second period, ballooning the lead to 4-0. Blakey now leads all first-year players in AHA play with five goals and six assists. Jared DeMichiel - R.I.T. (Senior, Goaltender, Avon, Conn.) - DeMichiel led RIT to three points this past weekend at Holy Cross. The senior netminder had 23 saves and allowed one goal in a 1-1 tie on Friday. He followed that up with a 33-save performance and picked up his eighth win of the season on Saturday as RIT beat the Crusaders 3-2 in overtime. He has been outstanding during RIT’s current unbeaten streak, posting a 8-0-1 record, a 1.34 goals against average and a .951 save percentage. DeMichiel is 12th in Division I with a 2.14 goals against average and 19th with a .919 save percentage. Eric Delong - Sacred Heart (Freshman, Forward, Oakville, Manitoba) - Posted two goals and an assist in a weekend series on the road against Army...Had a hand in every goal scored by SHU versus the Black Knights...Provided the assist to give SHU a 1-0 lead Friday night with a nifty back hand pass through the crease on a power play...Tied the game twice in the second period, notching both of the Pioneer goals Saturday night...Ranks second among AHA rookies in points per game (0.73).

Atlantic Hockey Team Notes

Atlantic Hockey: All Atlantic Hockey home games will be shown on the B2 Network. Click on www.b2livetv.com to see your favorite Atlantic Hockey institution in action during the 2009-10 season. Atlantic Hockey is also on Facebook and Twitter. You can see updates, stories, weekly releases and upcoming schedules on Facebook and Twitter. Hockey on Campus returns this season on hockeyoncampus.com. Tune into Bernie Corbett and Paul McNamara every Wednesday from 7-10 pm for all Atlantic Hockey News each and every week. Air Force: AFA is tied for first in the league with RIT...Nine-game (6-0-3) unbeaten streak is the second longest in the nation...AFA earned its second league sweep of the season last week with two wins over AIC...Jacques Lamoureux had six points (3-3-6) in the AIC series...He his career high with four points (2-2-4) in Friday’s win...Lamoureux ranks fifth in the nation with six PPG...Derrick Burnett had two goals and one assist in the series...Sean Bertsch had a career high two goals in Saturday’s win...Senior defenseman Brandon Johnson scored his first career goal on Saturday. He added an assist for a career high two points...Sixteen different Falcons had points in the AIC series...Freshman goalie David Bosner made his collegiate debut, playing the final 12 minutes on Saturday and making six saves...Lamoureux leads the team with 10 goals and 21 points...AFA’s penalty kill was No. 1 in the nation last week, but fell to fifth this week at 89.2...The Falcon power play is ninth in the nation at 23.2...AFA hosts Mercyhurst, Dec. 4-5, at Cadet Ice Arena...The teams last played in last season’s AHA Championship Game, a 2-0 Air Force win...The teams have played 12 times since the 2006-07 season and AFA has a 6-5-1 lead in the series...In the regular season last year, Mercyhurst took three points in the series in Erie...The teams last met in Colorado in November, 2007, and the teams split the series...The teams have played four games all-time at the Cadet Ice Arena and Mercyhurst holds a 3-1 lead in the series. American International: The American International College men’s ice hockey team went 0-2-0 in their weekend series at Air Force, falling 5-3 in the first game and 6-2 in the finale. With the losses the Yellow Jackets fall to 2-12-1 for the seasons and to 2-10-1 in the AHA. In the series opener on Friday night, Air Force got on the board first when sophomore forward Paul Weisgarber found the back of the net with less than two-minutes remaining in the first period. The lead would not last long as freshman Richard Leitner tied the score at 1-1 for AIC when he tallied a goal with four-second remaining in the period. Freshman Jeff Ceccacci and sophomore Luciano Primiani dished out the assists on the goal. Four-minutes into the second period, the Falcons went back on top when freshman John Kruse lit the lamp for the 2-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets again fought back, tying the score at 2-2 with less than a minute remaining in the period. Junior Steve McLeod netted the tying goal with an assist from classmate Mike Little. In the third period, Air Force took a commanding lead, finding the back of the net three consecutive times in the first eight minutes going on top 5-2. Freshman Michael Penny scored his first goal of the season in an attempt to spark the comeback for AIC, but his effort was too late, as the Falcons took the 5-3 victory. Junior Dan Ramirez made 24 saves for the Yellow Jackets before being replaced by freshman Ben Meisner, who stopped five shots of his own. In the Saturday’s finale, after the Falcons jumped out to a 4-0 lead, junior Steve McLeod scored goal with 3:09 remaining in the second period to put AIC on the board. Air force would tallied two more goals to take a 6-1 lead. Freshman Adam Pleskach capped the scoring with his team-leading eighth goal of the season with five minutes left in the game. Meisner stopped 31 shots in taking the loss for AIC. Next up, AIC heads to Brown on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. Army: The Black Knights extended their winning streak to four games and moved into fifth place with a weekend sweep of Sacred Heart. Army posted a 2-1 win on Friday and a 4-2 victory on Saturday to improve to 7-8-2 overall and 6-5-1 in league games … This marks the first time Army has been over .500 in the league this season … Danny Colvin posted four points over the weekend with a goal and assist during each win. He netted the game-winning goal in the third period on Friday … Andy Starczewski scored two goals in Saturday’s win, including the game-winner … Jay Clark allowed just three goals and made 76 saves in picking up the win each night … Jack Barnes had a goal and assist on Friday, his first career assist and first career multiple-point game … Kyle Maggard finished the weekend with three assists, two on Friday … Maggard, Colvin and Barnes, linemates, accounted for all six points during Friday’s win … Army has won four straight games, the team’s longest winning streak since posting five victories during the 2007-08 season … Army has registered double digit shots in its last 12 periods … A season-high crowd of 2,305 fans were on hand Saturday … Army scored four third period goals over the weekend … Following its second consecutive sweep, Army participated in a 20-minute sled hockey game against the Long Island Rough Riders … It marked the third consecutive season they played the exhibition … Army will be idle for 28 days and will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule Jan. 2 against Union. Bentley: Bentley spilt with Canisius over the weekend in Buffalo to finish the first half of the season with a record of 6-7-3 and 5-4-2 in Atlantic Hockey play. The Falcons took the first game 5-4 in a back-and-forth affair. First period goals by freshmen Joe Campanelli and Jordy Trottier gave Bentley a 2-0 lead, but Canisius rallied to tie in the second period. A Justin Kemmerer goal in the second period put Bentley up 3-2, but the Griffs went ahead 4-3 with two goals past the midway point of the third period. Bentley though rallied, as Dustin Cloutier scored the game-tying goal with 5:40 left, then freshman Brett Hartung scored the winner with 3:06 left. In Saturday’s game, Bentley fell behind 3-0 in the first period which was too much to overcome. Campanelli had a team-high four point weekend. Trottier’s goal in the first game was the first of his career. Bentley’s win on Friday was its seventh win over the Griffs in eight games, and the team’s third straight road win over Canisius. Senior Marc Menzione is Bentley’s leading scorer after the first half with 17 points, while a pair of freshmen, Campanelli and Dan Koudys, are second with 10 points. Bentley returns to action on Dec. 29 against UConn in the first game of the Toyota UConn Classic. Canisius: Canisius split a pair of games against Bentley during the weekend, falling in the opener, 5-4, before dominating the finale, 9-3. The Griffs are now in fourth place of the Atlantic Hockey standings with a 7-6-1 mark. The Griffs’ nine goals are the most since a 9-2 victory against Bentley on Nov. 2, 2001. Junior Cory Conacher continued his dominating performance offensively during the weekend, registering six points on a goal and five assists. In the opener, Conacher had his career-best four-game scoring streak snapped but registered an assist to match a personal high by recording a point in five-straight games. On Saturday, Conacher matched two school records by posting five points and four assists in the Griffs’ 9-3 victory. Conacher’s five points matched the school record set by Chris Duggan (March 13, 1999) and Mike Ruberto (Oct. 9, 2005), while his four helpers matched the record set by Chris Duggan (March 13, 1999), Joel Tarvudd (Jan. 8, 2000), David Deeves (Nov. 2, 2001) and Jason Weeks (Nov. 1, 2008). Conacher’s goal also proved to be the game-winning score. During his junior campaign, Conacher has racked up 25 points, 13 goals and 12 assists. His 25 points and 13 goals are currently tied for the national lead with Massachusetts’ James Marcou and Ferris State’s Blair Riley, respectively. In addition, Conacher ranks third in the country with 1.56 points per game, fourth with 0.81 goals per game and second with three game-winning scores. Conacher’s linemates, junior Vincent Scarsella and freshman Preston Shupe also recorded career highs in Saturday’s 9-3 victory. Scarsella posted a career-best four points on two goals and two assists, while Shupe posted a personal-high three points, on all assists. Senior defender Carl Hudson posted two goals and an assist during the weekend. On Friday, Hudson scored a goal on the power play, the 22nd extra-man goal of his career. Hudson is now tied with Michael Cohen (2003-07) for the most career power-play goals in the program’s Division I history. Hudson, who added an even-strength goal on Saturday, has scored 22 of his 34 career goals on the power play (64.7 percent). He has extended his career-long streak of registering a point to six games. Hudson currently leads all Atlantic Hockey defensemen with 15 points and ranks 11th nationally among defenders with 0.88 points per game. Canisius is off this weekend and will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The Griffs will host future Atlantic Hockey foe Robert Morris in non-conference action. Connecticut: The Huskies were 0-2 in their final weekend of play during the fall season falling twice to Mercyhurst on the road. UConn finishes their fall season with a 2-12-2 record, 2-8-2 in Atlantic Hockey action. This weekend’s games were the 11th and 12th road games of the season for the Huskies. UConn dropped Friday night’s decision 5-0 which included a three-goal second period to seal the victory for the Lakers. On Saturday, Mercyhurst got out to a three-goal lead after two periods but junior assistant captain Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) recorded his third power play goal of the year to end the shut out bid as the Huskies went on to fall 3-1. The Huskies are back in action next at the Toyota UConn Classic on December 29 when they open up play against Bentley at 7:15 p.m. Holy Cross: Holy Cross will play No. 4 Quinnipiac at the HartCenter on Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m. This will be the second nationally ranked team that the Crusaders have played at home this season as Holy Cross fell to No. 11 Yale by a score of 7-3. Thursday’s game will be the 26th meeting between the two schools with Quinnipiac leading the series, 17-5-3. This will only be the fourth time that these two former MAAC and Atlantic Hockey rivals meet as non-conference opponents. Holy Cross is 4-6-1 all-time at the HartCenter against Quinnipiac. Holy Cross is 4-5-1 in its last 10 games against ECACHL opponents, including a 7-3 home lost on Nov. 28 to No. 11 Yale this season. The Crusaders had a 1-0-1 record last season as it tied Dartmouth, 2-2, on Jan. 21 at the HartCenter and earned a 4-3 win over Rensselaer on Jan. 3 at the Denver Cup as the Crusaders have won three straight over the Engineers. Two years ago, the Crusaders fell to Quinnipiac, while three years ago they fell at Yale, at Dartmouth and at Quinnipiac. In the 2005-2006 season, Holy Cross went a perfect 3-0-0 with two wins over Rensselaer and a victory over Dartmouth. The Crusaders have an all-time record of 19-45-5 against teams currently in the ECACHL (2-3-0 against Brown, 0-5-0 vs. Colgate, 2-3-1 against Dartmouth, 0-4-0 vs. Princeton, 5-17-3 against Quinnipiac, 3-4-0 vs. Rensselaer, 0-1-0 against St. Lawrence, 7-5-1 vs. Union and 0-3-0 against Yale). Sophomore Matt Gordon scored his first collegiate goal as the Crusaders snapped RIT’s eight-game winning streak with a 1-1 tie on Dec. 4. For the season he has one goal and three assists for four points. All six of Holy Cross’ last six goals have been scored on the power play. All three of the Crusaders’ three goals against Yale were on the man-advantage and all three of Holy Cross’ three goals over two games versus RIT were on the power play. The Crusaders are 6-17 (.353) over the last three games while on the power play. Freshman Rob Linsmayer and sophomore Mike Daly lead the team with seven assists. Daly’s seven assists is a career-best. Junior Everett Sheen is first on the team with seven goals and 12 points. Senior Brodie Sheahan has 20 career power play goals which are tied for sixth on the all-time Holy Cross Division I list, while his 35 overall goals are 10th on the school’s Division I career goals list. His 35 goals, 50 assists and 85 points are the most by any current Crusader. The Crusaders are 1-4-3 at home so far this season. Last season Holy Cross went 7-8-2 at the HartCenter. Holy Cross has a 295-187-31 (.605) all-time record at the HartCenter since it started playing there in 1975-1976. Holy Cross will host the 2010 NCAA Men’s Hockey Division I Northeast Regional. The dates are Saturday and Sunday, March 27-28 at the DCUCenter in Worcester. The semifinals will be at 1:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on March. 27, while the finals will be at 5:30 p.m. on March 28. All three games will be on ESPNU. Holy Cross held the event for the first time two years ago. Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst extended its winning streak to six games with a pair of wins over Connecticut, 5-0 and 3-1, at the Mercyhurst Ice Center...With the sweep, the Lakers improve to 8-9-1 on the season and 8-5-1 in Atlantic Hockey play...Junior Ryan Zapolski combined for 50 saves and allowed just one goal to move to 8-8-1 on the season. On Friday, he recorded his sixth-career shutout and became the first Mercyhurst goalie in the Division I era to mark back-to-back shutouts in a 5-0 win. The last time the Lakers had held opponents scoreless in two consecutive games was Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, 2000, as the team shut out Bentley, 12-0 and AIC 2-0, respectively. He has now allowed one goal over the past three games...Junior Brandon Coccimiglio scored a goal and added two assists to improve his season point total to 19. He has five goals and four assists during the team’s winning streak...Freshman Grant Blakey scored two goals in Friday’s game to become the first MC freshman to score twice in same game since Phil Ginand lit the lamp twice Feb. 14, 2009 in a 7-4 victory over UConn...Sophomore Kevin Noble scored his first collegiate goal in the team’s 3-1 victory on Saturday. The Lakers close out the first half of the season this weekend with two games at Air Force on Friday, Dec. 11 and Saturday, Dec. 12...Mercyhurst went 1-1-1 against the Falcons last season, going 1-0-1 in the regular season before suffering a 2-0 shutout in the AHA Championship game...Air Force leads the all-time series, 6-5-1. Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT ran their Division I leading unbeaten streak to 10 games last weekend with a win and a tie at Holy Cross. The Tigers are 9-0-1 in that stretch are allowing a paltry 1.50 goals per game. RIT is tied 15th in Division I in scoring averaging 3.3 goals per game and ninth defensively allowing 2.3 goals per game. RIT features balanced scoring so far in 2009-10 with five players with 10 or more points. The Tigers have 14 players with two or more goals and five players with five or more goals led by senior defenseman Alan Mazur who has six goals on the season. RIT’s defense has been lighting the lamp offensively. All-American and Hobey Baker candidate Dan Ringwald, leads a talented group of defensemen. Ringwald is tied for second on the team with 14 points on five goals and nine assists. Mazur leads the team in goals with six, while freshman Chris Tanev has five goals on the season. Sophomore Chris Haltigin has three goals on the season and freshman Chris Saracino has two goals so far in 2009-10. Overall, RIT’s defensemen have accounted for 52% of the goals scored by the Tigers this season. RIT is 5-0-1 at Holy Cross since joining Division I back in 2005-06 and are 13-1-1 all together since 2005. The Tigers were 1-for-9 on the power play this past weekend at Holy Cross, while allowing three goals in 10 power play chances by the Crusaders. Freshman defenseman Chris Tanev had a pair of assists in Saturday’s win. He had the second assist in the game-winning goal in overtime and has five assists on the season. Cameron Burt scored the game-winner on Saturday and was one of three different goal scorers for the Tigers. Taylor McReynolds and Chris Haltigin were the other two for RIT. Sacred Heart: Sacred Heart dropped a pair of tight games, 2-1 and 4-2, to Army over the weekend in West Point, NY...The Pioneers held a 1-0 lead going into the final period before a late comeback by the Black Knights...SHU battled back twice Saturday night and tied the game twice in the second period before another heartbreaking fall in the final stanza...Sacred Heart has not earned a point since a 1-1 tie against Bentley November 14...Goaltender Steven Legatto (Kelowna, BC) made 75 saves in net over the weekend, including 41 Friday night in a tough luck loss...The previously struggling SHU penalty kill had a very good weekend holding the Black Knights to 2 for 18 on the mad advantage.