Atlantic Hockey Weekly Award Winners for Games Through December 18

Travel Team USA Co-Players of the Week

Adam Brace - Robert Morris

Junior, Forward, Cobden, Ontario

Brace scored twice in Robert Morris’ 4-0 win over RIT on Saturday night to push the Colonials’ unbeaten streak to a program-best eight games. Brace, who ended the night with six goals on the season, lit the lamp just over five minutes into the game for the eventual game winner before padding the lead with another goal midway through the second period. The senior improved his season point total to 13 (six goals, seven assists) with the two-point night. Brace was one of three Colonials to finish as a game-high plus-three on the night.

Cody Crichton - Robert Morris

Senior, Forward, Palgrave, Ontario

Crichton took over the team points lead (15) with three assists in Saturday’s 4-0 blanking of RIT as Robert Morris heads into the break on the program’s first-ever eight-game unbeaten streak. The senior forward assisted on both of Adam Brace’s goals including the eventual game winner before adding his final point of the night on Cody Wydo’s third-period goal that put the Colonials up 4-0. Crichton, who ranks fifth in the league in points and second in assists with 12, was one of three Colonials to finish as a game-high plus-three on the night.

Travel Team USA Goaltender of the Week

Brooks Ostergard - Robert Morris

Senior, Forward, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Ostergard stopped all 32 shots he faced in Saturday’s 4-0 blanking of RIT to pick up his third career shutout and help Robert Morris improve its unbeaten streak to a program-best eight games. The senior improved to 5-4-2 on the season and remained unbeaten in his last seven starts (5-0-2). Ostergard, who also notched his third-career assist on Scott Jacklin’s second period goal, has a .950 save percentage and a 1.82 GAA over the unbeaten stretch. His .931 overall save percentage ranks second in the league.

Atlantic Hockey Team Notes

Air Force:  With the sweep at AIC, Air Force extended its season-best winning streak to four games. It is the longest streak since winning eight straight late last season...AFA’s 9-4-2 start ties as the second best mark in school history. The 2008-09 team was 14-2 at the holiday break...AFA’s 8-2-1 league start is the second best in school history. AFA was 11-0 in 2008-09...AFA is in first place in Atlantic Hockey with 17 points...Head coach Frank Serratore evened his overall record at Air Force to 243-243-46 in his 15th season at Air Force...The two wins marked the first time this season that Air Force has won back-to-back games by more than one goal...With the two wins, AFA is now 3-3-1 on the road...AFA had killed 10 straight opponent power plays before allowing a PPG on Saturday...Junior Kyle De Laurell had a career high four points on Friday. His two goals tied his season high...De Laurell had six points (3-6-6) in the series...Freshman Cole Gunner had four points (1-3-4) in the series...Freshman Scott Holm scored his first career goal on Friday...Senior Paul Weisgarber scored his first goal of the season on Friday to go along with eight assists...John Kruse had a career high two goals on Friday...Casey Kleisinger had career bests of two goals and three points on Saturday...Stephen Carew had a career high two goals on Saturday...Tony Thomas scored his first goal of the season on Saturday...AFA is now off until Dec. 30 when the Falcons play at Colorado College.

Army:  The Black Knights are now 1-8-6 overall and 1-6-4 in league contests after a 3-1 loss to Holy Cross ... It was Army’s lone game of the weekend ... Freshman Mac Lalor, playing near his hometown, scored a short-handed goal ... Classmate Zak Zaremba registered the assist on Lalor’s goal ... Junior Ryan Leets made 31 saves ... Army will be idle for Term Ending Exams and part of the holidays and return to action Dec. 29 and 30 at the Toyota/UConn Classic. Army will play host Connecticut Thursday at 7:15 p.m. and then either UMass-Lowell or RPI the next day. 

Bentley:  Bentley was victorious over UConn 4-2 Friday night in its only game of the week. Jared Rickord scored the game winning goal at 4:43 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Aaron Stonacek sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left after assisting on Rickord’s goal. Alex Kubiak and Joe Campanelli also had second period goals for Bentley. Goalie Branden Komm made 25 saves for the win and he’s now allowed two or fewer goals in eight of his 13 starts. The Falcons end the first half 5-3-2 in Atlantic Hockey and 4-0 against the league’s eastern teams. Bentley isn’t in action again until Jan. 1 at Yale, which precedes a series against Robert Morris on the weekend of Jan. 6.

Canisius:  Canisius is off until Dec. 30 when it resumes play at nationally-ranked Colgate. The Griffs won the last meeting between the two schools – a 7-6 overtime win during the 2009-10 season

Connecticut: UConn dropped the final game before the exam and holiday break period to Bentley at home on Friday night, 4-2…  The Huskies evened the score at 1-1 and 2-2 but couldn’t find the equalizer after the third goal and eventually allowed an empty netter to fall 4-2… Connecticut failed to score on the power play for just the fifth time in 16 games in the first half of the season… UConn goes into the break period with a 5-9-2 record and a 4-6-1 mark in the AHA… The Huskies have been led in the first 16 games by 2011 AHA All-Rookie selection Cole Schneider with 17 points on five goals and 12 assists… Classmate Brant Harris leads all players with 11 goals, including seven on the man advantage… Harris ranks 10th in the nation at .69 goals per game and second in all of Division I hockey with seven power-play goals… Junior Alex Gerke ranks 18th in the nation among defensemen with .75 points per game… Junior goaltender Garrett Bartus is having a strong year in the cage for UConn with a 2.67 goals against average and a .923 save percentage… Bartus currently ranks sixth in the NCAA with 518 saves this season… He has tallied 2,155 saves in three seasons and sits just 10 stops behind Scott Tomes (2003-07) in the UConn Division I record book… UConn will be off until the 19th Annual Toyota UConn Hockey Classic which starts with two games on Thursday, December 29 at Freitas Ice Forum… UMass Lowell and RPI will face off in the opener at 4 p.m. followed by UConn vs. AHA rival Army in the night cap at 7:15… The championship will be played at 7:15 on Friday, December 30… UConn has won its annual tournament three times while finishing as the runner-up on nine occasions, including 2010.

Holy Cross:  The Crusaders, who have won three straight games and four of their last five return to action when they compete at the Ledyard National Bank Classic at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 30-31. Holy Cross will play the Big Green at Thompson Arena on Friday at 7:00 p.m., while on Saturday the Crusaders will then take on either Merrimack or St. Lawrence at 4:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. The Crusaders competed in the 2009 Ledyard National Bank Classic, falling to No. 14 UMass-Lowell, 3-0, and defeating the Big Green, 4-2. The Crusaders are 3-3-1 all-time versus Dartmouth including a 2-1-1 record versus the Big Green in the last four meetings between the teams. Holy Cross is 8-25-1 all-time versus Merrimack. The Crusaders fell to the Warriors by a 3-1 score on Oct. 16, 2009 in the last meeting. The Crusaders are 0-1-0 versus St. Lawrence with a 5-1 loss on Oct. 20, 2000, at the Black Bear Classic. The Crusaders are 2-3-0 versus non-conference competition this season.  The Crusaders are 6-1-0 this season at home with a 2-1 win over AIC, a 6-4 victory versus Sacred Heart, a 2-0 win versus Brown, a 5-0 loss against Clarkson, a 3-2 win versus Canisius, a 4-0 victory versus Canisius and a 3-1 win versus Army. Last year’s 11-6-1 record at home was the Crusaders best since going 12-4-1 in the 2005-2006.  The Crusaders are 6-0-0 so far this season when leading after the second period. Six of Holy Cross’ eight victories have been when its led after the second.  Freshman goalie Matt Ginn (Lindsey, Ontario) has earned a victory in each of his last three starts and is now 6-5-0 on the season. He has made 276 saves.  Senior forward Andrew Cox (Lombardy, Ontario) leads the team with 13 points, while he is second with nine assists and is tied for fourth with four goals. For his career he has 19 goals and 29 assists for 48 points in 109 games.  Senior defender Mike Daly (South Burlington, Vt.) leads the team with 11 assists, while he is second with 12 points. He has four assists over the last two games with two versus Canisius on Dec. 3 and two against Army on Dec. 10. He has nine goals and 41 assists for 50 points in 124 games.  Sophomore forward Adam Schmidt (Warrington, Pa.) leads the team with a career-best seven goals and is tied for third with 11 points. He also has a career-best four power play goals which lead the team. For his career, Schmidt has 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points in 52 games.  Junior forward Erik Vos (Carlisle, Ontario) is tied for third on the team with 11 points. His six goals are second and his five assists are tied for fourth. He has recorded one goal and four assists for five points over the last three games.  For the 2011-2012 season, every time the Holy Cross men’s hockey team scores a power play goal in the Hart Center, money pledged will benefit PINK Revolution. PINK Revolution is an alliance of dedicated individuals with a unified commitment to those touched by breast cancer. Its mission is to support early detection and prevention strategies, fund clinical research advancements and promote survivorship programs in Central Mass. through its affiliation with the UMass Memorial Comprehensive Breast Center.  Holy Cross will host the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Northeast Regional at the DCU Center in Worcester on March 24-25, 2012. Holy Cross previously hosted this event at the DCU Center in 2008 and 2010. This will be the 12th overall time that the regional has been at the DCU Center. Nine of the 11 teams to win the regional in Worcester have gone on to play in the national championship game. Five of those teams won the national championship.

Mercyhurst:  Mercyhurst is currently in a three-way tie for second place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 16 points, one point behind conference-leading Air Force. The Lakers are 7-2-2 in conference play this season, with both of its losses decided by just a goal. Prior to the season, the Lakers were predicted to finish seventh in the preseason coaches’ poll. Two major factors to the Lakers’ success in the first half has been the power play and the play of senior goaltender Max Strang. Mercyhurst currently has the fourth-best power play in the country, converting at 25.4% (17-of-67). Strang, meanwhile, is third in AHA play with a .947 save percentage, and is sixth with a 2.06 goals against average. Mercyhurst will conclude the 2011 portion of the regular season with a pair of non-conference games at Alabama-Huntsville on December 30 and 31.

Niagara:  Niagara is now 5-5-6 and 4-2-5 in AHA play…Niagara (as of Saturday night) was in fifth place in the AHA, in line for a first round bye in the playoffs, should the regular season have ended on Saturday...Niagara played Robert Morris to a 2-2 tie on Friday and defeated Mercyhurst on Saturday by a 4-3 margin…The Purple Eagles are 1-0-1 against Pennsylvanian teams so far this season…Niagara is playing .500 hockey for the first time this season at 5-5-6…The Purple Eagles are now 3-1-3 on their program record long 11-game road trip…Niagara’s unbeaten streak has been extended to six games by going 1-0-1 this weekend…As of Saturday night, Niagara’s six-game unbeaten streak is tied for the second longest in the nation with Northeastern, Colgate and Robert Morris…The six-game unbeaten streak is the longest such streak for Niagara since going undefeated in five straight during the 2010-11 season, where the Purple Eagles defeated Canisius, Northeastern, Bentley twice and RIT…The Purple Eagles will next try to topple the nine-game unbeaten streak from the 2007-08 season, including sweeps of Wayne State and Quinnipiac…Niagara has also earned at least a point in its last seven AHA contests, earning  10 out of a possible 14 league points (3-0-4)…Thirteen of the last 15 games for Niagara have been decided by a goal or less…Niagara’s six ties so far this season is tied for the program record for ties in a season with the 2006-07 and 2008-09 teams… Niagara is now 35-22-7 in December games all-time, including a 16-6-3 stretch dating back to the 2005-06 season…The Purple Eagles are 2-0-2 so far this season in December games…Dan Baco and Patrick Divjak have scored a goal, four assists and five points so far in four December games…Senior Chris Noonan has earned a 2.04 goals-against average in December thus far with a .938 save percentage…During the 11-game road trip, Dan Baco leads all Purple Eagles with two goals, five assists and seven points…During the first seven games of the 11-game road trip, Niagara is 7-for-35 (20.0 percent) with the man-advantage and have killed off 32 of 38 penalties for an 84.2 percent penalty kill success rate…Niagara concludes its 11-game road trip with participation in the 2011 Mariucci Classic, hosted by the University of Minnesota and with a two-game AHA series against UConn…Niagara will play the No. 2/2 Minnesota Golden Gophers on Dec. 30, before taking on either Northeastern or Princeton on New Year’s Eve…Former Niagara standout goalie and assistant coach Greg Gardner left Monteagle Ridge last year to be an assistant coach for the Tigers…The 2011 Mariucci Classic is the first in-season tournament that Niagara has taken part in since the 2010 Shillelagh Classic in Hoffman Estates, Ill…Niagara dropped a 3-1 decision to then-nationally ranked North Dakota and defeated Colgate while in Illinois…From Jan. 13 until the end of the regular season, Niagara will host 10 out of 14 games, with its only road games all one-night engagements against Robert Morris, Mercyhurst, Canisius and RIT…Head coach Dave Burkholder is now 21 wins away from his 200th win as Niagara’s head coach…Freshman defenseman Kevin Albers played in his first two collegiate games this weekend, making his debut against the Robert Morris Colonials on Friday…Scott Arnold played in his 50th career game on Saturday, scoring two points to pick up 34 career points during that span…Niagara is 9-0-0 in its last game before Christmas each season, dating back to the 2003-04 season…The Purple Eagles are 9-0-1 in the last game before Christmas each season, dating back to the 2002-03 season.

RIT:  The Tigers were shutout for the school record fourth time in just 16 games this season, losing to red-hot Robert Morris, 4-0 on Saturday evening.  Before the season, RIT had been shutout just nine times in 243 Division I games.  That loss snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped RIT to 8-6-2 overall and 7-4-2 in AHA play.  Despite the loss, RIT is still tied for second in the AHA standings, just a point behind Air Force and tied with Robert Morris and Mercyhurst.  All three teams have two games in hand on the Tigers, however.  RIT is now 2-3-1 against Robert Morris and are 0-3-1 at the RMU Island Sports Center.  The Tigers are among the nation’s lowest scoring teams, averaging just 2.31 goals per game, but are 14th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 2.44 goals per game.  The Tiger power-play, which has traditionally been one of the best in the nation, is just 10-for-79 this season (12.7 percent), 47th overall in Division I.  The Tigers have allowed a power-play goal in seven straight games.  The Tigers are averaging 32.5 shots per game this season, while allowing 29.8 per contest.  Three of RIT’s four shutouts against this season have come at Ritter Arena. RIT is in the midst of playing nine straight games away from Ritter Arena and are not at home again until Jan. 27-28 against Mercyhurst.  Thus far, RIT is 0-1 in that stretch of games.  The Tigers have a tremendous 31-2-6 record against AHA foes at Ritter Arena dating back to the start of the 2009-10 season, including a 6-0-2 mark this year.  The next AHA win for the Tigers will be their 100th in conference play.  The Tigers, who are 7-4-2 in league play this season, have compiled a remarkable 99-35-18 record in conference play since joining the league in 2006-07.  RIT has never finished worse than second and have won or tied regular season crown four times. RIT will play four straight games out of AHA play before playing its final 14 games against conference foes.  Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Burlington, Vt., as they play in the University of Vermont’s Catamount Cup against nationally ranked foes Ferris State on Thu., Dec. 29, and Lake Superior on Fri., Dec. 30.  Both games begin at 4:05 p.m.  Ferris State is ranked 10th nationally, while Lake Superior is 16th.  It will be the second and third games against ranked opponents this season for the Tigers.  RIT has never faced either team. 

Robert Morris:  Robert Morris heads into the break riding the first eight-game unbeaten streak in program history after topping RIT 4-0 on Saturday night…Brooks Ostergard picked up his first shutout of the season and his third career clean sheet in the win, making 32 saves…Ostergard improved to 5-4-2 on the season and remained unbeaten in his last seven starts (5-0-2). The senior, who also notched his third-career assist on Scott Jacklin’s second period goal, has a .950 save percentage and a 1.82 GAA over the unbeaten stretch. His .931 overall save percentage ranks second in the league…Adam Brace (6-7—13) scored twice for the Colonials on Saturday including the eventual game winner…Cody Crichton (3-12—15) took over the team points lead with three assists in the first-half finale and now ranks fifth in the league in points and second in assists…Scott Jacklin (7-3—10) notched a power-play goal for RMU in the win while Cody Wydo (8-4—12) hold onto the program’s goal lead and move into third in the conference in the category…James Lyle, Brooks Ostergard, Nick Chiavetta, Tyson Wilson and Jimmy Geerin each tallied an assist in the win…Wydo, Brace and Crichton each finished the night as a game-high plus-three...the nation’s best penalty kill put up another unblemished performance in the win, blanking the Tigers on five opportunities and improving to 71-for-75 (.947) on the year…Robert Morris went 1-for-8 on the power play in Saturday’s win…RMU improves to 3-2-1 all-time against RIT…Robert Morris returns to action on Dec. 30 with the RMU Hockey Showcase at the CONSOL Energy Center in downtown Pittsburgh…the Colonials host No. 4 Ohio State at the event with the game slated for a 7:35 p.m. start…RMU is 2-2-1 all-time against the Buckeyes including a 4-3 win over the upcoming opponent last year in Columbus.