2004-05 American International Season Preview

October 1, 2004

It’s safe to say that 2003-04 wasn’t the season that the American International College hockey team was looking for. While the campaign was a disappointment in terms of wins and losses, the Yellow Jackets ended on a high note as they picked up their first postseason victory since moving to Division I with a 4-3 win over Army in the opening round of the inaugural Atlantic Hockey tournament.

Despite losing leading scorer and First Team Atlantic Hockey All-Star Guillaume Caron, the Jackets return plenty of firepower, with six of the top seven scorers returning. Add to that a pair of senior goaltenders and a 10-member recruting class, and head coach Gary Wright is optimistic as he enters his 21st season behind the AIC bench.

"Our primary objective is to make this a breakthrough year for AIC hockey," said Wright. "We have a good group of returnees and a big recruiting class. Our association with Division I has been wonderful, but now we need to start producing more wins."

FORWARDS

"If we are to ascend in the standings, our forwards must score more goals," Wright said. "It is also critical that we establish three quality lines that can really compete, and a fourth line that can contribute."

One returner that had no trouble scoring goals down the stretch last season is junior Andy Walbert (Ford City, Pa.).

Walbert, who finished the 2003-04 campaign as the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points, totaled 15 points in the final 13 games last season while recording at least one point in nine of those contests. He capped off his late-season hot streak by scoring all four goals in a 4-4 tie with Sacred Heart in the regular season finale. He also had a pair of assists in the Jackets Atlantic Hockey tourney win.

Ranking among the nation’s leading freshman scorers for much of last season, sophomore Jeremy Leroux (Lunenburg, Ontario) led AIC with 17 assists en route to 24 points as the team’s third-leading scorer. Leroux centered the first line for much of the season and notched two assists on three separate occasions while recording the most points by an AIC freshman since Caron’s 28 in 2000-01.

CJ McConnell (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) skated on the top line with Leroux and Caron for the majority of 2003-04 and finished his sophomore season with 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points. He led the team with six power-play goals and three-game winning tallies, including notching the game-winner in back-to-back wins over Army and Bentley in November.

Jeff Valdes (E. Falmouth, Mass.) doubled his assist output from five his freshman year to 10 as a sophomore last season. Valdes assisted on all four Walbert goals against Sacred Heart and also had a pair of assists in a win over Wayne State.

Ron Miller (Freeland, Mich.) rounds out last year’s top six forwards, five of whom are returning. Miller tallied two goals and nine assists for 11 points last season. Miller, who was second on the squad in scoring in 2002-03, assisted on the go-ahead goal in the win over Army in the Atlantic Hockey tournament.

Among the other returnees at the forward slot are Ryan Robin (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan), Jeason Lecours (Sherbrooke, Quebec), Adam Sinewitz (Framingham, Mass.), and Todd O’Neil (Plainville, Mass.).

Robin appeared in 20 games before being sidelined in mid-January with a back injury. Prior to the end of his season Robin notched two goals and five assists. Lecours missed three games midseason but was the second-leading scorer among freshmen on the Yellow Jackets with two goals and four assists.

Sinewitz skated in all 34 contests for AIC last year and totaled a goal and three assists in his first season after redshirting 2002-03. O’Neil, in his fifth year with the program this season after redshirting in 2001-02 with a shoulder injury, had three assists a year ago.

Six forwards have committed to the AIC program for 2004-05; Mike Field (Marquette, Mich.), Mark Fuqua (Shelby Township, Mich.), Greg Genovese (Hingham, Mass.), Bryan Jurynec (Orland Park, Ill.), Mark Pavli (Sarnia, Ontario) and Jereme Tendler (Viceroy, Saskatchewan).

Field played for the Helena Bighorns of the NAHL last season and had 13 goals and 23 assists in 39 games. Fuqua skated for the Sarnia Blast of the WOJHL and notched 55 points (25 goals, 30 assists) in 48 games while Genovese averaged nearly two points per game (28 goals and 26 assists in 29 games) for Connecticut’s Pomfret School.

Jurynec produced 23 points in 50 games while playing for the Springfield Junior Blues of the NAHL as an assistant captain. Pavli had 50 points in 47 games for the WOJHL’s Petrolia Jets, while Tendler led the Weyburn Red Wings (SJHL) with 26 goals and 35 assists for 61 points.

DEFENSEMEN

Wright is hopeful that the Yellow Jacket defense can improve this season, despite the youth of the defensive unit. "We have graduated five defensemen in the past two years, so this group will be young, but we are confident in their abilities," stated Wright. "Preston Cicchine (Kitchener, Ontario) will anchor our defensive corps."

Cicchine, one of three returning defensemen from last season, led the Yellow Jacket defenders in scoring last year, as he finished tied with Miller for sixth in scoring on the team with two goals and nine assists for 11 points. The junior had a goal and two assists in a 5-3 win over Wayne State and also notched a goal and three assists in a two-game series at Mercyhurst in January.

Ryan Carr (Hanover, Mass.), Ben Ellsworth (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Chris Pisano (Framingham, Mass.) are the other returners on the d-unit. Carr played in 30 games last season in his freshman year and recorded five assists, including two in a game with Holy Cross in November. Ellsworth totaled a goal and an assist while playing in all 34 contests. Pisano, a sophomore last season in his first season in the AIC program, dressed for action in 21 games.

The recuiting efforts of Wright and his staff have bolstered the defensive ranks with four newcomers for this season; Chris Bolognino (Carol Stream, Ill.), Brent Griffin (Leyden, Mass.), Eric Toonders (Winchester, Ontario) and Jimmy Wholley (Danvers, Mass.).

Bolognino, a teammate of Jurynec on the Springfield Junior Blues, was the top defenseman scorer with six goals and 25 assists for 31 points. Griffin becomes the third player in three years to come from former AIC assistant Jeff Matthews’ program at Northfield Mount Hermon and totaled 13 points for the Hoggers last season. Toonders skated for the Trenton Sting of the OPJHL and notched three goals and 31 assists in 47 contests, while Wholley recorded 29 points in 35 games for Pingree School.

GOALTENDERS

AIC returns a pair of goaltenders, as Chad Davis (Allen Park, Mich.) elected not to return for his senior season after graduating in May. Senior Frank Novello (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) and sophomore Matt Tourville (Sandwich, Mass.) in net for the Yellow Jackets.

"Frank emerged as one of the top goalies in Atlantic Hockey last season, and he has the potential to be one of the premier goalies in the nation. Matt Tourville is a very capable goaltender as well," said Wright.

Novello saw the bulk of action between the pipes for AIC last season, playing in 22 contests while logging nearly 1300 minutes. He posted a .921 save percentage, which was good for fourth in Atlantic Hockey and 13th in all of Division I. Novello posted at least 40 saves on eight separate occasions and received Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week honors November 18 after stopping 40 shots in a 2-2 tie with UConn.

Tourville logged game action in two games in his freshman campaign. He saw time in contests at Sacred Heart and Canisius.

SCHEDULE

After an exhibition game on October 10, the Yellow Jackets will once again kick off the regular season at the Q-Cup hosted by Quinnipiac October 15-16, with AIC facing the host Bobcats the first night and either Air Force or Bentley the second night.

AIC will play its home opener November 5 when it entertains defending league champion Holy Cross. For the first time ever, the Yellow Jackets will host Air Force, as the Falcons come to the Olympia Ice Center for a two-game series December 10-11. AIC rounds out its non-conference schedule with a pair of games at ECAC foes, Princeton (January 4) and Brown (January 12).

The second annual Atlantic Hockey tournament will have a slightly different format in 2004-05. As opposed to the single-site format used last season, an opening round game will be played March 8 at the rink of the higher seed. The top four seeds in the conference tournament will host quarterfinal games on March 12, while the semifinals and championship game will take place March 18-19 at the home of the highest remaining seed.

"Our Atlantic Hockey schedule is challenging as always, and our intriguing non-league schedule is highlighted by Ivy League and ECAC members Brown and Princeton, as well as the opportunity to host Air Force," stated Wright. "The Atlantic Hockey tournament will make it particularly exciting as the league’s teams battle for the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament."