HOLY CROSS HOLDS OFF AIC 4-3

Worcester, Mass. (January 20, 2007).- Despite battling down to the wire, American International College fell in a closely played contest 4-3 Saturday evening to the Holy Cross Crusaders in Atlantic Hockey action at the Hart Center. The win propels Holy Cross to 9-13-4 overall and 8-9-4 in the AHA. The loss drops the Yellow Jackets to 4-18-0 overall and 4-15-0 in the AHA.

As expected, the Crusaders came out of the gates with a very up-tempo, offensive-minded approach. Holy Cross would get on the board first at the 4:42 mark. Junior left-wing Matt Werry took a shot from right outside of the circle, and struck the back of the net, giving the Crusaders a 1-0 advantage. AIC would strike back five minutes later when freshman Andy Gevorkyan (Glendale, CA) took a feed from junior Brent Griffin (Leyden, MA) and wrapped around the net beating the goalie with a back-hand. Jay Holladay (Virginia Beach, VA) also registered an assist on the play. Holy Cross took a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes left in the stanza when the league-leader in points James Sixsmith scored a goal from a shot outside the right-slot. Both teams continued playing strong, until senior Jeason Lecours (Sherbrooke, PQ) shot a brawny wrist-shot from the left-slot and struck the back of the net. The goal was short-handed and was his second of the year. It was assisted by Holladay and Chris Bolognino (Carol Sream, IL), making the score 2-2 going into the second-period.  Holy Cross out-shot the Yellow Jackets 13-8 in the period.

The second frame was played very evenly. The first goal of the period wasn't scored until just over five minutes showed on the clock. The goal was scored even-handed by freshman Frankie DeAngelis (Woodbridge, ON.), giving AIC their first lead of the contest. The lead wouldn't last long. Holy Cross scored twice within 60 seconds to take a 4-3 lead before intermission. The goals were scored by Ryan Driscoll and Bryce Nantes.  

The third period was scoreless, giving Holy Cross a split of the weekend series.

Tom Fenton (Sarnia, ON) recorded 36 saves for the Yellow Jackets while Ian Dams turned away 16 for the Crusaders.

AIC will entertain RIT next weekend at 7:00pm on Friday evening and 3:00pm pm on Saturday afternoon