Jackets Prep to Take on Lakers
THE MATCHUP: AIC (4-9-2, 4-7-1 AHA) will head on the road
this weekend to take on the Lakers of Mercyhurst College (3-11-2,
3-5-2 AHA). The Yellow Jackets are in a tie for seventh place with
Canisius College in the Atlantic Hockey standings with nine points
while Mercyhurst sits in eighth place with eight total points.
THE SERIES: AIC broke a 15 game Mercyhurst winning
streak that had dated back to the 2001 season last year when they
captured a 4-2 victory over the Lakers at home on December 1st,
2006. The Yellow Jackets have never defeated Mercyhurst on the road
(0-9-1). The Lakers lead the all-time series 21-2-1.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: American
International College went 2-1-0 last week with wins over the
Connecticut Huskies and the RIT Tigers. The Yellow Jackets downed
UConn 4-1 Tuesday evening before splitting a weekend showdown with
the Tigers.
Jereme Tendler and Mike McMillan are tied for the team lead with
15 points off of six goals and nine assists. AIC's first-line of
Tendler, McMillan and freshman Steve McLeod have skated well
this season, contributing to the Jackets improvement. McLeod has
three goals and five assists.
Freshman goalie Dan Ramirez was named Atlantic Hockey Rookie of
the Week after posting a pair of wins in the Yellow Jackets three
contests last week. Ramirez has a 2.35 goals-against-average and a
.915 save percentage on the season.
SCOUTING THE LAKERS: Last weekend, Mercyhurst
split a pair of contests with Canisius. Friday, the Lakers dropped
a 4-0 decision before earning a 5-2 win to salvage two points from
the Griffins.
Ben Cottreau leads the team in scoring with five goals and eight assists. Brandon Coccimiglio also has five goals, while adding four assists for a total of nine points on the season. After losing 4-0 to Canisius Friday, 12 different Lakers scored Saturday evening including Kerry Bowman who recorded his second two-goal game of his career. Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin recorded his 350th career victory in that contest.
Matt Lundin is 2-4-1 on the season recording a 2.65
goals-against-average with an impressive .931 save percentage. Ryan
Zapolski is 1-7-1 with a 4.20 goals-against-average and a .864 save
percentage.
THE BUZZ: The victory over the Tigers Friday was
the Yellow Jacket's first ever win against RIT. AIC killed nine out
of a possible 10 power-play chances that RIT had in those two
games. Mike McMillan notched his sixth goal of the season against
UConn, passing his total output of five goals from a year ago. The
Jackets tallied three power-play goals against Air Force. They had
only two man advantage scores prior to last weekend. AIC earned a
1-1 tie against No. 16 RPI (10/2307). After starting the season
0-5-1 the Jackets have gone 4-4-1 in their last nine
contests. Freshman goalie Dan Ramirez was named Atlantic
Hockey Association Goalie of the Week (11/18/07) and Rookie of the
Week (12/11/07) this season. After sweeping Canisius (10/16/07) AIC
earned their first four point weekend since the 2005-2006 season
when they downed Canisius 5-2 and 3-1. Jereme Tendler, Bryan
Jurynec, Greg Genovese and Chris Bolognino all played in their
100th collegiate match-up this season. Sophomore Chris Campanale
notched his first collegiate goal against UConn (10/19/07).
Freshman Steve McLeod and T.J. Smith captured their first
collegiate point when they both assisted on a Chris Bolognino score
against Quinnipiac (10/30/07). McLeod earned his first goal against
Army (11/10/07). T.J. Smith notched his first collegiate goal
against Canisius last Saturday. AIC has a strong
non-conference schedule this season facing two teams that were
ranked in the top 20 last year. The Jackets return three out of
their top four scorers from a year ago, while adding an impressive
cast of freshman recruits. Jereme Tendler earned a spot on the AHA
Third-Team All-Conference list last season totaling 15 goals and 13
assists. He notched the team's first hat-trick since 2005 when he
scored three times against UConn last season. It was the most
points scored by a Yellow Jacket since Ryan Robin totaled four
points off of two goals and two assists against the Huskies in a
2005 AHA tournament game. The Yellow Jackets' victory December 1,
2006 over Mercyhurst was the first time AIC had defeated the Lakers
in 15 attempts and was the first time AIC had downed Mercyhurst
since February 2nd, 2001.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Freshman Dan Ramirez
was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Rookie of the Week after
posting a .904 save percentage and recording a 2-1-0 record in
three games between the pipes for the Yellow Jackets
HEAD COACH GARY WRIGHT: Gary Wright is in his 24th
season at the helm of the AIC hockey program. The winningest
coach in AIC history, Wright has amassed a 249-394-46 record in 23
seasons. Wright led the Jackets to a 11-14-4 MAAC record in their
first year of Division I play, earning MAAC Coach of the Year
honors. He also led the Jackets to an ECAC East title in
1989-90. Wright is a 1976 graduate of the University of
Vermont.
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: After defeating RIT
Friday evening the Jackets earning their fourth win of the season.
Last year AIC didn't record their fourth win until January
19th.
JACKETS FEATURED IN NEW ENGLAND HOCKEY JOURNAL:
Check out the November issue of the New England Hockey Journal. The
American International College hockey squad is featured in a
two-page layout promoting the teams' positive push forward.
TENDLER FEATURED IN REPUBLICAN: Tuesday, December 11th,
the Springfield Republican printed an article titled "center makes
smart choice" in reference to Jereme Tendler's decision to play
college hockey instead of major juniors.
BURNS JOINS STAFF: A four-year member of the
Connecticut Huskies, Brian Burns joins the Yellow Jacket's as a
volunteer assistant coach. Burns takes Pat Tabbs spot, who was
inked as the head coach of the Springfield Falcons Junior B Team
earlier this season.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: After shrinking to eight teams for
the 2005-06 season with the departure of Quinnipiac, Atlantic
Hockey has expanded to 10 teams last season. Air Force joined
the AHA from College Hockey America, while Rochester Institute of
Technology, a Division I independent before joining the
conference joined the league a year ago.
CAN'T GET TO THE GAME?: For scores and highlights of men's
ice hockey as well as AIC's 21 other varsity sports, check out
www.aicyellowjackets.com. The site is updated regularly and
available 24 hours a day to read about your favorite Yellow Jacket
teams.