February 16, 2009 Weekly Release (PDF)

Atlantic Hockey Weekly Award Winners for Games Through February 15

Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week

Phil Ginand - Mercyhurst Freshman, Forward, Milford, Mass. Ginand led the Lakers with three goals and two assists in a two-game sweep of Connecticut this past weekend at the Freitas Ice Forum. Ginand, a Milford, Mass native, scored a goal and assist in Mercyhurst’s 6-3 win Friday night before going on to post two goals and two assists in a 7-4 win Saturday. He finished the series with 12 shots on goal and a +7 plus / minus rating. Ginand currently ranks fifth on the team with 30 points and is tied for seventh in the conference with 27 points through 24 games played.

Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week

Andrew Loewen - Canisius Junior Goaltender, Winnipeg, MAN Loewen posted a goals against average of 0.50 and a save percentage of .984 during a weekend sweep of AIC. In the opener, Loewen stopped all 31 shots he faced, including one on a penalty shot, for his second shutout of the season and the fifth of his career. The junior then followed with 29 saves in a 5-1 victory on Saturday, yielding only a goal on a five-minute major power play. Loewen ranks second in the league with a save percentage of .926 and fifth with a goals against average of 2.54.

Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week

Kyle Rank - Bentley Freshman, Goaltender, Islip, N.Y. After allowing a goal 13 seconds into Saturday night’s game, Rank shutout one of the nation’s top offenses and helped Bentley earn its first ever win over a ranked team, 4-1 over #20 Air Force. Rank made 28 saves, and was a huge reason for the win as Air Force out-shot Bentley 29-18. He also forced Air Force in an 0-6 night on the power play. Rank has now won his last seven decisions, a new Bentley Division I record. During the streak he’s played to a 2.01 GAA and a .932 saves percentage.

Atlantic Hockey Honor Roll

Dustin Cloutier - Bentley (So., F, Berkley, Mich.) - Cloutier scored a pair of power play goals to help Bentley to a 4-1 win over Air Force last Saturday night. His first period goal gave Bentley a 2-1 lead after Bentley fell behind 1-0 early in the game. His second goal in the second period added onto Bentley’s lead. He also had the primary assist on Bentley’s second goal of the game on Friday. He’s now second on the team in goals with 14. Jason Weeks - Canisius (Jr., F, Seattle, Wash.) - Weeks tallied four points, two goals and two assists during a weekend sweep of AIC. He scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on Friday with a first-period score. He then tallied a goal and two assists in a 5-1 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday. For the season, Weeks leads the Griffs with 32 points on 10 goals and 22 assists. He currently ranks fifth in Atlantic Hockey in both points and assists. Chris Ochoa - Connecticut (Jr., F, Santa Monica, Calif.) - Ochoa recorded four goals over the weekend for the Huskies and currently leads the team in goals scored with 14. He currently sits ninth in Atlantic Hockey with his 14 overall goals scored and sixth with 13 conference goals scored. During the weekend series, Ochoa scored four-straight goals for the Huskies recording the final two goals of game one and the first two goals of game two. Ochoa had the highest +/- for the Huskies with a +2. His four goals came on just 10 shots taken good enough for a .400 shooting percentage. Ryan Zapolski - Mercyhurst (So., G, Erie, Pa.) - Zapolski picked up both wins in the Lakers’ two-game sweep of Connecticut this past weekend in Storrs, Conn. The sophomore netminder made 59 combined saves on the weekend, including 34 in the team’s 6-3 win Friday night. He stopped 25 in a 7-4 win on Saturday. Zapolski is currently 13-3-0 overall and 11-3-3 in conference play. Cameron Burt - R.I.T. (Fr., F, Detroit, Mich.) - Burt tallied a goal and three assists for the second straight weekend, as RIT moved back into firt place in the AHA after sweeping Holy Cross. Burt assisted on Bobby Raymond’s game-opening goal and scored the second goal in a 6-0 win over Holy Cross on Friday. On Saturday, Burt assisted on a pair of power-play goals in a 3-1 win. Burt now has nine points (2-7-9) over a five-game point scoring streak and has 22 points (9-13-22) in 29 games this season. Jared DeMichiel, R.I.T. (Jr., G, Avon, Conn.) - DeMichiel recorded his first collegiate shutout, stopping 21 shots in a 6-0 win over Holy Cross on Friday to improve to 11-5-0 this season. Al Mazur - R.I.T. (Jr., D, Burnaby, BC) - Mazur scored two power-play goals and added an assist as RIT won two games over Holy Cross this weekend. He scored a goal in Friday’s 6-0 win and scored the game-opening goal and added an assist in a 3-1 win on Saturday. Mazur has nine points (4-5-9) over a six-game point scoring streak and has 20 points (7-13=20) in 27 games this season. Erik Boisvert - Sacred Heart (Jr., F, Drummondville, QUE) - Boisvert tallied three points against Army, scoring two goals and adding an assist. Friday night he scored the Pioneers second goal and assisted on the third tally. Saturday night he scored the Pioneers’ only goal. Boisvert now leads the team with 12 goals on the year.

Atlantic Hockey Team Notes

Air Force: The 2008-09 Falcons became the first group in school history to post back-to-back 20-win seasons...AFA earned its 20th win on Friday marking just the fifth time in school history the team has won 20 or more games in a season...Air Force clinched home ice in the AHA quarterfinals with Friday’s win...However, Saturday’s loss dropped Air Force into second place in the league, one point behind RIT...AFA is now 3-3 in the last six games played at the JAR...Saturday’s loss snapped a six-game winning streak vs. Bentley...AFA is 5-1-2 in the last eight games...AFA is 4-1-1 in the last six games that have been decided by one goal (not including empty-netters)...The FLO line of Frider, Lamoureux and Olson scored a goal in each game. The line in the No. 3 scoring line in the nation...AFA was 0-for-10 on the power play vs. Bentley...AFA improved to 8-4-2 on the road this season. The school record of 10 road/neutral wins was set in 2006-07 and 2007-08...Jacques Lamoureux scored a goal in each game and now has 25 goals on the season. He leads the nation in goals and is one of just four players in the nation with 20 or more goals...Lamoureux also leads the nation with 12 power-play goals and seven game-winners. He is third in the nation in points...Lamoureux’s 25 goals are the most by any Falcon in the last 24 years. Frank Daldine scored 28 in 1984-85...Lamoureux’s 20 goals in league play are the third most in AHA history...Lamoureux leads the team with 41 points. Brent Olson leads the team with 26 assists and is second with 32 points...Freshman Tim Kirby scored his first collegiate goal on Friday vs. Bentley...Andrew Volkening is one of just two goalies to play every minute of every game. He leads the nation in minutes played with 1,813...Volkening ranks ninth in the nation in GAA at 2.01...Senior Mike Phillipich scored the game-winning goal with one second left in the third period on Friday. The goal was his second shortie and third game-winner of the season...Air Force hosts Holy Cross in the final regular-season series of the season at Cadet Ice Arena, Feb. 20-21. It will be the final regular-season series for five seniors: Greg Flynn, Josh Frider, Mike Mayra, Brent Olson and MIke Phillipich...AFA swept Holy Cross earlier in the season in Worcester by scores of 1-0 in overtime and 5-1. American International: The Yellow Jackets went 0-2-0 in this past weekend’s series at Canisius. AIC lost the first game of the series 3-0, and the second game 5-1. In the first game, the Golden Griffins took an early 1-0 lead scoring late in the first period. After a scoreless second period, Canisius added two goals in the third to cap off the victory. Senior Tom Fenton stopped 23 shots on the night for the Yellow Jackets. In the final game of the series, the Golden Griffins jumped out to a 2-0 lead finding the back of the net twice in the first period. AIC cut the lead to 2-1 when junior Dean Yakura tallied his first goal of the season at the 14:57 mark of the opening period with assists from classmate Chris Campanale and freshman Luciano Primiani. Canisius then added one in the second and two more in the third for a 5-1 win. Sophomore Dan Ramirez made 16 saves before being replaced by classmate Jake Anderson who had 3 stops of his own. Next up, the Yellow Jackets take on Connecticut on Tuesday at the Olympia Ice Center at 7:05 p.m. Army: The Black Knights moved into sixth place in the conference standings by sweeping Sacred Heart. Army used strong second periods in each win. Sacred Heart jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Friday in Milford, Conn., before Army responded with four goals on the way to a 4-3 win. On Saturday at West Point, Army fell behind 1-0 then scored three times in the second period to help the team sweep its second weekend series this season and win the series against the Pioneers, 3-0-1 … Army is now 3-0-1 in its last four games … Army also swept Mercyhurst, at Tate Rink … Senior captain and defenseman Zack McKelvie extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. He scored a power play goal on Friday and then netted the game-winning goal on Saturday from outside the blue line … McKelvie was the only multiple goal-scorer for Army this weekend as six players netted goals … Eric Sefchik collected three assists over the weekend … Owen Meyer had a goal and assist on Friday and now has 97 points in his career … Meyer has eight multiple-point games this season and 23 for his career. He had his four-game scoring streak snapped on Saturday … Sefchik has four multiple-point games this season and seven in his career … Drew Pierson collected his first assist of the season on Friday … Joey Ammon had an assist in each game this weekend and has five points in his last four games with a goal and four assists … Jay Clark improved to 3-0-1 in his last four games. He made 59 saves over the weekend and allowed just four goals … Army will host league-leading RIT this weekend at Tate Rink. The teams split a series in Rochester, N.Y. earlier in the season. Both games are set for 7:05 p.m. … Following Saturday’s contest, the team will host “Skate With The Black Knights,” a 20-minute event where the community can skate with the team. Bentley: Bentley earned a spilt with #20 Air Force in an evenly played, hard-fought series at Ryan Skating Arena. Saturday’s 4-1 win was the program’s first ever over a ranked team in a season where Bentley has achieved a number of firsts for the program. After falling behind 1-0 just 13 seconds in, Bentley took the lead with two goals just 37 seconds apart in the first period, with the tallies coming from Bobby Preece and Dustin Cloutier. Cloutier gave Bentley a 3-1 lead with his second power play goal of the game in the second period. Freshman Kyle Rank made the lead stand up with yet another strong performance. He made 28 saves and earned his seventh straight win, a new Bentley Division I record. During the streak he’s played to a 2.01 GAA and a .932 saves percentage. For the season he’s 9-6-1, with a 2.45 GAA and a .918 saves percentage. Friday’s game was a heartbreaker, as Air Force rallied from 2-1 down with two goals in the final 3:50, including the winner with just one second remaining. The loss snapped Bentley’s five game winning streak. With the spilt, Bentley has won six of seven and 10 of 13. Anthony Canzoneri and Jeff Gumaer each had three assists on the weekend, while Dain Prewitt scored two more goals. Prewitt now has a team leading 15 on the season and 54 for his career, which is eighth all-time. Bentley has a three-point cushion over Canisius for the fourth and final home ice spot in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinals, and they trail Mercyhurst by two points for third place. Bentley and Mercyhurst meet this weekend at Ryan Skating Arena in a series that will go a long way towards determining seeding and which teams can lock down the final two home ice spots. Bentley took three points from Mercyhurst in mid November in Erie. The Falcons won the first game 5-2, then the two teams skated to a 1-1 draw in the finale. Canisius: The Griffs swept a pair of games against AIC at the Amherst Pepsi Center, defeating the Yellow Jackets by scores of 3-0 and 5-1. The Griffs are now 13-11-6 on the season and 11-9-4 in Atlantic Hockey play. Canisius won all four games against AIC this season, the first season sweep for the Griffs since taking all three games against Army and Connecticut during the 2004-05 season. It was also the first time that Canisius won four games against a team in a single season since the 1998-99 campaign against Fairfield and Sacred Heart. Junior goaltender Andrew Loewen anchored the Griffs defense during the weekend. In the two victories, Loewen posted a goals against average of 0.50 and a save percentage of .984. In the opener, Loewen stopped 31 shots, including one on a penalty shot, for his second shutout of the season and the fifth of his career. On Saturday, the junior stopped 29 shots and yielded only a goal on a five-minute major power play. Loewen’s save on the penalty shot was the first for a Griff since Bryan Worosz stopped Holy Cross’ Jonas Tomiuck on Nov. 9, 2002. Loewen’s moved into sole possession of second place in the program’s Division I record book with his fifth career shutout. He trails only Worosz, who posted six shutouts from 2001 to 2005. Loewen is also eight saves shy of becoming just the fourth Griff and the second in Division I to register 2,000 career saves. For the season, Loewen ranks second in Atlantic Hockey with a save percentage of .926 and fifth with a goals against average of 2.54. Canisius’ top forward line of Cory Conacher, Vincent Scarsella and Jason Weeks contributed 13 points during the weekend sweep. Weeks tallied two goals and two assists, raising his season total to 32 points on 10 goals and 22 assists. His 32 points are tied for sixth Canisius’ Division I record book for a single season. Weeks also moved into fourth place in school history with 37 career goals and eighth place with 78 career points. Scarsella registered two assists in the opener and three assists in the finale, while Conacher posted an assist on Friday and three on Saturday. Scarsella’s three assists matched a career high, while Conacher’s three helpers topped his previous best of two. Junior Carl Hudson tallied two goals to lead the Griffs in the finale. He now ranks first nationally among defenders with 0.41 goals per game. Hudson’s second goal of the game came on the power play, the 18th extra-man score of his career. He passed David Deeves for second in the program’s Division I history, trailing only Michael Cohen’s 22 power play goals. Hudson has scored 18 of his 28 career goals with the extra-man advantage (64.3 percent). The Griffs return to the ice on Friday, beginning a two-game series at Connecticut. Canisius won two games against the Huskies in Buffalo earlier in the season, winning 6-0 and 3-2 in overtimes. Connecticut: The Huskies returned home for a weekend series with Mercyhurst. They went 0-2 on the weekend even though they recorded seven goals. In game one, Mercyhurst was able to get out to a 2-0 lead before they scored their first goal of the game in the second period. Mercyhurst went ahead once again but the Huskies entered the second intermission only down one. In the third, Mercyhurst broke open the game outscoring UConn 3-1 and taking the 6-3 victory. In game two, UConn got on the board first and early. But they allowed the Lakers to score three-straight goals before adding another of their own. UConn and Mercyherst alternated goals scoring but then once again, in the third the Lakers broke it open scoring another three-straight goals. Marcello Ranallo added a late goal for the Huskeis but it wouldnt be enough as the Huskies fell for the second straight night. During the two-game series, Chris Ochoa scored four-straight goals for the Huskies with two coming at the end of game one and the other two at the beginning of game two. Holy Cross: The Crusaders are fifth in the country and second in Atlantic Hockey in fewest penalty minutes per game with 12.0. Last year, the Crusaders won the Atlantic Hockey Sportsmanship Award as they led the league and were fourth in the nation in fewest penalty minutes per game with 11.1. This season the Crusaders have played one of their toughest schedules ever as they have played six times against ranked opponents. Despite its 0-4-2 record in those games, Holy Cross has challenged some of the best teams in the nation including a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 13 Air Force, a 3-2 loss at No. 8 Boston University, a 2-2 tie at No. 5 Denver and a 2-2 tie with No. 18 Dartmouth. Also the Crusaders were tied with No. 15 New Hampshire, 4-4, going into the third period before falling, 9-4. Junior co-captain Ryan Driscoll (Dorchester, Mass.) scored Holy Cross’ lone goal in the game against RIT on Feb. 14. He has six goals and 11 assists for 17 points this year. This ties his career-best in all three categories as he had six goals and 11 assists for 17 points in each of his first two seasons. Driscoll is tied for first on the team in assists, is fourth in points and is tied for fifth in goals. In 99 career games, he has 18 goals and 33 assists for 51 points. Holy Cross will host the NCAA Men’s Hockey Division I Northeast Regional in 2010. The dates are Mar. 27-28 at the DCU Center in Worcester. HC held the event for the first time in 2008. Mercyhurst: The Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team extended its winning streak to four games with a two-game sweep of Connecticut this past weekend in Storrs, Conn. The Lakers defeated the Huskies by the scores of 6-3 and 7-4. Freshman Phil Ginand led the offense with a combined six points, scoring a goal and an assist Friday night before going on to post two goals and two assists Saturday. Senior Matt Pierce netted two scores and tallied an assist while blue-liners senior Kirk Medernach and junior Cullen Eddy combined for five points. Medernach registered three assists and Eddy racked up two helpers. Sophomore Ryan Zapolski picked up both wins to improve his season record to 13-3-3. The Lakers are now 16-13-3 overall with a mark of 14-7-3 in conference play. Mercyhurst heads takes on fourth-place Bentley this weekend for a two-game series on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21. Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT has now won three straight games and 14 of its last 15 after sweeping Holy Cross, 6-0 and 3-1 last weekend in Worcester, Mass. RIT clinched home ice for the AHA Quarterfinals, on March 13-15. RIT reclaimed first place in the AHA standings with 37 points, one ahead of Air Force. One RIT win this weekend at Army would clinch a top-two finish in Atlantic Hockey. The Tigers are now 12-0-0 when leading after two periods, 12-1-0 in the second game of a weekend series and 13-0-0 when scoring at least five goals in a game this season. The Tigers had its streak of scoring at least four goals in a game snapped at 10 after a 3-1 win at Holy Cross on Saturday. RIT is now third in Division I in scoring, averaging 3.83 goals per game (three of the top four scoring teams are from Atlantic Hockey). The Tigers have incredibly balanced scoring, with eight players scoring between at least 20 points and 14 in double digits. Dan Ringwald is third among all Division I defensemen with 25 assists and sixth with 27 points. Junior goaltender Jared DeMichiel garnered his first collegiate shutout, stopping 21 shots in a 6-0 win over Holy Cross on Friday. Senior goaltender Louis Menard is 8-1-1 in AHA play this season and 33-7-6 all-time in AHA regular season play. The Tiger power-play was 4-for-11 over the weekend and 23-for-75 (30.7 percent) in 12 2009 contests. They have moved up to fourth in the nation at 21.2 percent. Junior defenseman Alan Mazur has nine points (4-5-9) over a six-game point scoring streak. Freshman Cameron Burt has nine points (2-7-9) over a five-game point scoring streak. Brennan Sarazin has 16 points over his last 10 games. The Tigers have now won seven straight games on the road. RIT swept Holy Cross, winning four games by a combined 19-4 this season. RIT has now won 12 straight games against the Crusaders. RIT players are a combined plus-118 this season. RIT is 10-3-0 at home this season and has scored 66 goals (5.1 per game) in 13 home games this season. RIT travels to Army this weekend to play the Black Knights. The two teams split a pair of games at RIT in November. Army defeated RIT, 5-3 on Nov. 14 and the Tigers win 6-3 the following night. The Tigers matches last season’s win total and can tie the Division I team record with 21 wins with a two more victories. Sacred Heart: The Pioneers were swept against Army, losing 4-3 at home and 3-1 on the road. It’s the sixth time this season the Pioneers have been swept in a weekend this year, the most series losses since their first season in Division I in 1998-99. The Pioneers have now lost their last four trips to Tate Rink. Junior Erik Boisvert had three points on the weekend, scoring two goals to take over the team lead with 12. Senior Bear Trapp had an assist Friday night to extend his school record career total to 95. The Pioneers will face AIC in a home-and-home series in the second to last weekend of the regular season.