February 15, 2010 Weekly Release (PDF)

Atlantic Hockey Weekly Award Winners for Games Through February 14

Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week

Jordan Cyr - Holy Cross Junior, Forward, Winnipeg, Manitoba Cyr recorded two goals and three assists for five points as Holy Cross went 3-0 on the week. He posted one goal and one assist in the 3-2 win over UConn on Feb. 9 as he scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period and then assisted on the eventual game-winner in the third. On Feb. 12 in the 6-4 victory on the road against Bentley, Cyr assisted on the goal that gave the Crusaders a 3-2 advantage in the second period. In the 4-0 win on Feb. 13, he assisted on Holy Cross’ third goal and scored on a power play for the Crusaders’ fourth goal of the contest. Over the last seven games he has four goals and four assists for eight points. For the season, Cyr leads the team with 22 points, while he is tied for the lead with 10 goals and 12 assists.

Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week

Jared DeMichiel - RIT Senior, Goaltender, Avon, Conn. DeMichiel went 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and .957 save percentage in leading RIT to a weekend sweep at Army. On Friday, DeMichiel recorded his fourth shutout of the season, stopping all 25 shots he faced in a 3-0 win over Army. The following night, DeMichiel made 22 stops, including two from point-blank range early in the final period that helped RIT protect a one-goal lead en route to a 5-2 win. DeMichiel leads all AHA goalies with a 17-4-1 mark, 1.82 goals against average and .930 save percentage in conference play. He is in the top-10 nationally with a 2.19 goals against average this season.

Atlantic Hockey Co-Rookies of the Week

Thomas Tysowsky - Holy Cross Freshman, Goaltender, Amherst, N.Y. Tysowsky went 3-0 on the week with a 2.01 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. He stopped 58 of 64 shots and also earned his second shutout of the season. In the 3-2 victory over UConn on Feb. 9, he made 24 saves and allowed two goals for a .923 save percentage, while in the 6-4 win over Bentley on Feb. 12, he stopped 17 shots. Tysowsky recorded his second shutout of the season as he made 17 saves in the 4-0 victory over Bentley on Feb. 13. For his performance he was awarded the Holy Cross Winter Homecoming MVP trophy after the game. For the season, his 2.35 goals against average is second in Atlantic Hockey and his .912 save percentage is fifth. His 687 saves are ranked fourth on the all-time Holy Cross Division I single-season saves list, while his 10 wins are sixth.

Atlantic Hockey Honor Roll

Adam Pleskach - American International (Freshman, Forward, Beausejour, Manitoba) - Pleskach recorded three points over the weekend in the Yellow Jackets series with Sacred Heart, with two goals and an assist. He buried his 13th-goal of the season on Friday night giving AIC an early 1-0 lead. On Saturday, Pleskach, put the Yellow Jackets up 2-0 with his 14th of the season and then assisted on AIC’s final goal of the night. With the goals, he now sits fourth all-time for goals scored in a single season since the Yellow Jackets joined Division I hockey. Cory Conacher - Canisius (Junior, Forward, Burlington, Ontario) - Conacher recorded three points during a weekend split against Mercyhurst, scoring two power-play goals and adding an assist. In the opener, Conacher netted the Griffs’ lone goal of the night. In the finale, the junior got things going by recording the primary assist on a short-handed goal to give Canisius the early 1-0 lead. He then sealed the Griffs’ victory with another power play score. Conacher leads all players in the country with 1.61 points per game. Dan Morrison - Canisius (Sophomore, Goaltender, London, Ontario) - In his only appearance of the weekend, Morrison anchored the Griffs’ defense to a 4-2 victory over Mercyhurst. The sophomore recorded 37 saves on the night to earn the win and helped kill all eight Laker power plays. In the third period, Morrison turned away all eight shots he faced and the Griffs killed four Mercyhurst extra-man chances during the period. Steven Shafer - Canisius (Freshman, Forward, Rochester Hills, Mich.) - Shafter helped lead the Griffs to victory on Saturday, scoring his first collegiate goal against Mercyhurst. The freshman broke a 1-1 tie with his score, giving Canisius a lead it would not relinquish. Grant Blakey - Mercyhurst (Freshman, Forward, Canton, Mich.) - Blakey extended his points-scoring streak to five games with two goals and an assist as the Lakers split a weekend series with Canisius. He posted a +3 on the weekend. Blakey is fourth on the team in points and is the highest scoring freshman with 21 points, with eight goals and 13 assists. Blakey got the Lakers on the board at 17:08 of the first period on Friday, and drew the secondary assist on Mike Gurtler’s game-winning goal in the second period of a 3-1 victory. On Saturday, he scored the Laker’s second goal to slice the deficit to one goal during a high-scoring second period. He posted a +1 during Saturday’s game. Mike Gurtler - Mercyhurst (Junior, Forward, Rochester, N.Y.) - Gurtler figured in on four out of the Lakers’ five goals in a 1-1 weekend series against Canisius. He scored two goals and added two assists during the week, with a goal and an assist in each contest. Gurtler is now second on the team with 11 goals and is tied for second with 24 points. He is tied for the national lead in shorthanded goals with four. Gurtler scored the game-winner early in the second period Friday night at Canisius, and assisted on Neil Graham’s goal in a 3-1 victory. In Saturday night’s contest, his goal with 2:05 remaining in the first period knotted the score at 1-1, and he assisted as Grant Blakey pulled to within 3-2 at 5:49 of the second period. Tyler Brenner - RIT (Sophomore, Forward, Linwood, Ontario) - Brenner tallied five assists in a weekend sweep over Army, putting the Tigers one win from securing its third AHA regular season title in four seasons. On Friday, Brenner drew the primary assist on Dan Ringwald’s game-winning goal and set up Andrew Favot with a perfect pass on a 2-on-1 for RIT’s third goal in a 3-0 win. The following evening, Brenner set a career-best with three assists in a 5-2 win. He assisted on Andrew Favot’s first period power-play goal and both of Tyler Mazzei’s goals. Brenner has 11 points (3-8-11) over his last five games and has 17 points (9-8-17) in 22 games this season. Chris Tanev, RIT (Freshman, Defenseman, Toronto, Ontario) - Tanev did not score a point this weekend, but anchored a Tiger defense that allowed just two goals in two games at Army. In addition, Tanev was plus-4 on the weekend. On Friday, he was plus-1 and helped RIT notch its team record fifth shutout of the season, 3-0 over Army. On Saturday, Tanev was plus-3 in RIT’s 5-2 win over Army. He has 18 points (6-12-18) in 30 games this season and is a team-best plus-20. Nick Johnson - Sacred Heart (Senior, Forward, Windsor, Conn.) - Posted five points in a weekend sweep of AIC, including the game winning goal Saturday night...Earned two assists in the series opener, contributed the primary assist on Dave Jarman’s game winner...Tallied three points Saturday night, the last coming on his nation leading sixth game winner of the year...Currently is tied for the national lead in goals (23) and ranks third in the NCAA in points (44).

Atlantic Hockey Team Notes

Atlantic Hockey: All Atlantic Hockey home games will be shown on the B2 Network. Click on www.b2livetv.com to see your favorite Atlantic Hockey institution in action during the 2009-10 season. Atlantic Hockey is also on Facebook and Twitter. You can see updates, stories, weekly releases and upcoming schedules on Facebook and Twitter. Here is the tiebreaker for two or more teams: 1. Points head-to-head...2. Goal differential head-to-head...3. Conference wins...4. Goal differential - conference games...5. Goals allowed - conference games...6. Goals scored - conference games. If three or more teams are tied and all played the same number of games against one another, you would use the tiebreaker top to bottom as a mini-conference. If three or more team are tied and all played an uneven amount of games, we will use the tiebreaker above, but break the teams up into a mini-mini-conference. If three teams are tied and one team played two games against the other two, while the other two faced each other four times, we will break the teams that played four times and run the tiebreaker to see who would win that series. Then take the team that won that tiebreaker and pit them against the team that they played twice to see who would garner the higher seed. Then you take the final two teams and run the tiebreaker again to see who gains the next highest seed. American International: The American International College men’s ice hockey team was swept this weekend by Sacred Heart. In the 4-1 loss on Friday, freshman forward Adam Pleskach put AIC out to a 1-0 lead, 10-minutes into the first period, when he buried his team leading 13th-goal of the season. Forwards, junior Steve McLeod and sophomore Nielsson Arcibal, dished out the assists on the goal. The Yellow Jackets went into the first intermission up 1-0. In the second period, Sacred Heart found the back of the net four straight times to take a 4-1 lead and eventually the win. Freshman netminder Ben Meisner turned aside 24 shots, before being replaced in the third period by junior Dan Ramirez, who made nine stops of his own in the loss. In Saturday’s 4-3 defeat, freshman forward Steve Mele gave AIC a 1-0 lead, seven-minutes into the first period when he buried his career collegiate goal. Forwards, senior Josh Froese and junior Tom Mele, were credited with the assists on the goal.Pleskach put AIC on top 2-0 when he found the back of the net just 10-seconds into the second period with assists from Aricbal and freshman defenseman Jeff Ceccacci. With the goal, his team-leading 14th of the season, Pleskach now sits fourth all-time in goals in a single-season for the Yellow Jackets since they joined Division I. Sacred Heart got on the board six-minutes into the period when junior forward Patrick Knowlton tallied his 10th goal of the season. Just one-minute later, sophomore forward Matt Gingera lit the lamp for the Pioneers, tying the score at 2-2. Knowlton gave Sacred Heart its first lead of the night at 2:51 of third period when he netted a wrap-around for his second goal of the night. Senior forward Nick Johnson put the Pioneers up 4-2 when he tallied his Division I leading 23rd goal of the season 9-minutes into the period. Just 28-seconds later McLeod cut the Sacred Heart lead to 4-3 for AIC when he netted his sixth-goal of the season. Junior Defenseman Mike Little and Pleskach dished out the assists on the goal. Little now leads the team with 10 assists this season. Ramirez made 29 saves in the loss for the Yellow Jackets, while classmate Olivier St. Onge turned aside 30 shots for the Pioneers. Next up, AIC takes on Canisuis over the weekend in Buffalo, N.Y. Army: The Black Knights are tied for sixth in the league standings after getting swept by league-leading RIT 3-0 and 5-2 … Junior forward Cody Omilusik played in his 100th career game and then scored a power play goal on Saturday. Omilusik now has a team-best 16 goals and seven power play tallies. He shares the team’s point lead of 31 with Eric Sefchik … Freshman defenseman Cody Ikkala scored his first career goal during Saturday’s loss. Ikkala fired in a blast from just inside the blue line, securing his first goal in his 14th game … Marcel Alvarez picked up his 14th assist on Omilusik’s power-play tally … Kyle Maggard and Danny Colvin each secured their ninth assists of the season on Ikkaka’s score … Army hosted its final “Skate With The Black Knights,” following Saturday’s game … Army has just one home game remaining and will honor its seniors Feb. 27 against AIC at Tate Rink … The Black Knights will make the long trip to Erie, Pa., this weekend t face Mercyhurst. Friday’s game is set for 8:05 p.m. and will be broadcast to a national audience on CBS College Sports with Dave Ryan and Dave Starman on the call. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. , before a regular-season-ending home-and-home series with AIC. Bentley: Bentley dropped a pair of games to Holy Cross over the weekend by scores of 6-4 and 4-0. The Falcons have dropped four straight games and six of seven to fall into eighth place in the conference standings. In Friday’s game, Bentley had leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Holy Cross rallied each time. The Crusaders scored three goals in a span of 3:26 in the second period to take the lead for good at 4-2. With Bentley trailing 5-2 in the third period, senior Anders Olson scored 1:15 in to make it a two-goal game. Holy Cross, however, scored less than two minutes later to make the score 6-3. On Saturday, Bentley was without leading scorer Marc Menzione and was shutout for the third time this season. The Falcons will look to get back in the win column this weekend in a home-and-home series with UConn. Friday’s game is in Storrs, the site of Bentley’s biggest win of the season, a 4-1 win over UMass on Dec. 30 in the championship game of the Toyota UConn Classic. The Falcons are 2-0 against the Huskies this season. Canisius: Canisius split a pair of games against Mercyhurst, falling in the opener at home, 3-1, before winning the finale in Erie, 4-2. Canisius is now 12-9-3 in Atlantic Hockey play and remains one point behind the Lakers for fourth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings. The Griffs won the season series against their rivals in Mercyhurst, 3-1-0. It marks the first time since the 1995-96 season that Canisius defeated the Lakers three times in a single season. Junior Cory Conacher once again turned in an impressive performance during the weekend, scoring a pair of power-play goals and adding an assist on a short-handed score. Conacher has now recorded 45 points, 20 goals and 25 assists this season. He is just three points shy of tying the school record with 48 career points, currently held by Chris Duggan (1998-99). He is also three points shy of becoming the sixth Griff to record 100 points in the program’s Division I history and the first junior to accomplish the feat. During the weekend, Conacher also raised his Atlantic Hockey totals to 40 points, 17 goals and 23 assists this season. Conacher is just the sixth player to record 40 points in Atlantic Hockey play since the formation of the conference and is currently tied for fifth in the single-season record book. He is five points behind Eric Ehn’s conference record of 45, set during the 2006-07 season. Conacher ranks among the nation’s elite in a number of categories this season. Conacher leads all players in the country with 1.61 points per game plus ranks seventh with 0.71 goals per game, seventh with 0.89 assists per game, 16th with seven power-play goals and second with five game-winning scores. Senior Josh Heidinger recorded three assists during the weekend, moving into second in the program’s Division I record book for most career points. Heidinger now has 117 career points, passing Duggan for second, who recorded 115 points from 1998 to 2002. Heidinger is now just two points shy of the school’s record, currently held by David Deeves (1998-2002) with 119. Freshman Steven Shafer scored his first collegiate goal in Saturday’s 4-2 victory, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Griffs the lead for good. Canisius returns to the ice next weekend, closing out its home schedule against AIC. Canisius outscored the Yellow Jackets 11-0 in two victories earlier in the season and have won six-straight overall in the series. Connecticut: On Tuesday, the Huskies headed up to Holy Cross to finish out their season series with the Crusaders. UConn was the first to get on the board, as Chris Waterstradt notched his second goal of the year with help from Andrew Olson. The Huskies held onto their 1-0 lead through the end of the first period, but Holy Cross fired off three straight goals to take the lead from the second period into the beginning of the third. The Huskies battled back in the final period of play when Marcello Ranallo notched his second goal of the year taking advantage of one of the six power play situations the Huskies had in the third period. It wouldn’t be enough as UConn went on to drop the 3-2 decision to the Crusaders. The Huskies had the weekend off but will be back in action in a home and home series with Bentley starting at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Holy Cross: The Crusaders have won three straight and they are 5-2-0 in their last seven games, including a perfect 3-0 record last week with a win over UConn and two wins over Bentley. Holy Cross is now tied with Army for sixth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 22 points each. On Feb. 13, in front of a crowd of 2,009 at the HartCenter, The Crusaders held “Pink The Rink” night. Holy Cross wore a special edition pink jersey to show its support for breast cancer awareness. The jerseys were auctioned off throughout the game as they raised $8,070 with all the proceeds going to the LevineCancerCenter in Worcester. A ceremonial puck drop featured Holy Cross professors and breast cancer survivors Kathy Kiel (Economics) and Helen Freear-Papio (Modern Languages and Literature). Kevin Shea from WCTR-TV 3 was the MC for the event as he went through the crowd during the game talking to fans and keeping people up to date on the auction. Between the first and second period the men’s hockey program honored David Joy (Class of 1974) and his wife Michele for generously donating the jerseys so all of the proceeds from the auction of the jerseys will go to the LevineCancerCenter. Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl presented David and Michele with a pink jersey of their own. Michele’s sister and breast cancer survivor Mary Keenan was also honored at the ceremony and given a pink jersey with her name on the back. After the game each player personally handed the auction winners their jerseys as Shea announced the winners. The Crusaders will return to action when they play a home-and-home series with Sacred Heart on Feb. 19-20 at 7:00 p.m. Friday’s game will be at the Milford Ice Pavilion in Milford, Conn., while Saturday’s game will be at the Hart Center. These two teams split a home-and-home series earlier this season as the Crusaders won on the road and lost in Worcester. Last season the series was tied at 2-2-0. Holy Cross, who has only averaged 2.4 goals scored per game this season, has scored 28 goals over the last seven contests for a 4.0 goals per game average. During these seven games, junior Jordan Cyr has recorded four goals and four assists for eight points. Sophomore Luke Miller has recorded at least one point in six of the last seven games and has four goals and two assists for six points during this span. Senior Rob Forshner, sophomore Matt Clune and freshman Rob Linsmayer also have each tallied six points in the last seven games. Forshner has three goals and three assists, while Clune and Linsmayer each have one goal and five assists. There are also three Crusaders with five points over the last seven games. Sophomore Jay Silvia has four goals and one assist, sophomore Andrew Cox has three goals and two assists and junior J.P. Martignetti has one goal and four assists. Out of the 20 Crusaders who have seen game action in the last seven contests, 12 of them have scored a goal and 17 of them have at least one point. Over the last seven games Holy Cross has outscored its opponents, 28-21. The Crusaders are 17-76 (.224) over the last 17 games while on the power play. The Crusaders are 4-5-5 (.464) at home so far this season. Last season Holy Cross went 7-8-2 (.471) at the HartCenter. Holy Cross has a 298-188-33 (.606) all-time record at the HartCenter since it started playing there in 1975-1976. The Crusaders have played in seven overtime games this season with a 0-2-5 (.357) record in those games. The five ties are tied for the third most ties in a season at the school as the record is seven set in the 2007-2008 season. The most overtime games played in a single-season at Holy Cross was last season when the Crusaders played 10 and went 2-3-5 (.450) in those games. Since the 2006-2007 season and 139 total games, the Crusaders have played 33 overtime contests with a 2-9-22 (.394) record as .237 percent of their games have gone to overtime. The Crusaders are 6-9-0 (.400) on its opponent’s home ice this season. Last season, HC compiled a 5-12-3 (.325) record in away games. The Crusaders are tied for the second ranked defense in Atlantic Hockey by allowing only 2.73 goals per contest. HC has allowed 82 goals in 30 games. Last season, Holy Cross was sixth in the conference with 3.42 goals allowed per contest. Senior Ryan Driscoll has played 135 career games which are tied for ninth all-time at Holy Cross. He has 20 goals and 35 assists for 55 points, while his 13 career power play goals are tied for 10th on the all-time Holy Cross Division I list. Cyr leads the team with 22 points, while he is tied for the lead with 10 goals and 12 assists. Linsmayer is tied for the team-lead with 12 assists, while his 14 points are tied for third. Junior Everett Sheen is second on the team with 18 points with eight goals and 10 assists. Silvia is tied for the team-lead with 10 goals. Freshman goalie Thomas Tysowsky was awarded the Holy Cross Winter Homecoming MVP trophy for his shutout in the 4-0 win over Bentley on Feb. 13. For the season, his 2.35 goals against average is second in Atlantic Hockey and his .912 save percentage is fifth. His 687 saves are ranked fourth on the all-time Holy Cross Division I single-season saves list, while his 10 wins are sixth. Holy Cross will host the 2010 NCAA Men’s Hockey Division I Northeast Regional. The dates are Saturday and Sunday, March 27-28 at the DCUCenter in Worcester. The semifinals will be at 1:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on March. 27, while the finals will be at 5:30 p.m. on March 28. All three games will be on ESPNU. HC held the event for the first time in 2008. Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst split its home-and-home series with Canisius this past weekend, defeating the Golden Griffins 3-1 in Buffalo before falling 4-2 in Erie…Junior Mike Gurtler recorded four points on the weekend, scoring a goal and an assist in each game. He now has goals in each of his last three games…Freshman Grant Blakey also added a goal in each game to extend his point-streak to five games and improve his first-year point total to 21…Junior Ryan Zapolski turned aside 39 shots in Friday’s 3-1 win and 21 shots in Saturday’s loss…Despite dropping Saturday’s game, Mercyhurst still leads the all-time series, 34-19-9…Mercyhurst closes out its home schedule this weekend with a two-game series against Army on Friday, Feb. 19 at 8:05 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7:05 p.m. Friday’s game will be televised live on CBS College Sports as the network’s game of the week…Both teams met earlier this season, with the Lakers going 1-0-1 at the Tate Rink...Mercyhurst leads the all-time series, 22-9-1 Rochester Institute of Technology: RIT pushed its magic number to clinching its third Atlantic Hockey Regular Season title to one after securing a road sweep at Army last weekend. It was the first time RIT swept Army on the road. On Friday, RIT used a smothering defense to allowing just 10 even strength shots en route to a 3-0 win. The following night, sophomore Cameron Burt dished out a career-best four assists, while classmate Tyler Brenner tallied three assists in a 5-2 win. Junior forward Andrew Favot leads the Tigers with 33 points (11-22-33) and has 14 points (6-8-14) in his last eight games. Brenner has 11 points (3-8-11) over his last five games, while Burt has tallied 12 points (2-10-12) during the same time frame. Burt has three different three-point games during that span. Both Burt and Favot have eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the second straight season. Junior Tyler Mazzei has points in nine of his last 10 games with 12 points (4-8-12) during that span. He is one of five Tigers to have at least 20 points this season. Goaltender Jared DeMichiel leads all AHA goalies with a 17-4-1 mark, 1.82 goals against average and .930 save percentage in conference play. He is in the top-10 nationally with a 2.19 goals against average this season and is among the national leaders with four shutouts. Freshman defenseman Chris Tanev is plus-20 in 30 games this season and has taken just one minor penalty. RIT leads Atlantic Hockey and is fourth defensively in all of Division I, allowing just 2.25 goals per game. In conference play, RIT has allowed just 45 goals in 24 conference games (1.86 per game) and has out-scored foes 90-45. The Tigers return to action this weekend, as they host AHA rival Air Force in a two-game series at Ritter Arena. A win would clinch the AHA title in front of its home crowd. Last season, the two teams were forced to share the regular season title at Ritter Arena to end the season. The Tigers will be looking for revenge on the Falcons, after losing a pair of one-goal games on the road in October. Air Force scored with 1:45 left in regulation to win 5-4 on the first night. Just 24 hours later, the Falcons scored with one second left in regulation to defeat RIT, 3-2. It was the first and only time that RIT was swept in a weekend series in four years of AHA play. Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 12-10-2. Sacred Heart: The Pioneers completed a weekend sweep of AIC, winning both ends of a home and home series against the Yellow Jackets. Sacred Heart fell behind in both games but each team rebounded with four unanswered goals to earn the victory...SHU found itself in a 1-0 hole after one period Friday night but exploded in the second, scoring all of their goals in the 4-1 win...Eric Delong and Dave Jarman each netted their 10th goal of the season, with Jarman’s being the game winner...On Saturday night Sacred Heart junior goaltender Olivier St. Onge saw his first action since November, making 30 saves as he picked up his second win of 2009-10...The Pioneers would have to make another come back though as AIC took a 2-0 lead after scoring just 10 seconds into the second period...Patrick Knowlton would lead the charge scoring twice while Nick Johnson contributed a goal and two assists...With his three assists this weekend Jarman has moved into a first place tie in the NCAA with 33 assists...Nick Johnson is tied for the nation lead with 23 goals while his 44 points ranks third...The Pioneers are 13-1-2 in their last 16 games as they head into a home and home series this weekend with Holy Cross.