There was only one team that managed perfection last weekend in Atlantic Hockey. American International pulled off a sweep at Mercyhurst to move into the thick of things in the standings. Just three points separates the 5th through 12th place teams at this point.
The Yellow Jackets scored four goals in the third period on Friday to get a 5-3 come-from-behind win over the Lakers on Friday, and then goalie Ben Meisner shut down Mercyhurst on Saturday, stopping all 35 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout. AIC was outshot 35-15 in the contest.
RIT was able to pick up three points at home against Sacred Heart, thanks to a comeback on Saturday that saw the Tigers score twice in the final 1:28 to earn a 3-3 tie. The Tigers defeated the Pioneers 6-1 on Friday.
The other two AHA series resulted in splits, with Niagara and Army trading wins on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and Bentley and Canisius playing a pair of 3-2 games, with the Falcons coming out on top Saturday and the Golden Griffins getting an overtime victory on Sunday.
Probably the most entertaining game involving an AHA team was Connecticut’s wild 6-5 loss to Rensselaer in the first round of the RPI Holiday Tournament on Friday. The game included three lead changes, eight goals in the third period, and a gutsy 35 save performance by UConn goalie Garrett Bartus. The Huskies fell to Alamaba-Huntsville 6-2 in the consolation game.
Finially, Air Force defeated Clarkson 2-1 in the Denver cup, but fell to the host Pioneers 3-1 on Saturday, and Providence held off Holy Cross.
How’d I do?
I went 7-5-1 to improve on the season to 39-30-6 (.560). My guest analyst Dave Morgan went 5-7-1, but did say he thought RIT and Sacred Heart would probably tie, which they did. He also correctly picked a Canisius-Bentley split, but just on the wrong nights. Still, I’ll take the much needed win and improve to 2-4 against my guests so far this season.
Drop me an email if you’d like to challenge me.
