American International Forces Deciding Game
WEST POINT, N.Y. – American International’s Bryant Christian scored 30 seconds into overtime to give the Yellow Jackets a 3-2 win over Army on Saturday night to force a deciding game in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. on Sunday and tickets are on sale now. Fans can purchase online at GoArmyWestPoint.com/tickets or tomorrow one-hour prior to game time at the Holleder Center Ticket Office located inside Tate Rink.
Army (12-14-9) tallied the first two goals of the game, but the Yellow Jackets tallied three unanswered to force a game three. Ryan Nick and Conor Andrle had the two goals for the Black Knights with Joe Kozlak and Nick adding assists tonight. Parker Gahagen made 21 saves in the loss.
The Black Knights struggled on the power play, going 0-for-8 and had a few chances down the stretch to move on in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. However, American International scored two goals on the power play in regulation to tie the game and force overtime.
The Yellow Jackets (7-28-3) got goals from Austin Orszulak and Johno May in addition to Christian’s overtime winner. Johnny Mueller tallied two assists in the win as well. Alex Murray made some huge stops and ended up with 34 on the night, including a breakaway stop late in the third period. He also had an assist on May’s game-tying tally in the third period.
American International controlled much of the first period except for a few Army power plays, but it was the Black Knights that struck first. With one minute on the clock, Kozlak won an offensive zone faceoff back to Nick and he wasted no time putting the puck on net and put Army on top 1-0 going into the first intermission. The Yellow Jackets had a 10-8 advantage in shots after the first frame.
The Black Knights gained a two-goal advantage with Andrle’s 11th of the season. The sophomore fired a shot from the right circle that was deflected past Murray. The goal was initially waived off, but after a review, the call was changed and Army had a 2-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to one with Orszulak netting American International’s first goal of the series with 5:43 left in the second frame. He connected on a one-timer from the left side with assists to Chris Porter and Andrew DeBrincat and it was a 2-1 game heading into the final period.
May knotted the game at 2-2 early in the third period with assists to Mueller and Murray. The goal came on the power play and was May’s ninth of the season, but with the goal coming 1:42 into the final period, Army had a chance to rebound. Unfortunately, the Black Knights couldn’t solve Murray and the game headed into overtime.
The Yellow Jackets used a fresh sheet of ice to their advantage with nice passing in the offensive zone on their first rush up ice. Mueller spotted Christian at the side of the net and he jammed it home for his 10th of the season to push the series to a third game on Sunday night.
Ice Shavings: The Black Knights went to overtime for the 14th time this season, which is a team record … three of the four games against AIC this year have gone to overtime and the Yellow Jackets have won all three … Andrle scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season … Nick scored his first goal since theDec. 5 game against Sacred Heart … Army scored first for the 16th time this season … Nick’s goal was the first 4-on-4 goal this year for the Black Knights … he added to his career-high total in goals with six this season after coming into the season with one career goal.
