WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army hockey team is set for its final regular season weekend as the Black Knights skate in a home-and-home series with American International, highlighted by Senior Night at Tate Rink on Saturday evening.
THIS WEEK: SENIOR NIGHT AT TATE RINK
The Black Knights finish the regular season with a home-and-home series with American International this weekend. Army will honor its six seniors prior to the game on Saturday. The two teams met at the beginning of 2015 with another series played at West Point and then in Springfield, Mass., with both teams winning on their opponent’s ice. The Yellow Jackets won in overtime by a 3-2 score on Jan. 2 at Tate Rink in the first meeting of the year. Army went up the road to Massachusetts and scored four unanswered goals to build a 4-0 lead and held on to win 4-3. The Yellow Jackets were off last weekend, so with the two points last time out, the Black Knights were able to cement the ninth-place spot going into the Atlantic Hockey Tournament next week.
NEXT WEEK: TOURNAMENT TIME
Army already knows its opponent for the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. The Black Knights will head across the Connecticut state line and face Sacred Heart in a best-of-three series, starting on Friday night. Army hasn’t seen the Pioneers since the first weekend of the season, when the teams split a two-game set at Tate Rink. The two teams are different than they were in early October, but similar in some ways as Army is 3-3-2 in its last eight games, while Sacred Heart is 4-2-3 in its previous 10. The Pioneers close out their season on a rare Thursday night game against Bentley. They split a series with Holy Cross last weekend with both teams earning a shutout, including Sacred Heart’s Saturday night 5-0 win.
LAST TIME OUT: TWO TIES AGAINST BENTLEY
For the third consecutive weekend, Army came out of a weekend with two league points and both were by ties. On Friday night, Clint Carlisle tied the game with eight minutes to go in the second period with his third of the season with Joe Kozlak getting the assist for his 50th career point. From there, Parker Gahagen and Jayson Argue took over the game in front of the net. Bentley’s netminder made 14 stops in the third period and three in overtime, while Gahagen stopped 10 in the final 25 minutes to help earn the single point in the first of two on the weekend. The next night, it was the Falcons that erased a second period deficit to get the draw. Maurice Alvarez scored his sixth of the year in the first period after Bentley went on top early. Nick DeCenzo gave the Black Knights their first lead of the weekend with a shorthanded tally late in the second. The Falcons answered quickly as they scored on the same power play. The goal came less than a minute after DeCenzo’s tally. The two goalies made 10 saves in the third and held both teams scoreless in the extra frame.
HONORING THE CLASS OF 2015
The Army hockey program will be honoring its four seniors prior to the game tonight. Mac Lalor, Josh Richards, Maurice Alvarez and Zak Zaremba are playing in their final home game in an Army hockey uniform. Army is also honoring managers Rob Tadazak and Tyler Bonfe Lalor made it back to the lineup after an injury this season and has played in 114 games for the Black Knights. Richards has also dealt with an injury this year and has appeared in 27 games in 2014-15 and 114 overall in four seasons. Alvarez has been a mainstay in the defensive lineup with 128 games played, including all 30 this year. Zaremba is expected to play in his 134th career game tonight and he has 41 points on 21 goals and 20 assists.
GAHAGEN PLAYING WELL
Sophomore netminder Parker Gahagen helped his team earn two points last weekend against Bentley with two ties. He made 34 saves in Friday night’s 1-1 draw, including 17 stops in the first period. He kept the Black Knights in the game after allowing the Falcons’ lone goal early in the game. He made three stops in overtime as Bentley had a power play for the last 1:51 of the extra frame. He wasn’t challenged too much in the first two periods the next night, then had to make 12 stops in the final 15 minutes to help Army earn the 2-2 draw.
WELCOME 2015
C.J. Reuschlein saw 2015 as a welcomed sight as he has eight points in 12 games. He has five goals and three assists during that stretch. Reuschlein had two points in the first game of 2015 against American International with a goal and an assist. He tallied two of Army’s three goals at Canisius, including his power play goal in the third period that ended up being the gamewinner. He has taken over the team lead in goals after scoring his eighth of the year in the 3-1 loss at HarborCenter on Feb. 14. He was held scoreless last weekend against Bentley.
TOP ROOKIE SCORERS
So far this season, the Black Knights have been led by the Class of 2018 as they have accumulated 74 points this season, which is just under half of the scoring output for the 2014-15 roster. The rookies have 26 total goals and 48 helpers on the year. The 48 assists are half the team’s output in the helper column as the Black Knights have a total of 95 on the year. For the first time in a while, a rookie skater did not have a point in a game as the plebe class was held scoreless on Friday night against Bentley. The next night, Nick DeCenzo scored, while Tyler Pham and Blake Box had assists as well.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Robert Morris has clinched the regular season title after a weekend split with RIT. Canisius and Bentley join the Colonials as teams with first-round byes, but the second and third spots are still up for grabs as the teams are separated by one point with one weekend left. Mercyhurst, RIT, Holy Cross and Air Force are all in a fight for the final two spots in the top five. Mercyhurst is at the top of the list with 31 points, while RIT is holding onto that fifth spot by two points over the Crusaders and Falcons. The Tigers host Mercyhurst for two this weekend, while Holy Cross has one game remaining and it is against Bentley. Air Force hosts Canisius for two. The Army-Sacred Heart series in the first-round is the only one set as the other two are waiting to be settled.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
American International enters the weekend winless in its last 13 games with their last victory coming at Army in overtime on Jan. 2. Overall, the Yellow Jackets are 3-22-7 on the season and 3-16-7 in conference play and have yet to win a game at the Olympia Ice Center. They swept Niagara on their fourth weekend of the season for their other two wins on the year. They won 3-1 and 4-2 in the two games at the Purple Eagles. American International is coming off a sweep at the hands of Air Force, where the Falcons outscored AIC by a 12-4 margin. Defense has been an issue all season as the Yellow Jackets are giving up over four goals a game, while scoring just under 2.5 a contest. The penalty kill is at the bottom of the league, allowing 27 power play goals for a 74.8 percent success rate.
The Yellow Jackets haven’t had a lack of point scoring in 2014-15 as they have two players with 30 or more points on the roster. Alexander MacMillan leads the way with 32 points on 14 goals and 18 assists. He has 27 points in league play on 12 tallies and 15 helpers. Austin Orszulak has 31 points and is tied for the league lead with 21 goals. Six of his 21 tallies have come on the power play, which is among the conference leaders in that category. Rookie Johno May completes the top line for AIC with five goals and a team best 19 assists.
In net, rookie Alex Murray has started 20 games this year and is 2-14-5. He faces an average of 39 shots per game and has a .902 save percentage. He has recorded a 3.83 goals against average. He got the start in the second game against Air Force two weeks ago, while sophomore Hunter Leisner got the nod on the first night and got pulled in the second period after giving up four goals. All three netminders played that night in the 9-3 loss.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 86th meeting between Army and American International since the first meeting in 1954. The Black Knights own a 57-22-6 advantage over the Yellow Jackets. The series has been very competitive as of late with three of the last four games going into overtime, including the first meeting of the year, which AIC took home with a 3-2 win at Tate Rink on Jan. 2. The previous five contests have been decided by one goal.
