American International has been on the wrong end of three close games to open their 2023-24 campaign — and one not so close — but last weekend, the Yellow Jackets flipped the script, picking up their first win of this young season.
Eric Lang’s team opened with a 5-3 loss to Massachusetts that saw AIC make it a one-goal game in the third after falling behind 4-1.
Up next was a two-game series with defending national champion Quinnipiac. AIC couldn’t hold the lead and fell 3-2 in overtime the first night, and round two was an 8-0 blowout at the hands of the Bobcats.
Fast forward to last weekend, another two-game series, this time at Penn State.
Friday was a familiar story: another close game, another lead lost, and ultimately another defeat, 3-2 on a late goal.
But while Saturday was a familiar story, there was a different ending.
The Yellow Jackets raced out to 4-1 lead, saw Penn State knot it at 4-4 with under four minutes to play, but eventually got the break that had eluded them through their first four games.
Casey McDonald’s highlight-reel goal 93 seconds later put AIC back in front, and the Yellow Jackets sealed it with an empty-net goal to win 6-4.
That broke the Nittany Lions’ nonconference winning streak of 20 games dating back to Oct 8, 2021. It also broke a 23-game winning streak by Penn State against Atlantic Hockey teams.
Lang says there was some frustration in his team’s early games, but many positives.
“We played some really good games, had three one-goal leads heading into the third period against NCAA-tournament caliber teams,” said Lang. “But at some point, players don’t want to hear about playing well (in losses), they want and need results.”
On Saturday, they got some.
“We squandered leads to get it to 4-4,” he said. “We needed somebody to make a play.”
Sophomore forward Casey McDonald made that play, taking a beautiful feed from Dustin Manz and cutting through the Penn State defense for the game-winning goal.
YELLOW JACKETS 🐝
AIC takes down No. 12 Penn State, 6-4.#NCAAHockey x 🎥 @AIC_Hockey
pic.twitter.com/87bPlDoGiy— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) October 22, 2023
Sandwiched in between the close games was that 8-0 loss at Quinnipiac.
“That was a weird game,” said Lang. “They only had 25 shots, but they scored eight goals. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”
Did his team dwell on the lopsided loss, or flush it?
“We learned, threw it out, and moved on,” said Lang. “That kind of game happens once or twice a year if you’re a good team. If it happens more than that, you’re probably not a good team.”
It will probably take some time for the Yellow Jackets to gel, as they welcomed 13 new players this season, three transfers and 10 first year players hailing from four different countries, including four from Sweden and two from Finland.
Lang said recruiting international players has paid dividends for AIC, and other programs are taking notice.
“Seven years ago there were maybe 40 international players (in Division I men’s hockey),” he said. “It’s over 100 now. We’re focusing on getting commitments earlier, before they come over to play (junior hockey).”
AIC begins conference play on Friday when it hosts Army West Point. It’s the sole game of the weekend for the Yellow Jackets, which will play the Black Knights three times this season. An unbalanced conference schedule will see teams play each other two, three or four times, keeping the number of conference matchups at 26 despite Robert Morris rejoining the league.
Lang says that he’d like to see the conference return to a 28-game schedule (as it had for many years) even if it means reducing the number of nonconference games from eight to six.
“I’m OK with it,” he said. “A good nonconference schedule is important when recruiting players, but we know how critical and competitive our conference games are.”
