Keyed by Anthony Rufrano’s overtime winner, American International upset first-place Mercyhurst, 5-4, at the Olympia Ice Center Friday night.
Freshman forward Rufrano netted the game-winning goal — his second tally of the evening — just 16 seconds into overtime to lift the Yellow Jackets to their second overtime victory in as many weeks. He was assisted by classmate Guillaume Caron, who was celebrating his 20th birthday, and junior assistant captain Olivier Gagnon. The trio accounted for three of the Yellow Jackets’ five goals on the evening.
The ‘Jackets are now 3-0-1 in overtime this season.
AIC senior goaltender Chance Thede broke his own single-season saves record at the College as his 35 saves gave him 821 this year. Thede recorded 810 stops during the 1998-99 campaign, and also holds the school’s career saves mark with 2,834.
The Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 lead early in the first period as Rufrano netted a goal at 3:46 from Caron and freshman Jay Fennessy.
Mercyhurst knotted the score 4:43 into the second period as senior Jeff Gould slipped a puck past Thede off a feed from classmate Jody Robinson, but AIC answered as freshman John Levesque registered his first collegiate point with a goal assisted by junior Kevin Fournier at 8:25.
The Lakers answered as junior Louis Goulet scored off a feed from freshman Nolan Brown to knot the score at two after two periods of play.
But after Caron, Rufrano and Gagnon clicked again for AIC just 36 seconds into the third period, Mercyhurst stormed back with goals from Eric Ellis at 8:24 and Peter Rynshoven at 10:16 to take the lead.
AIC sophomore Andy Luhovy knotted the game for a fourth time just 1:07 later, assisted by senior captain Aaron Arnett, at 11:23 to send the contest into overtime.
Mercyhurst freshman Matt Cifelli recorded totaled 27 saves in defeat.
AIC (9-15-1, 9-10-1 MAAC) returns to action Sunday afternoon, traveling to Buffalo, N.Y., to face Canisius in a key conference battle at 2 p.m. Mercyhurst (14-9-2, 14-4-1 MAAC) plays Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Connecticut.
The victory placed AIC in a three-way tie with Sacred Heart and Canisius for fifth in the MAAC standings. Mercyhurst retained the league lead despite the loss.
