{"id":97103,"date":"2013-10-28T09:58:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T14:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/atlantic-hockey-blog\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2013-10-28T09:58:23","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T14:58:23","slug":"three-things-atlantic-hockey-october-28-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2013\/10\/28\/three-things-atlantic-hockey-october-28-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things: Atlantic Hockey – October 28, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
Three (O.K. four) things from Atlantic Hockey action this past weekend:<\/p>\n
Atlantic Hockey continued to struggle in non-conference games. The league went 1-8-1 out of conference to bring its record to date to a lowly 6-33-4.<\/p>\n
The single victory was a dramatic one, however, as Canisius knocked off No. 16 Dever 4-1 at Magness Arena. In the first ever meeting between the schools, the Golden Griffins scored power play, shorthanded and even strength goals to open a 3-0 and never looked back.<\/p>\n
“We got great goaltending and had goals from our power-play unit, penalty kill, empty net and 5-on-5,” said Canisius coach Dave Smith. We were very hard to play against tonight, which is the recipe for us to win.”<\/p>\n
It was the first time in school history that Canisus had defeated a ranked non-conference team.<\/p>\n
There were few bright spots elsewhere. Mercyhurst and Rochester Institute of Technology managed comeback ties at Alaska and Penn State, respectively. The night before, Mercyhurst lost a 4-1 lead to the Nanooks and fell 5-4, surrendering the clinching goal with a minute and a half to play.<\/p>\n
History repeated itself for Bentley, which fell 3-0 to Harvard. Just like the game played almost a year ago to the day (10\/27\/12) , the Falcons had a large Bentley fan contingent make the short trip to Bright Hockey Center to see their team shut out. Last year it was a 5-0 loss.<\/p>\n
Here’s a summary of non-conference records so far:
\nAir Force: 2-2, 5 games left
\nNiagara: 0-3, 4 games left
\nAmerican International: 0-1, 6 games left
\nSacred Heart: 1-2, 4 games left (including a NC game with Connecticut)
\nRobert Morris 0-4, 3 games left
\nArmy: 0-2, 2 games left
\nBentley: 1-5, 1 game left
\nCanisius: 1-0, 6 games left
\nConnecticut: 0-2-1, 4 games left (including a NC game with Sacred Heart)
\nHoly Cross: 0-5, 2 games left
\nMercyhurst: 1-5-1, 4 games left
\nRochester Institute of Technology: 0-3-2, 2 games left<\/p>\n
In case you’re wondering why the number of non-league games played isn’t the same for all teams, games in Alaska and some tournaments, like the Ice Breaker, are exempted from the 34-game limit. Mercyhurst plays in four extra games this season, so the Lakers have 11 non-conference games. The typical number of OOC games for an AHA team is seven since each plays 27 conference games. Army is playing only 31 NCAA games this season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s very early in the season, but Air Force has already set the tone with home victories over defending champion Canisius (3-2) and defending regular-season champs Niagara (7-4) this past weekend.<\/p>\n
On Friday against the Golden Griffins, the Falcons erased a two-goal deficit with three tallies of their own in a 2: 28 span midway through the second period.<\/p>\n
Sunday was a wild affair that saw Air Force and Niagara combine for six first period goals. The 7-4 final featured power play, shorthanded, extra attacker and empty net goals.<\/p>\n
“We have not been a very dominant team at home the last couple years, but this group wants to change that,” said coach Frank Serratore.” We are off to a good start with four straight wins at home.”<\/p>\n