Ice hockey finishes sweep of Bentley

WALTHAM, Massachusetts -- The American International College ice hockey team turned in another fine offensive showing, defeating Bentley University 5-1 in Atlantic Hockey Association play on Friday, December 2.

AIC improved to 9-7-3 overall with the win and 7-5-1-1-0-0 in the AHA.

The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring early as Evan Stella won a board battle on the left wing wall and pushed the puck in deep for Dustin Manz. Manz in turn fired it into the left circle, where Timofei Khokhlachev was waiting to fire home the one-timer for his third of the year at 3:35.

In the second, AIC quickly added to the lead. Brian Kramer kept the puck in at the left point and found Julius Janhonen, whose shot was deflected in at the side of the net by Alexander Malinowski just 36 seconds into the period for his fifth of the season.

The lead expanded to three less than five minutes later as AIC executed a similar play to the first goal. This time, it was Kramer going below the goal line for Oscar Geschwind, who sent the puck back to the faceoff dot for an Aaron Grounds blast. The shot hit the target for Grounds' third of the season at 5:19.

AIC added another quick strike goal to start the third. It was an individual effort by Kramer, who stole the puck in his own end and raced down the ice, eventually beating Nicholas Grabko for his second of the season at the 0:34 mark.

Bentley broke the shutout at 16:17 on a Ryan Upson goal set up by Pat Lawn.

With the Falcons net empty, Bentley had six skaters on. A pass from behind the net was deflected by goalkeeper Jarrett Fiske and came to Blake Bennett, who skated to the opposite end in possession of the puck before depositing his 12th of the season into the open cage at 19:13.

In addition to gathering his first collegiate point, Fiske made 28 saves to improve to 5-3-3 with the win. He stopped 46 of 49 shots on the weekend to help AIC to the sweep.

"I thought it was a great team effort. It's always good to get the win and get points in the standings," Fiske said of the weekend. Of his own play, he said "My primary concern is all about the win. We came together to get the job done. I'm just happy I can contribute any way I can."

The Yellow Jackets close out the first half with a two-game series against Niagara University at the MassMutual Center. The opening game is Thursday, December 8 at 5:05 p.m. Tickets are still available at www.aictix.com.