Ice hockey bounces back, beats Bentley in shootout to win season series

WALTHAM, Massachusetts - The American International College ice hockey team won its season series with Atlantic Hockey Association rival Bentley University, downing the Falcons 2-1 in a shootout following a 2-2 tie on Friday, February 10.

AIC is now 14-12-6 overall with a record of 11-8-3-2-2-0 in the AHA.

The Yellow Jackets struck first in the middle of the first frame, as Brett Callahan turned a Bentley rush back at the blue line and sent his forwards in on a three-on-two; his pass ahead to Julius Janhonen was sent to Blake Bennett on the left side, and Bennett cut to the middle, beating Connor Hasley with a great move and a backhand for his AHA-leading 18th of the season at 7:45.

Bentley bounced right back, once again responding to AIC less than two minutes later, as on the power play Harrison Scott netted the equalizer at 9:39.

However, this time around AIC notched the next one. Brett Rylance won a faceoff in the attacking zone back to Timofei Khokhlachev. The rookie winger returned the puck to his classmate, who in turn fired a pass across the goalmouth looking for Austen Long at the right post. That pass bounced off of a Bentley defender and into the net at 11:58 for Rylance's sixth of the season.

AIC ended up taking a penalty at the 20:00 mark of the first and it proved costly, as the Falcons tied the game with their second power play goal, with Scott setting up Kodsi at 1:36 of the middle stanza.

From there, the goalkeepers did not yield again. AIC's Jarrett Fiske was in particular impressive, racking up a total of 37 saves as regulation came and went without another goal, and so did the five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime.

It took penalty shots for goals to come again; Bennett deposited AIC's first chance, only for Scott to equalize the score yet again. Through the three initial shootout rounds, the score stood tied, necessitating a fourth shooter. Fiske denied Danny Pearson, setting the stage for Casey McDonald to make a move similar to the one Bennett scored the game's first goal on, and he put the puck home to give AIC the second AHA point.

AIC now turns its attention to the Air Force Academy; the Yellow Jackets will rematch the 2022 AHA Championship Game with the league's other Falcons with two games in Colorado beginning Friday, February 17 at 9:05 Eastern Time.