Ice Hockey uses shorthanded strikes to down Vermont on Alumni Night

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College ice hockey team recognized its alumni with an intense, high-effort performance that yielded a 2-1 win over the University of Vermont on Saturday, November 18.

AIC is now 5-5-0 on the year and remains 3-1-0-0-0-0 in Atlantic Hockey Association play. 

It was a high-octane contest from the first faceoff as both teams played with an extra edge, and the first goal came on a shorthanded breakout as Timofei Khokhlachev knocked a puck free in the netural zone and went in on a two-on-zero with Brett Rylance. The duo executed the give-and-go brilliantly, with Khokhlachev firing the puck into the net at 9:52 for his fourth of the year.

The second period was much like the opener, with a level of chaos from both teams pushing hard on every play. Simon Jellus tied the game at 6:28 of the frame on a shot from the right side, and the Catamounts used a breakout play at the end of a penalty to score a second goal to go ahead, only to have it pulled off the board after the Yellow Jackets successfully challenged for offside. 

Late in the frame, AIC was down a man again, but again took the puck on the attack and converted as Dustin Manz stole the puck on the right side of the AIC blueline and broke forward and left, timing a pass perfectly to a streaking Austen Long for him to redirect home his third of the season at 18:44.

The lead back in their hands, the Yellow Jackets clamped down in the third, limiting the Catamounts to just five shots and securing their second nonconference win of 2023-24.

Nils Wallstrom was brilliant in the cage once again, improving to 4-5-0 with a 26-save showing; AIC outshot the Catamounts 28-27.

For the Yellow Jackets, the two shorthanded goals marked the first time that AIC had scored twice in a game while down a man in over a decade; the last time was October 28, 2011, 4404 days prior, when Brandon Fagerheim and Adam Pleskach scored at 19:02 and 19:10 of the second period in a 7-4 win over Sacred Heart University, setting an NCAA Division I record for the fastest back-to-back shorthanded goals ever.

The Yellow Jackets will turn right back to AHA play on Tuesday, November 21 against Bentley University at the MassMutual Center. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m.