Onward! Ice Hockey outlasts Holy Cross to reach AHA Championship

WORCESTER, Massachusetts - Two second-period goals by rookies and strong goalkeeping led the American International College ice hockey team to a 3-1 win in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Atlantic Hockey Association Championship Tournament Semifinal and earned the Yellow Jackets a berth in the AHA Championship Game for the fourth time in the last five seasons it has been held.

AIC is now 20-15-4.

The Yellow Jackets goal was under seige from the drop of the puck in a penalty-filled first period, but Nils Wallstrom continued his strong play, stopping 11 shots. AIC managed just four on the other end, although the Crusaders also blocked a number of chances.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth minute of the second. Theo Angesved carried the puck from the bench-side boards in his own end through the neutral zone and cut right-to-left before using a sliding defenseman as a screen to disguise a shot that he tucked just under the crossbar at 4:39 for his second of the season and first playoff goal.

Less than six minutes later, AIC scored just after a Balise Toyota Power Play expired, as John Lundy bumped the puck to Nico Somerville along the left-wing wall in the attacking end and the senior defenseman fired a pass into the slot for Dario Beljo. The rookie forward was left on his own and able to pick the corner for his second of the season and first postseason tally at 10:12.

The Crusaders cut the gap back to one on a faceoff play, as Jack Ricketts won a draw right to Liam McLinskey in the slot for a one-timer goal at 14:20; the tally was McLinskey's 13th in the playoffs, tied for the most ever in the AHA Tournament. 

With a one-goal game heading into the third, the Crusaders poured on pressure; having fired 19 shots in the second, they added 15 more in the third, but Wallstrom did not yield again, making stop after stop to keep AIC in the lead. In desperation, the Crusaders pulled Jason Grande, only to have Dustin Manz lift his seventh of the season length of the rink into the net at 17:48. The defense held off Holy Cross from there, ensuring AIC's spot in the AHA title game.

Wallstrom's victory, a 44-save showing, gave him 94 saves in the series and 163 in the playoffs. He has a record of 19-11-2, and his 19 wins is tied with Sacred Heart University alum Steven Legatto, who had 19 victories in his freshman season of 2009-10, for the most in AHA history by a rookie.

AIC will face top-seeded RIT in the AHA Championship Game on Saturday, March 23 at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, New York. The winner will earn the Jack Riley Memorial Trophy and the AHA's automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m.