Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography

AIC Head Coach Eric Lang was blunt, saying of his group conceding four goals in the first 10 minutes “ obviously not the start we are looking for.. one of the things we talked about in these non conference games is no self inflicted wounds.. next thing you know you’re a bit into the game and you’re down 1-0.. then 2-0.. and then it feels like the sky is falling.”

After the start, Lang’s group settled down and scored one and gave up one the rest of the way. For some levity, he said he told his players that “every year is its own entity, and we are on page two of a 35 game book.” Lang is all about making changes but is also all about perspective on things. He added if the night where his group only gave up 21 shots in net, if someone told him that his group would do that he said “ I would have signed on that dotted line 55 times.” That is to say, AIC looked a lot better in the second and third period, playing their opponents to a tie over the final 40 minutes, but it was not enough. Expect lineup changes from Lang in the finale tonight. Those changes come from the first period of play. As Lang said of effort plays in the first period last night “ we didn’t check any boxes.” He did single out multiple players who finished strong including rookies Louis Lidner and Evan Stella saying “ those guys don’t play like freshmen defensemen.”

One positive that again showed itself was the response from sophomore Jake Kucharski. The netminder only gave up one goal in the final almost 50 minutes of the remainder of the game. As for going forward , he said on what the team needs to do “ some times it’s just starting on time .. sometime we are waiting for a call to get us going, when you’re playing a good team you can’t do that.”

The staff had faith in Kucharski who battled through a tough night against the defending National Champions, he said of the night and of the staff’s faith in him that “it means a lot, you know it’s not easy after being down 4-0.. I like to play the whole game and get the chance to right the wrongs.”

On his goaltender’s resolve and battle, Lang said that, “I couldn’t be more proud of Kuch”In the second and third periods. “ we turned a negative into a positive. “

Kucharski said it best of the attitude of the team heading into tomorrow “ moral victories are a thing of the past.”

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