Photo credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography

Assistant Head Coach Cory Schneider was, of course not happy with the final score of the series finale between AIC and UMass. The Yellow Jackets were in a 2-2 tie until the final few minutes when Lucas Mercuri found an open spot in the defense and put home the game winner. The Minutemen would add an empty net marker to provide the final tally.

Despite the sweep, Schneider was upbeat about the future of the team saying, “ I felt that we responded well after last night in a tough environment against the defending national champions… there’s a lot we can build on.”

He noted some standouts that did not score but had a lot to contribute. For instance Schneider said “Chris Dodero had a lot of second and third effort in his game and created a lot of chances.”In addition, he was proud of the game and the start to the season sophomore Julius Janhonen had, saying that “he had a really good summer and put in a lot of work on and off the ice, and it showed when he got here at the end of August. He’s gotten stronger on the puck which has allowed him to possess the puck more and use his creativity and vision.”

Kucharski in net responded to giving up four in the first 10 minutes and made some really big saves against a UMass team that got more grade a looks as the game went on than they did in the series

“There’s still a lot of areas for us to clean up… our players have done a really good job of making improvements.. we will continue to improve.” AIC will keep scheduling tough non conference opponents to get better, and to bolster their resumes going forward. Now they prepare for an always physical Atlantic Hockey series against Army West Point.