Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography

After a tough loss thursday at home against Sacred Heart, Eric Lang, AIC Head Coach said “We are going to win a lot of hockey games down the stretch if we can continue to play the way we did tonight.”

Those words proved prophetic as AIC used a three goal first period and got two goals from rookie Casey McDonald, the Plenty, Saskatchewan native, on the night to earn the 4-1 win. McDonald was not with the team in the first semester and has worked his way up the lineup in short order with his skill and ability to get quality shots on net. Jarett Fiske made his return to the net for AIC with 29 saves on 30 shots faced. Fiske was the best player for AIC in the second and third periods as he faced five more shots on the night from Sacred Heart than Luke Lush did from AIC. Lang said of all of his goalies, “we are incredibly confident with all of our goalies. Ultimately it’s how we play in front of them that matters most.”

As Lang said of the night “We can score up and down our line up. Is was nice to convert some of our chances tonight. We weirdly played better Thursday. Hockey is a funny game.”

After the first period, Sacred Heart came fast the entire game, but AIC had the answers. The crowd at the new Martire Family Arena saw a great effort from their Pioneers in a great buiding. As Lang said of the new arena “It’s a 1st class facility credit SHU for having a vision for their hockey program. They are clearly getting an incredible return on investment. They have rallied an entire campus and community.”

Moving forward, Lang knows this team can do even more, saying “We have some things we still need To improve upon. We are a work in progress. I have really loved our last 180 minutes of hockey.” This team still can finish second and lock in a potential semifinal series at home should they make it to the second round of the Atlantic Hockey postseason. That next test comes Wednesday against Bentley, a team fighting just to make the postseason.

Lang ended with saying a few things, first about his group “ We are really really close right now. I love they buy in our group has.” This team has gotten better at consistency and puck side support as the year has worn on. He also talked about the night and the quality of their win, saying that it was a “good road win against in my opinion the best team in the league.”

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