Huskies Drop Conference Loss to AIC, 4-3

STORRS, CT (November 17)  Anthony Rufrano scored two goals to lead American International College to a 4-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over the University of Connecticut mens ice hockey team at the UConn Ice Arena before a crowd of 1,112 on Saturday night.

Connecticut, who defeated AIC (8-2) on Friday night, dropped its record to 2-6-1 overall, 2-2-1 in the conference. AIC improved to 4-6 overall, 3-5 in the MAAC.

John Levesque snuck a goal in from the back side of the net at the 4:46 mark of the first period to put AIC on the board. Three-minutes into the second period, Rufrano snapped in a rebound off a save by UConn goalie Paul Morrissey (Winchester, MA), giving AIC the 2-0 lead. At the halfway point of the period, Matt Herhal (Pottstown, PA) scored a power play goal for the Huskies cutting the scoring deficit in half.

AIC took the 3-1 lead at the 4:48 mark of the final stanza when a shot by Rufrano trickled in past Morrissey, also on the power play. UConn brought the score within one again, when Anders Johnson (North Kingston, RI) scored on the power play. Matt Owens (Framingham, MA) and Scott Brown (Blaine, MN) assisted on the score. Troy Johnston poked the puck into the net off a rebounded save to give the Yellow Jackets the two goal lead for the third time in the game just two minutes later. Connecticut continued to cut the scoring deficit to one with 8:08 left in the period. Johnson made a cross ice pass to Brown, who delivered the puck back to the far post for a waiting Owens, who flicked it into the upper part of the net for the Huskies final score of the game during the power play.

Morrissey had 15 saves in net for the Huskies, while Frank Novello stopped 34 UConn shots on goal. Despite the loss, Connecticut outshot AIC, 37-19. UConn was 3-for-4 on the power play, while the Yellow Jackets went 1-for-4.

Connecticut will host Army on Friday, November 23 at 7:00 pm at the UConn Ice Arena.

University of Connecticut Athletics

Related Videos