Fast Start Fuels Black Knights Past AIC

Friday, October 6

Springfield, MA

7:05 PM

Army West Point

1-0-0, 1-0-0AHC

AIC

0-1-0, 0-1-0AHC

Army West Point

AIC

Fast Start Fuels Black Knights Past AIC

October 06, 2017 | Hockey

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Fueled by a three-goal first period, the Army West Point hockey team opened its season with a 5-1 victory over AIC Friday night on the road. It is the second-straight season that the Black Knights have started the year 1-0 in Atlantic Hockey Association play.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

The Black Knights boasted a balanced offense on the night with five different players netting a goal.
Tyler Pham, Michael Wilson, Alex Wilkinson, John Laurito and Dominic Franco each tallied goals on the night.
Wilson led the way with a career-high three assists, while Franco followed with two and Dalton MacAfee and Pham each recorded one.
Army's top line of Wilson, Pham and Franco combined for nine points on the night.
It was Wilson's first points opposite AIC in his career, while Franco only recorded an assist his rookie season.
Pham scored his fourth goal against the Yellow Jackets and posted his 10th assist for a team-best.
Cole Bruns recorded the win with 29 saves under his belt.
Bruns tallied the third victory of his career and first since Jan. 30, 2015, when he took a 4-2 decision over RIT.
The Black Knights' five tallies scored in a season opener since the 2001-02 season when Army defeated Seneca 5-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED
PERIOD ONE (3-0 Army)

Senior captain Pham led things off for the Black Knights and netted a goal 13 seconds into the contest.
After an initial save by Zackarias Skog, the puck spun to the nearside corner were Wilson passed it to the middle to deflect off Pham's stick into the net.
Six minutes later, the Black Knights struck again with Wilson finding the back of the net from Pham and MacAfee.
Pham took pass from MacAfee at center ice where he backhanded a pass towards Wilson who was streaking up the ice and banked it home.
To close-out the first stanza, Wilkinson netted a power play goal for Army with 3:52 remaining.
After tremendous movement and passing by the power play unit, the puck was fed to Wilkinson who snuck in on the right side door step and scored.

PERIOD TWO (4-0 Army)

After 21 minutes of no scoring carried over from the first period, Laurito scored the first goal of his collegiate career.
The play began in Army's defensive end where Laurito caused a turnover. Skog made an initial low save during the one-on-one, but Laurito aimed another shot at the net, which bounced off a defender into the twine.

PERIOD THREE (5-1 Army)

The Yellow Jackets made their way onto the board two minutes into the final period of play, but Army fired back to close out the game with a 5-1 lead.
Wilson connected with Franco who scored the final goal of the game. Franco initially sent a pass towards Pham, but the puck went straight into the goal.

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