Show up late at your own risk. Same thing with leaving early.
Air Force was stung by a goal 21 seconds into the first period, and again by a goal with 1:14 left in the second period during a 6-1 loss to Bentley on Saturday night at Cadet Arena.
“They made a statement on the first shift,” AFA coach Frank Serratore said. “They were on a mission. Much of the evening it was men against boys. They were assertive.”
The visitors turned to their high-scoring tag team of Max French (47 points a season ago, tied for second-most among returning Division I players) and Kyle Schmidt (45, sixth most) to inflict the early and late damage.
Schmidt’s second-period goal made it 3-1 for Bentley (2-2-1, 1-1 AHC), and it was a momentum killer as Air Force (3-2-1, 1-1) had started to carry play a bit from the midpoint of that period on. Senior assistant captain A.J. Reid had pulled Air Force within 2-1 with a top-shelf shot with 8:40 to go off a feed from Evan Feno.
After a flurry of shots early in the third, Bentley struck again 7:19 in when Jonathan Desbiens walked down Main Street, took a feed from Jake Kauppila and scored. The Falcons added two empty-net goals, fittingly the final one by French with 2:00 to go. The Bentley captain was a thorn in the Air Force side all game. In addition to his two goals, he had six shots and took five penalties.
“Every time we needed the next goal what happened?” Serratore said. “Down 2-1 in the second, they get it. Down 3-1 going into the third, they get it. And they get it convincingly.”
Another opportunity for Air Force to halve Bentley’s 2-0 lead was wiped out when an apparent goal by Pierce Pluemer waved off with just 1:53 to go in the first period. Pluemer collided with Bentley goalie Jayson Argue before pushing the puck over the goal line.
Argue, who made 27 saves, withstood a handful of Air Force surges one night after giving up five goals.
“Their goaltender was outstanding,” Serratore said. “When we did get something going, he was right there.
“They played a great game, a strong game.”
D zone coverage
Shane Starrett stopped 25 of the 29 shots he faced, but he didn’t get a lot of help from the defense on three of the Bentley goals. French’s first goal came on a 2 on 1 in which he got free on the right lower circle. Bentley’s second goal came when Andrew McDonald found himself alone in front of the net not long after a penalty against the visitors had expired. And Desbiens had plenty of time and space on his.
Bentley blocks
One wonders what the SOG totals for Air Force could have been. Bentley continually clogged shooting lanes, at times blocking two or three shots in a sequence, and 23 in all, number that seemed low. Remarkably no player blocked more than three.
By the numbers
The six goals were the most the Falcons have given up since a 7-4 loss at Robert Morris on Feb. 19. The last time they lost an AHC game by five goals was Feb. 20, 2015, when they fell by the identical 6-1 score at Niagara.
Notes
Junior defenseman Dylan Abood remained out with an upper-body injury. And junior forward Ben Kucera, who leads the Falcons with three goals, was a late scratch. Kucera took the warm-up but was replaced by Brady Tomlak in the lineup. … Matt Serratore led Air Force with five shots, while defenseman Phil Boje and Reid had four apiece. … Air Force has a bye next weekend, then travels to West Point to take on Army on Nov. 4-5.
