Niagara (2-11-3, 2-6-2 AHC) at Air Force (7-6-3, 4-3-1 AHC)
When: 7:05 p.m. Friday and 5:05 p.m. Saturday at Cadet Arena
Listen: AM 1300 will broadcast both games, which also can be heard on GoAirForceFalcons.com
Watch: atlantichockey.tv (subscription service)
All-time series: Niagara leads 33-26-5, but Air Force has won 15 of the past 23 meetings.
Last season: The Falcons swept the , 4-0, and by a cumulative score of 15-2. Erik Baskin scored five times against Niagara and Ben Kucera lit the lamp three times.
Common opponents: Niagara was swept by Ohio State and RIT, while Air Force beat the Buckeyes in a shootout to win the Ice Breaker Tournament and swept RIT at home last month.
Overview: After a disappointing one-point trip to Holy Cross, the Falcons have the opportunity to make up a little ground in the standings with Niagara coming to town. The Purple Eagles struggled out of the game, going 0-8-2, but have gone 2-4-1 since. Since it’s huge sweep of RIT, Air Force is 1-3-2 in its past six games.
Defenseman Phil Boje leads the Falcons with 14 points. Photo courtesy of Paat Kelly
Offense
The Falcons average 3.06 goals per game (26th out of 60 Division I teams) and get offense from up and down their lineup. Center Kyle Haak has 13 points and linemate Jordan Himley has 12 and a team-high eight goals, seven of them in his past eight games. Also up front, Evan Giesler also has 12 points and Matt Serratore and Evan Feno have 11 and 10, respectively. Junior Phil Boje (team-high 14 points) leads a defense that gets points from plenty of sources, including Kyle Mackey, Matt Koch and Jonathan Kopacka (five points each). …
Freshman forward Derek Brown leads the Purple Eagles with 10 points (four goals) and junior Stanislav Dzakhov has a team-high five goals among his nine points. Junior center Derian Plouffe and freshman defenseman Noah Delmas each have eight points. Niagara has averaged just 2.13 goals per game, tied for 53rd.
Defense
Air Force allows 3.25 goals per game (43rd), which has more to do with defensive breakdowns than goaltending. Sophomore netminders Shane Starrett (7-3-2, 2.83 goals-against average, .910 save percentage) and Billy Christopoulos (0-3-1, 3.47, .897) have been good to very good for the Falcons. Remarkably, AFA does not have a shutout yet. …
This is an area of struggle for Niagara, which allows 4.62 goals per game, second-worst in Division I. The Purple Eagles have used three goaltenders thus far, with senior Jackson Telchroeb getting most of the work. He is 1-6-2 with a 4.19 and .874 numbers.
Special teams
The Falcons’ penalty kill ranks among the best in Division I (7th overall) and is effective 88.2 percent of the time. They have allowed just nine goals thus far. Niagara’s power play is OK, clicking 14.3 percent of the time. The real problem for the Purple Eagles is they take the most penalty minutes in Division I (nearly 20 per game) and their penalty kill is one of the worst in the country. They’ve allowed 25 PPGs already and kill off just 75 percent of foes’ chances (T56th). Air Force’s power play has been better of late and is at 17.5 percent overall (T29th). The numbers indicate chances will be there to improve that further.