There are not going to be any easy outs in Atlantic Hockey Conference this season, and it took now No. 19 Air Force one weekend to find that out. The Falcons (5-2-1) split at Canisius in two games that were razor close. There was never more than a one-goal lead by either team in either game, and the series yielded a total of nine goals in six periods.
Here is a closer look at the weekend:
Mr. Consistent
Coach Frank Serratore said it after both games at Canisius – goaltender Billy Christopoulos is the reason the Falcons are where they are. And the numbers reinforce that strongly. In eight starts Christopoulos has allowed four goals just once and three just twice. Four times he’s allowed just one.
His steady presence has emphatically answered the No. 1 question coming into the Falcons’ season – what happens in net with the early departure of Shane Starrett?
The junior already has played more minutes (481) this season than he did during either of his first two seasons. His save percentage (.925) and goals-against average (2.12) are dramatically better than either of those two seasons, too.
Under seige
Christopoulos’ emergence has been even more important because the Falcons have not come close to their shots against objective, which some players told me during the preseason was to hold teams to 18-20 per game. Not only have the Falcons been outshot in half of their games, but they’re allowing an average of 28 shots against. That’s an uptick from last season’s 26 per game allowed (24 in AHC).
That might be the most surprising number to me given the Falcons have a veteran-laden defense that added an impact freshman in Zack Mirageas and saw the return of sophomore shutdown man Joe Tyran, who missed all of last season because of a knee injury.
Some of it could be attributed to losing some of the top defensive forwards for extended periods because of injuries, but it is surprising none-the-less.
Speaking of …
The news that senior center Tyler Ledford will miss significant time because of a lower-body injury was another gut punch for AFA. Already down junior Evan Feno for the season because a knee injury, the Falcons now lose another of their top three centers.
In the next-man-up mode, that means you’ll be seeing a lot more of sophomores Brady Tomlak and Matt Pulver in the middle, and that has not been a bad thing. Pulver scored in both games over the weekend, and both players were very good in the circle. In fact, if you’d asked me a week ago about players I thought could be ready for bigger roles, I would have put Tomlak at or near the top of that list. Without piling up a ton of points, he’s been very good at times this season. Plus, he’s a bigger center, which no doubt helps in AHC hand-to-hand combat. Pulver is starting to come on after missing all but nine games last season because of a shoulder injury.
And finally
The line of Matt Serratore, Jordan Himley and Kyle Haak has clicked well since Serratore’s return. The trio has 10 points (all by Serratore and Himley) in the past two series. … Tomlak stepped in between Evan Giesler and Erik Baskin, who had been off to hot starts with Ledford centering them. … Great to see senior defenseman Kyle Mackey not only healthy and back in the lineup, but also score a goal at Canisius, which is minutes away from his hometown in upstate New York. … Saturday’s game vs. Army West Point at Cadet Arena has been pushed back a half hour to a 7:35 p.m. start because of the AFA-AWP football game that afternoon. Don’t worry, though, Mother Nature is giving us an extra hour of sleep Saturday night to make up for the end of Daylight Savings Time.
Re-visit this past weekend’s Falcons games:
Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Canisius
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