Air Force (5-4-1, 1-3 AHC) at Holy Cross (3-2-3, 3-1-3 AHC)

Friday and Saturday at 5:05 p.m. MST

Radio / TV: AM 1300 and GoAirForceFalcons.com / AtlanticHockey.tv (subscription)

Series: Air Force leads, 22-11-12, including 14-7-9 in AHC play. Holy Cross took three of four points’ in the teams’ lone meeting last season, at Worcester, Mass.

Overview

Both teams carry three-game winless streaks into the series. The difference is the Crusaders made some hay by picking up early-season points in conference play, while the Falcons find themselves looking up at the league. As injuries have mounted up front for Air Force, scoring goals has become more of a challenge, and they’ve scored more than two just twice in the past five games (both victories). Still, Falcons coach Frank Serratore was optimistic about the opportunity in front of his team. “We’re looking at this (injuries to seven forwards) as a short-term problem with a good long-term solution. We’re going to gets some young guys some experience.”

Air Force update

The spirit was willing but the flesh was another story for the Falcons, who played hard in a grueling series vs. Army West Point last weekend. Friday’s crowd of 3,326 was the second largest in program history. … At last check the Falcons likely will have to play a defenseman (last Saturday it was senior Kyle Mackey) at forward to fill out their lineup. … Defenseman Matt Koch leads the team with seven points, while forwards Matt Serratore, Evan Giesler and Jordan Himley have six points apiece. Serratore (4), Erik Baskin and Koch (3 each) are the goal-scoring leaders. … The Serratore-Himley-Brady Tomlak (5 points) trio has the most points (17), but the play of newly minted center Matt Pulver between Baskin and Giesler has to be encouraging. And another new center, freshman Marshall Bowery, showed speed and elusiveness vs. Army and plays with wingers Trevor Stone and Pierce Pluemer, who are capable of scoring. The Falcons need players on lines two and three to step up. … Two other defensemen that seemed primed for offensive production are freshman Zach Mirageas (4 points) and senior Phil Boje, a shot-blocking machine (28, second in the nation) who has a rocket of a shot. … Baskin, Himley and injured center Kyle Haak scored at Holy Cross last season. … Junior Billy Christopoulos has been a rock in net (.917 save percentage, 2.20 goals-against average), and he’s been particularly sharp on odd-man rushes and breakaways that have plagued the Falcons thus far. … AFA has a better penalty kill (82 percent to 79 percent) but has struggled more on the power play (14.6 percent to 18.4 percent). It has to play a clean game on special teams to have a chance.

Holy Cross update

The Crusaders have a veteran team that is unbeaten at home (3-0-2), and Worcester, Mass., has not been kind to the Falcons in recent years (2-4-5). “We’ve come in there with some of our best teams and not done great,” Serratore said. “They’re a good team, a well-coached team and it’s a tough place to play.” … Seven of the Crusaders’ top eight scorers are either juniors or seniors, led by senior forward Scott Pooley, whose eight goals are second in Division I. Four of his strikes are power-play markers – more than the rest of the team combined. Fellow forwards T.J. Moore, a senior, and Logan Ferguson, a freshman, are next in points with seven and six respectively. Moore and junior Michael Laffin have three goals apiece. … Senior Paul Berrafato has played every game in net for Holy Cross and has a .922 save percentage and a 2.67 gaa. He also has a shutout. … If the Crusaders lead after one or two periods, they don’t lose (3-0-1). … They allow a lot of shots per game (35.2) but also generate a lot (33.6). In short, the Falcon coaching staff’s message of tightening things up on defense and preventing 2-on-1s and breakaways needs to be acted upon vs. Holy Cross.

How it could go down

Three goals is the magic number for the Falcons; they’re 5-0 when they reach that. For Air Force to accomplish that, it needs its defense to initiate more, and the Falcons have many players capable of doing that, starting with but not limited to Koch, Mirageas, Boje and Dan Bailey. Two other factors the Falcons need to do to have success – limit Crusaders power-play chances and avoid falling behind early and chasing the game, which was a problem in Game 2 at Canisius and again last weekend against Army. If Air Force can emerge with two or three points this weekend it would have to be considered a wildly successful trip.

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