Air Force (7-8-3) vs. Colorado College (8-7-3)
Friday 7:05 p.m. at Cadet Arena
TV / Radio: CET (XFINITY 900) / AM 1300 and goairforcefalcons.com
Series: CC leads 60-12-2, but Air Force has won four of the past five meetings, including a 6-3 victory last season.
Overview
The Falcons will look to hold on to the Pikes Peak Trophy, named in honor of the late John Matchefts, who coached both programs, for the fifth season in a row. To do that, they’re going to have to change their first-half M.O., coach Frank Serratore said at his weekly press conference. “We were 5-1-1 and we weren’t difficult to play against. We’ve been leaking oil the entire season,” he said. “Before we can win we’ve got to become difficult to play against. There’s not much to be proud of in the first half. … The teams in our league are very difficult to play against. We’ve been one of those teams in the past, and we’ve got to find a way to get back on track.” … The Tigers, meanwhile, have already equaled their victory total from a year ago and are playing better than they have in four seasons under Mike Haviland.
Air Force update
The best news for the Falcons is they will welcome three more key players back – center Kyle Haak and defenseman Dylan Abood from injury and center Brady Tomlak from a team suspension. Combined with Tyler Ledford’s return from injury in early December, the Falcons are in a position to ice a full 12-forward lineup after using defensemen Dan Bailey and Kyle Mackey up front for multiple games. … Senior Jordan Himley, who is tied for the team lead in points with junior Evan Giesler (13), has six points in four career games vs. CC, including four goals. Senior defenseman Phil Boje has five points. Boje is fifth nationally in blocked shots with 43. … Junior forward Matt Serratore has a team-best seven goals, and he and classmate Matt Koch have 11 points. Senior wing Erik Baskin has six goals. … Three goals continues to be the magic number for the Falcons – they’re 7-1-2 when they hit that plateau but 0-7-1 when they don’t. … Junior goalie Billy Christopoulos has started every game for the Falcons and has a .901 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average. … The returns of Tomlak and Haak are particularly big in the face-off circle as they’re relied on heavily there. Tomlak (56.7 percent) and Haak (54.8) are well on the plus side on the dot. … The Falcons’ penalty kill is picking up steam, stopping 15 of foes’ past 17 attempts (88.2 percent).
Colorado College update
The Tigers have points in each of their past four games (three ties, including two vs. then No. 1 Denver). They’ve scored 13 goals in that span, and offensive improvement is one of the reasons they’re enjoying a revival this season. But make no mistake about it, when the Tigers win, they’re very stingy defensively. They’ve allowed just nine goals in those eight victories, and goaltender Alex Leclerc has a lot to do with that. The sophomore has started every game and has a 2.70 goals-against average (nearly a half goal per game better than his freshman number) and a .918 save percentage. … CC’s penalty kill also is on quite a heater, having not allowed a man-advantage goal in opponents’ past 16 tries – a streak that dates to mid-November. … Top line of sophomore Nick Halloran (a former Colorado Rampage youth player), junior captain Mason Bergh and junior Trey Bradley has been a wrecking crew. The trio has combined for 60 points and 22 goals. Halloran’s 24 points are tied for sixth nationally, his 15 assists are tied for eighth, and he has points in eight of the Tigers’ past nine games. Bergh already has seven multi-point games, including three with three points, and leads CC with 10 goals. … Junior defenseman Andrew Farny has 35 blocked shots.
How it could go down
This appears to be the Tigers’ best shot yet at claiming the Pikes Peak Trophy. The lineups present an interesting contrast because while the Tigers’ top two lines have been terrific thus far, they haven’t gotten a lot of scoring from the rest of their lineup. The Falcons, meanwhile, have needed to find offense from many players. With the influx of returning players and a four-week break it will be interesting to see who plays with whom and how well AFA’s lines mesh. … “We’ve got guys coming back from injury who haven’t played in a long time. They’ve got to get in game shape,” Frank Serratore said. “CC and (Saturday’s opponent) Denver haven’t been off that long. I’m concerned about where we’re going to be in terms of our legs and game shape. The big thing for us this weekend is I want to see us with a big compete level.”
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