A sweep obviously would have been ideal, but there was a strong feeling after Saturday’s game that Air Force has undergone a needed course correction after an uneven and unsettling first half.
“Flushing” the 6-0, penalty-fest at Denver on Dec. 30, the Falcons have looked strong in winning two of their first four games of the second half, and they might have played one of their best games of the season in Friday’s 1-0 loss to Mercyhurst, a game in which they dominated on virtually every front.
Depth charge
Air Force got five goals Saturday, and just one (Evan Giesler‘s empty-netter) came from one of its top eight point producers … in game in which three of those top eight (Phil Boje, Matt Koch and Matt Serratore) didn’t play in.
That is the definition of depth, and given this could have been a game that finished off a sweep, it speaks to how much many of the Falcons’ players grew during their first-half, injury-induced auditions.
The question now becomes, are some of these players ready for bigger roles? Sophomore forward Trevor Stone and freshmen defensemen Jake Levin and Alex Mehnert certainly looked like it.
Also worth noting, 11 players hit the scoresheet in Saturday’s 5-1 win.
That’s special
Coach Frank Serratore has said that by the end of last season he was as confident when his team was killing penalties as when they were playing five-on-five. The Falcons aren’t there yet, but they went 5-for-5 on the PK over the weekend.
Take away the loss to DU, a “flush” game thanks to the inordinate and at times baffling amount of penalties, and the Falcons have killed 11 of their past 12 penalties, above 90 percent. Even with the 8-for-11 vs. DU, it’s still 19 of 23 (82.6 percent), which would put them on the edge of the top 20. At 81.2 overall, they’re 30th at the moment.
The power play connected Saturday, making it 3 for 17 in the second half (17.6 percent). The real difference was how well the Falcons moved the puck and the fact they’re generating more shots (11 in two games) when a man up.
The best defense is ..
Without Boje and Koch, and playing three freshmen, the AFA defense was under the microscope this weekend. By any measure, it has to get a passing mark.
The Falcons held one of Atlantic Hockey’s highest-scoring teams to two total goals and 46 total shots. The blue line generated five points, including two goals, on Saturday.
Every so often it dropped a bomb (giving up an odd-man rush), but those instances were far less frequent than in the first half, and when they did occur, Billy Christopoulos was there to clean up the debris.
The junior stopped 44 of 46 shots against him (.956 save percentage) and gave up one goal per game. Clearly seeing fewer shots and having more one-and-dones in the zone by opposing teams helped.
And the one-and-dones in the Falcons zone were another important factor. Senior Dylan Abood was masterful at retrieving and exiting, as was freshman Zack Mirageas.
And finally
How can any weekend in which BOTH Bigfoot and the Easter Bunny appeared at Cadet Arena be deemed anything but a success? Next thing you know, Santa will buy the first round for the coaches at a local tap room.
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Copyright FIrst Line Editorial 2017-18
