Erik Baskin and Trevor Stone scored first-period goals, Billy Christopoulos made 25 saves, and Air Force survived the loss of two more key players due to injuries in a 2-1 Atlantic Hockey Conference victory over RIT at Rochester, N.Y., on Friday.
Christopoulos was especially strong in the second and third periods when he had to make 21 of those saves, including several in the final two minutes, when RIT pulled goalie Logan Drackett for an extra attacker.
“The key to it was Billy,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “The difference in the game were those two breakaway saves he made.
“He was our No. 1 star, and in games like this he needs to be.”
The Falcons (10-10-3, 5-8-2) scored on their second and third of three shots of the game and managed just 13 shots total. They also withstood the loss of senior forwards Jordan Himley and Tyler Ledford to injuries in the second and third periods, respectively. Himley went out after what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit by RIT’s Mark Logan with 8:23 to go in the second period. Logan was penalized for tripping on the play.
Ledford went down in the third period. The assistant captain missed nine games earlier this season because of a knee injury. Himley has only missed one game in the past two and a half seasons.
“It was a gutty performance,” Serratore said. “To lose Himley in the second and Ledford in the third period … when it rains it pours. The good news is even though we lost those two, our young guys are playing with some renewed vigor.”
Baskin’s second goal of the season against the Tigers (8-9-2, 7-5-1), and team-high 10th overall, came 10:32 into the game. Ben Kucera drove down the right wing and dropped a pass that his fellow senior hammered past Drackett from near the right inside hash marks.
Stone then struck for his second goal in two games, making a nice move with the puck in the left circle and snapping it past Drackett with 3:28 left in the first.
The Falcons’ pressure kept RIT hemmed in its zone at times, and their strong defensive play kept the margin 2-0 until Tigers captain Myles Powell scored off a back-door pass from Shawn Cameron with 7:24 to play in the game.
“We had a lot of young guys step up tonight,” Serratore said. “We knew they would come at us hard early in the game, but we weathered the storm and got ahead early. This game could have gone either way, but I’m sure glad we had the best player on the ice and that was No. 44 (Christopoulos).”
Christopoulos has allowed just one goal in each of the Falcons’ past three games.
Lineup shuffle
The Falcons already were without their two top-scoring defensemen – junior Matt Koch (11 points) and senior Phil Boje (10 points). Sophomore Joe Tryan returned to the lineup and freshman Jake Levin remained in. … Kucera played with Ledford and Baskin, while Evan Geisler centered Pierce Pluemer and Kyle Mackey. Junior Matt Serratore returned to the lineup after a one-game suspension, and sophomore Erich Jaeger sat.
Air Force’s three stars
- Billy Christopoulos. The junior stopped 25 of 26 shots to get the Falcons two crucial points.
- Trevor Stone. His second goal in two games proved to be the winner.
- Erik Baskin. The senior continued his excellent play of late, getting his team-leading 10th goal.
Up next
The teams play again Saturday at 5:05 p.m. MST
