Someone has to do the scoring for Air Force this season, don’t they?

After all, the Falcons graduated 41 percent of their points and 39 percent of their goals last spring, most of them coming from four forwards and defenseman Phil Boje.

Part of the answer to that question came during Sunday night’s 2-2 tie against the University of Alberta in an exhibition at Cadet Arena in the form of three forwards who are in line for expanded roles this season.

Sophomore Walker Sommer, playing on the top line with senior Kyle Haak and junior Trevor Stone, provided  an electric play that got the Falcons within a goal with 8:35 to play in the second period.

Sommer, one of the fastest Falcons, turned on the afterburners down the left wing, went around the Alberta net and shot  the puck toward Haak in the slot. It hit an Alberta defender and eluded Kenny Cameron, who made 36 saves.

“Last year, we had a lot of injuries and I got an opportunity to play toward the end of the year, and that ties into the summer and the beginning of this year,” Sommer said. “It really set me up for a little bit of success this year I hope.”

Fellow sophomore Marshall Bowery finished a nice right to left, circle-to-circle pass from junior Trevor Stone on a power play midway through the third.

The three combined for eight shots, part of a 38-shot effort from the Falcons.

“They’ve all got legs, and they’ve all got skill,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “They’re our next wave of the (Jordan) Himley types or Matt Serratore. They’re all kind of the same type of player. They play at pace, they bring a speed and skill element that we need.”

Familiar masked man

Billy Christopoulos played the entire game, just as he has virtually every night since becoming the starting goaltender.

The senior made 28 saves, and aside from Alberta’s two-goals-in-2:42 blitz to start the second, was very good. Defensive breakdowns led to a handful of Golden Bears jailbreaks deep in the Falcons’ zone, but Christopoulos was up to the task. A sliding pad save on a breakaway with 12:33 play, seconds after Bowery’s goal, might have been his best.

“We probably didn’t deserve to win the game,” Serratore said. “Who had more big saves, their guy or Billy?

“Not even close. We got a tie because we had a great goalie. Let me tell you, if we play like that next weekend, Colorado College and Denver are going to find a way to score enough goals to win.”

After a 16-shot first period, the Falcons’ offense went a bit dormant while the Golden Bears’ came alive with two goals in the first three minutes of the second. Alberta had 29 of its 32 shots on goal after the first period, keeping Christopoulos plenty busy.

“We got a lot of shots from the outside but we weren’t penetrating and getting through,” said senior center Evan Feno. “Once we figured that out and started playing within our structure, shots got through.”

Welcome back

A trio of Falcons forwards returned to the lineup after enduring

season-ending injuries last season. Feno (ACL tear in Game 1), junior Matt Pulver (second shoulder surgery in two seasons after 20 games) and sophomore Shawn Knowlton (preseason shoulder surgery) all were back.

All three showed good energy with Feno being the most noticeable at both ends of the ice.

“I feel good, no problems with the knee at all,” Feno said. “I felt like I had a lot of jump out there. Obviously I have some things to clean up, but at least I got to clear the cobwebs off.”

Nice to C you again

Two seniors hit the ice with a captain’s “C” – left wing Evan Giesler and defenseman Matt Koch. Giesler is the team’s active leader in games played (120), while Koch has played 95.

Giesler’s 62 career points trail only Haak (64) among players on this season’s team, while Koch’s 40 are tops among defensemen.

Defensive auditions

The Falcons dressed four pairs of defensemen, a cohort that included freshmen Carter Ekberg, Tyler Jutting and Keegan Mantaro.

With the top two pairs all but set (Koch and sophomore Zack Mirageas, and sophomores Alex Mehnert and Jake Levin), the trio of newcomers and senior Dan Bailey, who also offers the lineup flexibility to play center, will battle it out for ice time.

Mantaro, a native of nearby Monument whose father Jason played for the Falcons from 1988-92, reminds me a bit of graduated captain Dylan Abood. Despite standing 5-foot-9, Mantaro rarely paused in the physical game, and he read plays well and used his stick to break them up.

Jutting, who was paired with Bailey, offers a size element (he’s 6-4) that the Falcons don’t always have on the back end. Ditto, Ekberg, who moved well at 6-2.

Notes

Among those who didn’t dress for the Falcons were forwards Max Harper, Matt Serratore, Brady Tomlak and Joe Tryan. Goalies Erik Anderson, Alex Schilling and Will Ulrich also did not suit up. Serratore will play next weekend, Frank Serratore said. … The Golden Bears fell at Denver, 6-4, on Saturday night.

The last word

“We didn’t have a lot of competitive bite,” Frank Serratore said. “We weren’t very difficult to play against, and we’ve got to be tougher. There’s no excuses, our (upperclassmen) know what it takes. We didn’t win a lot of puck battles. The big face-offs, we weren’t very good on the dot.

“We talked this morning about how we needed to increase the competitive snarl. For many stretches we failed at that. We weren’t very tough to play against. We outshot them 16-3 in the first period, but I don’t think we finished a check.”

Next

The Falcons open the regular season Friday at Cadet Arena vs. No. 9 Denver at 7:05 p.m.

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