Air Force (1-3, 1-1 AHC) vs. Niagara (1-3, 1-1)
7:05 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Cadet Arena
Radio/TV: AM 1300 and GoAirForceFalcons.com / atlantichockey.tv (subscription)
Series: Niagara leads, 35-30-3, but Air Force has won eight of the past 10 meetings
Last season: The teams split four games, with each team winning twice on the other’s home ice
Overview
Will the real Falcons stand up? Air Force has scored one, one, seven and zero goals in its first four games. A boom-or-bust offense is out of character for the Falcons, who typically are locks to win if they get three goals (44-2-5 over the past three seasons when that happens). … Both teams had weekends to forget out of the conference, with Niagara’s coming last weekend vs. No. 10 Penn State, which defeated the Purple Eagles by a combined 12-3. Niagara opened the season with a split against AIC. … Freshman Dylan Mills leads the Purple Eagles with five points (four assists). … Niagara has started three goaltenders in four games, the polar opposite strategy of the Falcons, who start senior Billy Christopoulos (3.72 gaa, .853 save percentage) on days that end in “y”.
Three things to watch
- Scoring balance – Seventeen of the Falcons’ 22 total points thus far have been scored by the senior class, led by Evan Feno and Matt Koch with five points and Evan Giesler with three. Not surprisingly, two more seniors, Matt Serratore and Kyle Haak, have the most points against the Purple Eagles in their careers with eight and seven, respectively. Obviously the Falcons need more players to contribute up and down the lineup at some point. One exception – freshman center Kieran Durgan, who scored twice last Friday.
- Defensive improvement – After a nightmare first weekend when they allowed 10 goals, the Falcons cut that number in half at Canisius, which might be the most explosive team in Atlantic Hockey. On the blue line, pairing veterans Koch, senior Dan Bailey and sophomore Zack Mirageas with less experienced D seemed to help.
- Home-ice advantage – Can the Falcons re-establish it? Last season was the first one in 13 that they weren’t money at Cadet Arena, posting their first losing record in AHC games in that span. This is one of only three first-half conference series at home, so there is no time like the present to reverse last year’s outlier.
©First Line Editorial 2017-18
