Air Force picked up Old Mo on Friday night at Tate Rink in West Point, N.Y. The question after Friday’s 4-2 Atlantic Hockey win against host Army West Point is will the Falcons give him a ride back to Colorado Springs.
The Falcons scored first and never trailed in winning consecutive games for the first time this season. Four players scored goals and Billy Christopoulos made 20 saves for the Falcons (3-4, 3-2 AHC).
In the process, Air Force stopped a five-game unbeaten streak by the first-place Black Knights (4-3-1, 3-1-1), who stand one point ahead of the Falcons.
“We needed to stop their momentum and get a run going ourselves,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said.
Mission accomplished.
Finishing move
The Black Knights twice tied the score on power plays after the Falcons took 1-0 and 2-0 leads, the second time on Trevor Fidler‘s rebound goal with 8:42 to play.
Zack Mirageas had given the Falcons the 2-1 lead with a power-play strike, his first goal of the season. Fellow sophomore defenseman Alex Mehnert had the second of his two assists on the sequence.
But Air Force regained the lead for good with 2:48 to go in the game when Brady Tomlak outworked the Army defense to score on a rebound against Army goalie Trevin Kozlowski (24 saves). Defenseman Jake Levin initiated the sequence with a shot that Evan Giesler appeared to re-direct.
“We played with the lead, lost it, then found a way to get it back,” Serratore said. “We battled through it. We knew they had a good power play.”
Trevor Stone iced the outcome with 23 seconds while the Falcons were on a power play and Kozlowski was pulled.
A pair of happy returns
The game also was notable in that two Air Force seniors who had been injured returned.
Defenseman Matt Koch, who missed Friday’s game vs. Niagara due to an undisclosed injury, had the primary assist on Matt Pulver‘s goal with 4:21 to play in the first period. And center Kyle Haak, who sustained a shoulder separation against Niagara just eight days earlier, also came back.
“We showed a lot of resiliency,” Serratore said. “Kyle Haak separated his shoulder (last) Thursday and was one of our better players.”
The Falcons were without senior left wing Matt Serratore (concussion) and senior center Evan Feno, who was serving a one-game suspension for an unpenalized hit last Friday.
“Feno and Serratore are important cogs for us on special teams and at even strength,” the coach said.
Air Force’s three stars
- Brady Tomlak. The junior scored the game winner and played a more significant role with fellow center Evan Feno out.
- Alex Mehnert. The sophomore had two assists and was a team-high plus-2
- Zack Mirageas. The sophomore D scored a power-play goal and fired a team-best four shots.
Up next
The teams play again Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. MDT. AM 1300 has the broadcast and atlantichockey.tv will carry a webcast.
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